How To Replace Your Damaged Garage Door Bottom Seal! NOT AS EASY AS YOU THINK! The DIY Truth! 

ITEMS I USED ON THIS VIDEO: - Garage Door Seal Bottom Rubber Weather Stripping - amzn.to/3Lm0Gfi - WD-40 White Lithium Grease Spray - amzn.to/3eSeXUR - Retractable Utility Knife - amzn.to/3RSxXkT

PRO TIP: Step 1: Feed the inside track across the length of the door. Its very easy to do just the one rail by yourself. The seal will just hang from that rail with the inner tube facing out Step 2: Working from one side to the other, slip the back lip of the front rail "T" in the slot. Hold the "T" at an angle to slip it in and hold it in place. Step 3: Using a PLASTIC screen roller, roll the front lip of the rail "T" in the track. Use the concave side and be firm but careful as not to cut the rubber lip. Step 4: Trim the ends leaving approximately 1/2" overlap to account for expansion and contraction. You'll know it is in properly when A) it doesn't fall out and B) slides left and right across the length of the door with minor effort. The rubber will stretch and slack at different points so it's best to work it back and forth as you move across the length of the door. The whole effort took 15 minutes once I stopped trying to feed both rails at the same time as shown in the video. Your shoulder will thank you by doing it this way. IYKYK

I just did this a few weeks ago. My doors are only 9 feet wide. The first door we did several months ago, it was BRUTAL. I felt I had cleaned the track pretty dang good, and it ended up taking 3 of us to get it installed. I was constantly applying lube to the track and it still took us over 3 hrs to complete. The next one was another story. I cleaned the track even more vigorously, water, wire bristle brush, more water, brush again, water again, then blew it out with air from compressor. Due to some burs in the track, it started to tear the weather stripping. My Son-in-law was visiting and he had an idea. I had bought the weather stripping as a 20 ft roll from amazon. we had trimmed off some excess and had a section about 5 inches long. My Son-in-law took that small section and ran it back and forth along the track checking for burs and as it turns out, a lot more dirt came out of the track. With the track now plowed clean, we started over, it took 3 of us 10 minutes to completely install the weather stripping. Two people pulling, one person feeding the weather stripping along. I believe the key to a smooth installation is a CLEAN track. Brush it, wash it, brush it, and wash it again, but the best thing you can do, is to plow the road with a small section of the track. Awesome video by the way, I watched it before tackling this project. And yes, I took a small file and smoothed out the 2 or 3 burs we encountered.

This may be in the comments somewhere, but it would be helpful if you advised people that the tracks holding the seal in place are different shapes depending on the manufacturer of the door. The rubber seals have edges that are either T shaped, bead shaped, triangle shaped, L shaped, etc. Dimensions for the seal's edges are important. If the seal doesn't match the aluminum guide you are installing it in, it may not fit, and if you do get it installed, it may pop out in use if the seal and guide do not match..

When installing flexible seals make sure you pre-cut it first and add a bit of allowance for shrinkage then let it settle on the door slot, should be pretty close to what you pre cut it to. If you install this without pre cutting it first..with all the tagging ang pulling to install it you will end up with longer excess material and if you cut that exactly the length of your door you will surely have a gap when the seal finaly settle due to shrinkage. You can also allow the seal to shrink for a few hours then cut to size + extra. Learned all this in my junior years in the Navy installing rubber seals on the ships water tight doors..We want water out of compartments to maintain watertight integrity 😁😁😁

Great video, thank you!....Keep in mind that lithium grease is petroleum based and will break down rubber products. Use silicone lubricant. .(..Same reason you don't want to use petroleum jelly with condoms).

Well cleaning the tracks, and generously lubing it with "silicone based" lubricant , even a rich foam from a dish washing detergent can make the installation much easier .. and last tip: keep your your rubber seal refrigerated for a few hours prior to installation to make it a bit harder and rigid ..that helps it slide through like a hot knife into butter

Use a box cutter and slice the old rubber track in the middle from end to end will make it a lot easier to remove it.

Thanks for the honest video. Just did this myself and it was one of the toughest “short” DIY projects I’ve ever done. Definitely would have been easier with a second person to help pinch and feed the tail end.

Nice job fellas! Your dad was very patient.

I swear you have a video for every issue I am rocking with. Always great info! Thank you for your helpful easy-to-use advice and instructions 😊

Use Windex to spray in the two channels...works great with no harm to the seal.

We just did this "repair" last weekend... First thing I wish we would have done is chosen a cooler day. 105 degree weather isn't the best for this task. We were miserable! But we did take your advice and went with the better seal material. We don't want to be doing this again any time soon. It was tough as my husband kept pushing up from the bottom. Once I explained that it needs to be pushed together like a Taco... it was easier. I fed through from the end and had a flat screw driver to fix it when it popped out of the track, Hubs pulled until I said stop, I'd fix the material into the track and we'd feed more though. All in all, it took us a long while but we're happy with the results. Thank you for the honest video.

So I bought and installed this by myself and it took about 20min from start to finish. I have a problem now that my garage door is not closing because the seal is much thicker than the previous one. It will go all the way down and then reverse all the way back up…suggestions?

SOAPY WATER..KEEP SPRAYING THE NEW DRY EDGE AS YOU SLIDE INTO CHANNEL

Thank you so much for showing some struggle, all the other videos I watched glossed right over that and I was frustrated it was such a struggle.

Thank you!!! I orders my item via Amazon , arrived overnight and installed it by my self in about 45 minutes. Slide, guide and push. Great video!! You saved me at least $100

Just tried to do it myself. Thats why Im here. Learned a lot. Came out good. Got a new subscriber. Was fun to watch. Great video

We replaced ours a few years ago. Unfortunately our garage had 2x8 studs on both sides if the garage door track. No way to feed it so we removed the first rollers so the first garage door panel could be moved clearing the studs. You advice on spending time on cleaning and repair of the bottom track was very important. Lots of White lithium grease too.

I was going to replace my own seal. Glad I watched this! Need to hire a handyman for this job.

So much easier to remove if you just cut it down the middle with a box cutter first. And so much easier to install if you raise the door so the bottom is up where the rails begin to curve.

Great tutorial! Though, I wouldn't use WD-40 as it denatures rubber

Wouldn't removing the last set of roller wheels give you more room? Would be able to fold out that last panel. Only asking because I'm about to do this job next week haha

Welp, that makes up my mind. I'll be hiring someone to fix the seals on my garage doors.

Something I did was to place a cheap 1/2 inch or 5/8 garden hose inside the tube...makes it easier to grab and keeps the seal round and in shape longer and helps to conform to minor imperfections in floor

I did mine by myself, but my garage has two 10’ doors, so there’s a lot less friction than that double door. The key is to keep the infeed side propped up so it’s parallel with the bottom of the door.

I guess it would help if you lubricate the rubber edges before you insert it into the channels. Even watering them might make the job easier. Thank you for all your videos.

i did one alone, it was not easy

Great job by you and your pops, thanks for the video, much appreciated

Thanks for the video. The lithium grease is the way to go. Also greased the rubber strip before I put it in the track - that helped. Also have someone hold the non-feed end up so that the rubber does not bind.

Using lithium grease on the T part of the rubber helps it slide through the channel easier. I'm surprised you did not have to adjust your garage door opener after putting on a much thicker rubber. The opener should be set so that it would reverse thinking it was hitting an obstruction. It also sounded like the door closed very heavily and with a bit of a bang. This could cause the front motor mount to pull through the steel on the garage door. You should have a professional check that the safety system is working properly and the opener is set properly.

I did it alone once… very challenging, but worth it.

A generous amount of WD40 silicone spray will make it a whole lot easier.

Thanks man! I also found lubing the tracks to be the best.

Nice You might want to add a protectant before installing soak seal in 303 much easier to install plus will help seal once a year spray down seal CHEERS

Great video. Thank you!

👍 Great video. A suggestion!! You can remove the bottom roller on each end...And it will be easier to install ... Fyi 🤔

Good job. Determined team work makes a difference.

Glad I watched this. I just assumed the track come off and then screw it back on. 🤷‍♀️👍

Make sure you buy the strip from the door manufacturer. The crap from Home Depot was the wrong size for mine, I got it fed about a third of the way before I gave up. When I bought the correct stuff it slid on no problem.

Nice me and my father in law changed mine last year was definitely 2 person job but we used a wet silicone spray in the garage door groove and a dry silicone spray on the T of the seal so didn’t make slippery when pulled works pretty well

Great job explaining the process. Thank you

Nice. We got the same one and found it to be more difficult than others had claimed. We thought we were doing something wrong, but it's just a matter of a little more effort. Thank you

Hi, I saw this video some time last year in 2022 but totally forgot about it. Then, I did this same install with the aluminum track and one of these bulbed T-track (1/4" instead of the 5/16" that you have) bottom seal rather than the one without the bulb like your original one. The material definitely thicker than ones without the bulb. I installed it myself thinking it'll be easy once I lubed it with WD-40. Basically, I'm guiding it in like what your dad was doing and at the same time pushing with my left hand like what you were doing along the length of the garage door. This pushing and feeding was like 1 inch per minute! I wished I had another person helping but another thing I found that helped was spraying WD-40 onto a towel or paper towel and then wiping it onto the rubber T-track ends as you're feeding the seal into the tracks. it actually sped things up to 2-inches per minute! Took me over 2 hours to do this. Finally, once I got it in, I thought I can fold the ends in like I did with the old one. Nope, this rubber seal is way too thick even if you cut out the bulb on the inside. I decided to use zip ties on either end by drilling a pilot hole through the back side to the front side just above the bulb that sits on the inside. Fish the zip tie through and secure. I don't tighten the zip ties at all so that either end will be loose enough to maintain the U-shape. Anyway, after doing the installation and I'm all proud and all, I close the garage door only to find that the threshold from the compression of the seal re-opened the garage door once the seal hit the concrete. I adjusted the gap so that the garage door doesn't bounce back up. However, what I noticed is that the seal, because of it's thickness and having that bulb inside, is no longer as flexible as those thinner seals. Therefore, the gap from the garage floor to the aluminum track bottom is now anywhere between 1-1/8" to 1.5". Second thing I noticed is the top panel gets pushed against a center ledge once the door is completely "closed" but it is not. Since the bottom is raised about an inch to 3/4" due to the seal not compressing as much, the top is also raised by the same height. My top is not completely closed since there is now an inch gap where the door is actually slanted inwards after the garage door motor track tries to push against the door's top side. I think this seal is too thick and the Chamberlain garage motor thinks the door is hitting something at the bottom as the seal is trying to compress. I can't get the door to compress another half an inch with this seal. I got it to compress another 1/8" more by adjusting the force on the other side of the motor but I didn't want to go any further since my belt track starts to bend upwards to press the door against the top part of the door. The other issue I have with my garage door is that the top is a parabolic curve, which sucks to get the outer trim seal to go flush with the door. I might have to take this bottom seal out and get the traditional bottom seal without the bulb so that the door closes down half an inch further without having to correct a 2x8 board that is sticking out and preventing the door from being flush against the top. The bulb in the seal is a nice idea but the stiffness of the seal makes this installation a nightmare TBH!

Great video thanks. I undid the bottom rollers so the bottom panel swung out and away from the side roller channel, easier to do this operation then by yourself.

Esto es en algún momento que necesito hacer, pero no estoy seguro de cómo. Gracias por esta información y demostración.😊

hey will SOAPY WATER WORK BETTER??? instead of grease?

Well I do agree that it is definitely not as easy as you think! Removing the old weatherstrip was the hardest part, I didn't have to deal with the corners of the channel pinched together but for some reason whoever installed the weather strip they ran sheet metal screws through each end of the strip which were not not visible. I couldn't figure out why I could not get this to slide out. I finally took a utilty knife and started to cut it out then saw the screws on either end. I'm not sure now why I did this but I took the track off to clean it out which did help a lot with installing the new weatherstrip. I had a can of spay silicone lubricant which I sprayed both ends of the channel with, as soon as my wife came home I had her help me pull this through the track while I lined it up and fed it through. I had a little over 1.5 hours removing cleaning and reinstalling the track and about 45 minutes with my wife helping putting the weather strip back. The job did turn out fine, it was my first time maybe if I had done one or two before it might have gone easier.

Great video! I’m glad to see there’s a better door seal that helps prevent memory. I was going to install a 1” backer rod when I change it but no need to with this one. Thanks from New Orleans 👍🏼🎭👍🏼

Lithium grease not silicone? Will lithium interact with the rubber? Thanks for the video…will definitely save me some money.

Is that lithium grease spray you used safe for the rubber seal? I know some lubricant will prematurely deteriorate rubber seals.

Thanks for the video. I will order my garage door stripping this week.Oh by the way any chance I could borrow your dad? 😊

Thank you for covering this topic.

WHY YOU NO REMOVE THE LOWER PANEL ??? AND SWING IT OUT AWAY SO MUCH FASTER... just say`n......

May I suggest that you dust the rubber seal with corn starch. It is very slippery and silky. It will help with moving the seal into place

I just ordered this seal and this is exactly the video I needed thanks

Thanks a lot you made my life so much better really enjoy watching you video again thanks!!

THANK YOU!

Long but I'll tell you what worked for us! Ok, even though I cleaned and lubed the track very well with dishsoap, and ran a five-inch section of seal through the track to verify its cleanliness, the outside seal kept falling off the track as my husband fed it, and I guided it into the track. We took it completely off the track, and my husband doused the seal with more soap. I had to wipe a lot of it off. I wanted to test if the outside track was really bent or not, so we put the seal through the outside track only. The process was quick and easy. With all the soap on the loose seal edge, I used my thumbnail to shove the loose edge into the inside track. It worked! I had used a cheap dollar store paint brush to clean the track so I used the blunt end to shove the seal into the track. With all the soap, it went on like a charm. I did all the cleaning and lubing up for the second track. Instead of dousing the outside track with soap, I used less than my husband but more than I initially used for the first seal. We slid the outside track on easily. Then, without any soap, I used my thumbnail to shove the seal into the inside track. I used a soaped-up toothbrush to "paint" the blunt end of the paint brush and used force, like before, to insert the seal into the track while my husband held the seal up to the track to guide it. I then used that toothbrush to spread soap on the inside of the seal itself. There were two dents in the track, so my husband suggested a tongue depressor. I gently used a craft stick to shove the seal into the track. The second dent was very close to the end of the track and took a lot of "doing." Hope this helps!

I saw someone dump the rubber into dishwashing liquid and water in a pail. Thoughts?

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Thanks man, this is really helpful.

Spraying a rag with the Lithium and coating the seal tracks, and the door tracks would have helped...

Thanks, always welcome information and great presentation.

Wow, thank you for showing us how the job could be done and the materials.

great video, very informative. Thanks!

Great video very helpful, I'm going to replace my garage door seal.

I have been dreading this. Totally agree with the new product being better. Thanks

If I need to trade out the style of the metal bracket at the bottom, is that possible? I took the rubber piece out that was super old, after moving into a new home, and the metal is rusty and I've sprayed endless amounts of WD40 on it but I think the track needs to be replaced. Any suggestions?

Hi, Are you sure that is 16.5 feet. The link you provided says it's 16 ft.

Thank you for this video! Just did mine and wow it is even worse doing by yourself.

If you unbolt the bottom rollers, you'll have way more room to feed the seal in at an angle that will make it much easier to pull it through. Just FYI.

I am about to do this, however I do not have a channel. Someone just nailed the seal to the bottom of my garage doors. They are rotting already from the water. Ahhh fun fun fun. I'll have to get one with a channel and give it a shot. 💪🙂👍

I would suggest disconnecting the bottom guide wheels to allow the door panel to swing down making channel access far easier

Hello. My I think "retainer" is falling off also. Do you have a video showing how to replace that and the seal?

Thanks for the great video. I will be doing this soon.

We just installed the exact same seal as this with tubing, however, the door remains slightly open on top...wont close all the way. Any thoughts? Do I have to fiddle around with the chain up top?

Just replaced mine. Nice rubber one with the round thing in the middle. But now door keeps opening from the garage, once it gets to the bottom it goes right back up. I think because it’s too high now compared to the old sealant and it thinks something is in the way. Anyone know how to reset the door to close at the new height?

I can see why you have to do this with an attached garage. Rodents will be in your house if you don't.

What should you do if the old seal won't slide out?

Thanks. I ordered the same one and will be doing it this weekend.

2:54 Possibly the manufacturer or the installer, some people will take a pair of channel locks and crimp the end so that the bottom seal does not slide over because it will shrink from the UV of the Sun, that is also the reason why Clopay likes to shove a screw in the extrusion.

How does this work with automatic garage doors? Will the chains need adjusting? Will the garage door act as though it is hitting something and not close?

Excellent video sir. You working with your dad makes me proud of you!!

if you dont want it on your car take car out of garage a tip from a pro

My garage seal has only one track for the weather seal to go into, not two, and finding one is getting impossible

After installing my strip the top doesnt close properly now, is there any solution for this?

Excellent installation video!

This sucked. I gave up and now seeking an alternative at this point.

Your videos are top tier my friend. 🔥

Attention: Make sure you have a door with a "T" track if you buy this. I have a "bead" shaped track that's either a "finishline" track which is a small "O" or "Clopay" which is basically a small "D" so this didn't go in easily. Had to cut the "T" on one side and slightly trim the other so it would feed into my track slowly. Eventually I just wedged the track in with a pry tool which worked. Overall everything took 4.5 hours to do, even with the track off my garage door (My track pops in and out). Next time I'll get the correct seal. It would've taken maybe 20 minutes with the right seal.

Now that you've used it for a year, how is the seal holding up?

Just did mine by myself which sucked. 1. Make sure you get the right size. Most of these strip have a 5/16 rubber 'tooth' to slide in the track but mine was smaller 2. Lube the rubber tooth well i.e. piece that slides in metal garage door track 3. Pro tip if you don't have help: I have double doors so I hung the Slack end on the adjacent track, then pinched the bottom of the rubber to slide it, while using my other hand to guide it in

I just ordered mine Unfortunately, I gotta do it myself. Good job guys.

I bought the KIT from Amazon for this product for my ten foot wide garage door. The kit includes a new aluminum track for the door that you slide the rubber seal into. Replacing the track as well as the rubber seal was very easy using the self-drilling metal sheet screws provided. It was easier to slide the seal into the new track because it was clean and new. (and maybe because it was only ten feet wide?) I did this on my own. Took about half an hour. JWL-New York

Great video guys! I have been putting off replacing my garage weather seal. Your video helps a lot. I am a DIY around the house and I will get this seal ordered and get to work! Good presentation and helpfully explained throughout.

So is this one better then the one that you had on the door at first ? I have the first one just haven't gotten put on my garage door yet

they will shrink over time so more is better.

Thanks! Some other tips I picked up from the comments here and on other vids: The vertical tracks on both sides of the door made it very hard to feed in the rubber, so I took them off. This made it easier to access the track because I could tilt the bottom door panel inward. Even after cleaning and lubing the tracks and the rubber, I couldn't pull it through, so I put one track in place easily. Then used a screen roller to push in the other track. Still took time and elbow grease, but it worked. Also noticed that my garage floor is no longer flat due to house settling, but hoping the rubber will conform.

Thanks for the nice, easy, and honest video. Very helpful in terms of what to do. That said, the seal itself recommended from Amazon was not optimal for my door. Not blaming you for that one, but maybe just make mention that bix box store options may work as well, as it did in my case with a Home Depot product. But again, thanks for the help!