About 4ruemontmartre

The Trade We Ended Up In

4ruemontmartre works on garage doors in Huntington Beach, out of a shop on Goldenwest St in the 92646 ZIP. We do the ordinary work, springs and rollers and openers, the same as anyone. What we get called for is height.

That was not a plan. It happened because of where we are. A city with a harbour on one side and a lot of tract housing on the other produces a very specific problem: expensive things on trailers, parked outside, because the garage they were meant to live in has a seven foot opening.

What a Seven Foot Opening Actually Means

Seven feet has been the residential default for decades, and for a car it is fine. It stops being fine the moment you own something with a tower, an air conditioner shroud, a roof rack, a lift kit, or a bunk trailer under it. Those add up quietly. A boat that measures a modest eight feet six on the water sits over nine feet tall once it is strapped to a trailer with fifteen inch wheels.

The other thing owners run into is subtler. The opening is only half the problem. Once the door rolls back it sits horizontally under your ceiling, and so does the opener rail, and both of them are now the lowest obstruction in the garage. Plenty of rigs pass through the opening and then hit the open door.

How We Approach It

We start with a tape measure and three numbers, and we are honest about what they mean. If your clearance problem is two inches, there are cheaper answers than a new door, and we will say so. If your clearance problem is eighteen inches, there is no clever trick and we will say that too.

When the job is real, it is a proper job. A taller door is heavier, so the springs get recalculated for the finished weight and the drum change, the track is stepped up where the load calls for it, and the opener is chosen for torque and travel rather than for the box it comes in. Every opener we install carries the battery backup that California has required on residential openers since July 2019, and the entrapment photo eyes go back within six inches of the floor because UL 325 is not optional.

Salt

We are close to the water, and salt air is unkind to anything plated. On a tall door there is more hardware carrying more load, so we spec galvanized track and stainless fasteners on the exposed side and we look hard at cables during every service. A rusted cable on a two hundred pound door is a nuisance. On a four hundred pound door it is not.

Get in Touch

Call (714) 307-0921 or come by 8284 Goldenwest St, Huntington Beach, CA 92646. Bring your three numbers.