Replacing Your Raynor Garage Door Seal

3" Gray 1/4" T-style Vinyl Seal

 Over the years the bottom garage door seal on your Raynor garage door can get stiff and no longer provide a good seal. Another problem that occurs (especially if you store bird seed in your garage) is that squirrels and chipmunks can chew holes in the seal. Most likely the animals go into the garage when the door is open. Since they can't just run out after you close the garage door they look
for the path of least resistance which just happens to be the bottom seal on the garage door.

The good thing about Raynor garage doors is that it is fairly easy to replace the bottom seal. Unlike some door manufacturers where they crimp the seal into the bottom of the section and make it next to impossible to replace Raynor uses an aluminum retainer on the bottom section to hold the seal. The bottom seal has two 1/4" T's that slide into the retainer which forms a "U" shape of the bottom seal.

3" Black 1/4" T-style Rubber Seal

The best time to replace the bottom seal on the garage door is during the warmer months of the year. Although there are times during the winter that the seal needs replaced. It can be a little more challenging but it still can be done.

Here are a few tips for replacing the bottom seal on your Raynor garage door:

• Open the garage door about 3/4 of the way. If you have an electric opener run the door open 3/4 of the way and press the wall button to stop it. If you don't have an opener then open the door 3/4 of the way and clamp a pair of vice grips on the track to keep the door from drifting closed.
• Measure your existing seal for replacement. Pull the end out of the retainer and measure the width of the seal. Raynor two main sizes they use is 3" wide and 4" wide.
• Measure the width of the garage door. You now know what width and length of seal you need.
• Pull the seal out from the retainer. If the bottom retainer has any dents in it then it may be a little difficult to pull out. Use a screwdriver and hammer to straighten any dents so the "T" on the seal can slide through.
• Use a sponge and soapy water to wipe down the aluminum retainer. This will remove any dirt and grime that may have built up. The water will also help in installing the new seal.
• Put the two "T"'s into the aluminum retainer and start pulling the seal through the retainer from one side of the door to the other. It will be easier if you have someone help by "feeding" the seal into the retainer while you pull the seal. If you don't have a helper it will take a little longer.
• Once you have the seal pulled through the retainer you should have 2" to 3" left over on either side of the door. Take this extra seal and tuck it back into the retainer. This will "lock" the seal in and keep it from sliding out over time.

The bottom seals can be a 3" wide vinyl bottom seal, 4" wide vinyl bottom seal, 3" wide rubber bottom seal or 4" wide rubber bottom seal. Any bigger than 4 inches wide and you could run into problems with the seal catching on the header (and the seal may be "floppy" instead of sitting on the garage floor properly). Also if the garage floor is that out of level you are better off fixing the floor.

You can find the different widths of 1/4" T-style rubber and vinyl garage door bottom seals at the Garage Door Zone Store. 

Choosing The Right Bottom Seal For Your Raynor Garage Door

RAYNOR BOTTOM GARAGE DOOR SEALS

The bottom seal is essential to any garage door. The seal helps keep out the wind, rain & insects. Over time the bottom seal will harden and no longer seal to the floor like it did when it was first new. This can happen in as little as 3-4 years or you may not notice it for 8-10 years but it will eventually happen. It all depends on where you live and what type of weather your garage door has to endure.

WHY DO I NEED SEAL?: The vinyl seal can get hard and it won't seal tight along the garage floor. A new seal will be more flexible and follow the small contours of the floor better. A new bottom seal can help keep water out of the garage but there's no guarantee that it will stop it. If you install new bottom seal on the garage door and you're still getting water in the garage then you have other problems that need addressed and more than likely it's the garage floor. The floor may have cracked, sunk or slopes in a way that is letting the water in...most of the time new seal won't stop the water from coming in. The floor should be corrected to keep the water out.

HOW TO IDENTIFY A RAYNOR BRAND OF GARAGE DOOR: If you purchased your house that already had an existing garage door then you probably don't know what brand it is or perhaps you purchased the garage door so long ago that you can't remember. Finding out what brand of garage door you have will make things easier when purchasing bottom seal. Some brands of garage doors use the same type of seal as Raynor but most of them are different so identifying the brand will be helpful for finding the correct seal.

Raynor brand garage doors have a sticker on the end stile of the sections that contain a lot of info about the door. Look on the end of the sections of your door for a white sticker. Once you find it  (don't remove it) you'll be able to find all the info you need. It may be a little hard to read so using a flashlight is recommended or you can take a picture of the sticker with your phone & read the info off your phone.

Below is a picture of a sample tag found on all Raynor garage doors. There's a lot of different info on the tag but the most important is the manufacturer. If you see Raynor Garage Doors then you have a Raynor door. Don't remove the sticker as there is other info on the tag that will be useful if you ever need to replace a part or a section of the door. The Door Serial Number is also on the tag but isn't shown in the picture below (the serial number is off to the right). This is usually a six digit number with a letter in front of it (like B321456). So if you have a warranty issue or need to replace a section you can give that number to a Raynor dealer & they can have Raynor Mfg. look it up. This will give the dealer all the info they need to help you in getting the correct replacement part or section. 

What if you can't find any stickers on the door? Someone has either removed the stickers or it's not a Raynor door. You can still determine if the Raynor seal will work on your door by looking at the bottom seal. Below we explain the different Raynor bottom seals.

NO RAYNOR TAG? NO PROBLEM - MEASURE YOUR SEAL: If you can't find a Raynor tag (like the one pictured above) on your door it doesn't mean that you don't have a Raynor door or that the Raynor seal won't work in your door. You'll need to measure the existing seal on your door.

• Disengage your garage door opener (if you have one) and lift the door manually. Raise the garage door about 3/4 of the way open. Put a pair of vise grips on the track just below the bottom roller - this will keep the door from falling. If you do this using the opener you should unplug the opener while doing this so no one presses the opener button & starts the door in motion while you're looking at the seal. 
  
• You should now have easier access to the seal from the end. 
• The end of the seal is probably tucked back into the seal retainer. This is done to keep the seal from sliding out of the retainer. Pull the tucked piece out of the seal.
• Measure the "T" part of the seal. If you're having a problem measuring it you could cut a 1"-2" piece of seal off.
• If the "T" measures 1/4" then you know that you may have a Raynor door but more importantly know that your door needs the 1/4" "T" seal. 
• Also measure the seal as it lays flat. The seal should measure 3" or 4" across - these are the two widths of seal that Raynor use.

THE DIFFERENT RAYNOR SEALS: Assuming that you found the sticker on the garage door (or measured your existing seal) and identified it as a Raynor brand garage door lets take a look at the four different seals available for the Raynor brand doors.
First let's look at a profile of the seal. Raynor uses what is called a "T" seal. The seal has a "T" on either side with the seal material between the two "T"'s. The seal slides into the aluminum retainer on the bottom of the garage door with each "T" on the seal sliding into a slot on either side of the retainer forming a "U" shape.
IMPORTANT: Raynor seals have 1/4" "T"'s on their seal. A couple other brands also use 1/4" "T" seal but most of what you'll find in the hardware & box stores is 5/16" "T" seal. The 5/16" "T" seal is too big for the retainer on Raynor doors & won't work. Some vendors online claim to have a seal that will work on Raynor doors but their seal actually is 5/16" "T" and won't work in Raynor doors.

There are two different widths of seal available - 3" and 4". The width of the seal is determined by measuring the seal when it is laying flat. The 3" seal is what is installed on the doors at the factory.  Most likely this is what's on your door BUT it's possible your door has the 4" seal. The factory could put the 4" seal on the door if the dealer requests it when the door is ordered or if the dealer puts it on while they are installing the door. The reason this would be done is usually because of a known problem with your garage floor that was noticed by the dealer.

Pipe Insulation

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 3" AND 4" SEAL: Some people may think that the 4" seal is better than the 3" seal....bigger is better right?
Not in this case. The 3" seal is the standard seal used because it usually will do the best job. The only reason to use the 4" seal is when the garage floor is out of level. The 4" seal is able to fill in some of the gap between the bottom of the garage door and the uneven floor. It's usually only about a 1/4" - 1/2" gap that the seal can fill. If your floor is anymore out of level than that then you should fix the problem with the floor. So if your door doesn't need the 4" seal it's not recommended.
TIP: Use 1/2" pipe insulation inside your weather seal to help keep the "U" shape of the bottom seal. It works well in both the 3" and 4" seals. The pipe insulation won't absorb water and will help in filling in any small gaps in the floor. It will also keep the seal in a "U" shape and keep the seal from getting floppy or folding over. You can usually find it at the hardware store in the plumbing supplies. Note that if you do put the pipe
insulation in your seal you may have to readjust the garage door operator down travel limit since the pipe insulation will slightly raise the door and the operator will sense it as an obstruction. Read the owners manual for your operator on how to adjust the operator's down travel limit.

GRAY SEAL OR BLACK SEAL: Raynor offers two types of seals - a gray vinyl seal and a black rubber seal. The gray seal is the standard seal that is installed on the doors at the factory. The gray seal is made of vinyl and is thinner & more flexible than the black seal. The black seal is made of rubber, has ribs on one side and is a little more heavy duty. Both seals are made specifically for Raynor doors but will work in other makes of garage doors that have retainers that accept a 1/4" T" seal.

BUYING RAYNOR SEAL: At the Garage Door Zone store we offer the Raynor seal that is used on Raynor garage doors. This seal can also be used in other brands of garage doors that use the 1/4" "T" seal. The seal is available in 3" Gray Vinyl, 4" Gray Vinyl, 3" Black Rubber and 4" Black Rubber. All of the seals are cut to the width of your garage door plus 4"-6". The seal is cut an extra 4"-6" so you'll have that extra seal to tuck back into the retainer. So if you have a 16' wide door and order the 16' seal you'll actually receive a 16'6" seal. You may wonder why the extra seal...if you tuck the extra seal back into the retainer this will keep the seal from coming out of the retainer over time. Click Here to go to the Garage Door Zone store and purchase bottom garage door seal today!

Do you have a question about the seals that wasn't answered above? Fill in the contact form on the left side of the blog, click on the CONTACT US tab at GarageDoorZone.com or email us at Store@GarageDoorZone.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Raynor 4" Black Heavy Duty Bottom Garage Door Seal

Raynor has recently added the 4" Black Heavy Duty Rubber Bottom Garage Door Seal as an option to their garage doors and it is now available here on the Garage Door Zone site.

The 4" seal is usually used over the 3" seal (the size of the seal is determined by measuring the width of the seal when it lays flat) when a garage door floor is slightly out of level and there's a gap under the door. The 4" seal can help fill in that gap. If the gap between the floor and the garage door is over a 1/4" gap then you'll most likely need to fix the floor.

4" Black Heavy Duty Bottom Seal

The 4" Black Heavy Duty Seal is made of EPDM Rubber (similar to the seal around your car doors) and has ribs on one side of the rubber to help make good contact with the garage floor and keep out the elements. If purchased from the Garage Door Zone the seal is cut an extra 4"-6" in length so the extra seal can be tucked back into the retainer. This will keep the seal from sliding out of the retainer over time.

If your garage floor is not out of level but you still want a heavier seal on your door then the 3" Black Heavy Duty Rubber Seal is the way to go. It has the same characteristics as the 4" seal except it is 3" in width so it won't be as bulky. Other options are the 3" Gray Vinyl Seal and the 4" Gray Vinyl Seal with the 3" Gray Vinyl Seal being the standard seal supplied on most Raynor garage doors.

Not sure if this is the right seal for your door? If your existing seal makes a "U" shape when it's installed and has two "T"'s that slide into the seal retainer then this seal may work for you. To be sure you'll need to pull the end of the seal out a little bit and measure one of the "T"'s. All of the seals mentioned above have a 1/4" "T" so if yours measures 1/4" these will work for you. Just measure the width of your garage door and order the correct cut length. Shop now by clicking the More Info button below.