Symptom check
Every storm leaves a puddle inside the garage door
Water under a closed garage door usually slips past a worn or torn bottom seal, and a new seal stops it. Where the driveway slopes toward the door and water pools there, a threshold strip helps and a drain may be the lasting fix.
Updated
Watch it rain at the door once
Next time it rains, look at the bottom of the closed door from inside and see where the water first appears: along the whole seal, at one corner, or up through the slab itself. Move boxes and anything electrical off the floor in the meantime. Water at a corner usually means a torn seal end or a low spot, while a wet slab far from the door points to drainage.
What usually causes it, in order
Where the water first shows up is the clue, and most of what follows is a door part rather than concrete.
- Most common
A worn, split or shrunken bottom seal
What you notice: Water seeps in along the length of the door or at its ends, and the rubber is flat, hard, cracked or short of the corners.
The repair: Swap in bottom rubber with a profile that suits your slab, and replace a corroded retainer channel along with it. Garage Door Weather Seal Replacement, from $145
- Common
A driveway pitched toward the garage
What you notice: Rain runs down the driveway, pools against the door and finds the lowest point of the seal, worst in long, heavy storms.
The repair: Glue a threshold strip to the slab to turn shallow runoff; a trench drain or regrading is concrete work on the driveway. Garage Door Weather Seal Replacement, from $145
- Common
No threshold, or one that has come loose
What you notice: Water crosses the line where the door lands, and a rubber strip on the slab is missing, peeling or cracked.
The repair: Set a new threshold seal on clean, dry concrete in line with the closed door. Garage Door Weather Seal Replacement, from $145
- Less common
A door that stops short of the slab
What you notice: The seal hovers just above the concrete at one end or across the whole width, though it seals when the door is lowered by hand.
The repair: Reset the down travel so the seal compresses evenly, then confirm the door still reverses on an obstruction. Garage Door Opener Repair, from $155
- Less common
Leaks at the jambs or side seals
What you notice: Water runs down the inside of the trim beside the door, or the wood jamb at floor level is dark and soft.
The repair: Replace the side weatherstrip and have soft jamb wood repaired before it lets in more water. Garage Door Weather Seal Replacement, from $145
- Less common
A rotted or rusted bottom section
What you notice: The bottom of the door itself is soft, rusted through or coming apart, so water passes above the seal.
The repair: Replace the bottom section of the door, matched to the rest, and fit a new seal with it. Garage Door Panel Replacement, from $445
Safe checks before you call
These are done from inside with the door closed, ideally during a rain or right after one.
- Look at the bottom seal from inside for flat, cracked or missing rubber, especially at the two ends.
- Note whether water enters along the seal, at one corner, or rises through cracks in the slab away from the door.
- Stand at the street end of the driveway and see whether it falls toward the garage.
- Check the slab under the door for a threshold strip, and whether it is peeling or cracked.
- Press on the lowest panel and the jamb trim near the floor, feeling for soft wood or flaking rust.
- Look at the downspouts near the garage to see whether roof water dumps onto the driveway.
What a threshold seal does, and when water needs a drain
A threshold seal is a low rubber hump fixed to the concrete where the door lands, and it turns back the shallow sheet of water a driveway carries in ordinary rain.
Paired with a fresh bottom seal, it closes the floor line from both sides, which handles many leaks at a garage door. Where the driveway funnels a whole storm at the garage and water stands against the door, the lasting answer is a trench drain or regrading. That is concrete work; we will tell you so and seal the door to suit it.
Why Clark County rain finds the garage threshold
Rain here comes in long, heavy runs: December alone averages just over 6 inches at Pearson Field in Vancouver, and November and January each top 5.
Long wet spells find every weakness: a builder seal on a 1990s or 2000s house that has hardened and pulled back from the corners, a driveway poured with its fall toward the garage, or a street that drains poorly. The City of Vancouver notes poor storm water drainage in much of Riverview, along the Old Evergreen Highway, and garages on streets like that take more water at the slab.
Replace a tired seal first, then watch one storm before spending on concrete. A wood jamb or bottom rail that never dries out between November storms is where rot gets its start.
What the seal and threshold job involves
We measure the gap at several points along the closed door, choose a bottom seal height and profile that fills it, and set the close limit so the rubber compresses evenly.
Where a threshold is called for, we clean and dry the slab, set the strip with adhesive in line with the closed door and let it cure before the door runs over it. Side weatherstrip, a rusted retainer and a rotted bottom section are priced as their own lines.
Water coming under the door: questions and answers
Do I need a new bottom seal or a threshold to stop water under my garage door?
Start with the bottom seal if it is flat, cracked or short at the ends, because it is the part that wears out. Add a threshold when the seal is sound and water still pushes in, usually on a driveway that falls toward the door. Plenty of wet garages end up with both.
How do I stop rain running down a sloped driveway into my garage?
New rubber on the door plus a threshold strip on the slab will turn back the shallow runoff of an ordinary storm. When the slope sends enough water that it stands against the door, a trench drain across the driveway is the lasting answer, and that is concrete work. Turning nearby downspouts away from the driveway helps too.
How can I tell where the water under my garage door is coming from?
Watch the first minutes of a rain from inside. Water along the seal is the seal; water at one corner is a torn end or a low spot; water from the trim is the side seal or jamb; water rising through cracks well inside the door is groundwater or drainage.
What will a garage door threshold seal keep out?
A threshold seal helps keep out wind-driven rain, shallow driveway runoff, leaves and floor drafts, and the door seal gets a raised lip to close down on. Water that pools deeper than the hump, or rises up through the slab, calls for drainage work alongside it.
Can water coming under the garage door damage the door itself?
Yes, over time. Standing water at the threshold rusts the bottom of a steel door and its seal retainer, rots a wood door's lowest rail and the jamb legs, and rusts the bottom brackets the lift cables hang from. Catch it while it is still a seal job.
Where to go next
Nearby service areas
This call comes in from Washougal, Brush Prairie, Duluth, WA and the rest of our Washington service area.
Want a price before anyone drives over?
Call and describe what the door is doing, or text a photo of the door and the spring above it. You hear the likely repair and where its price starts, then decide.