Garage Door Repair in Huntington, NY

Three centuries of houses

The Town of Huntington was settled in 1653, and the hamlet around Huntington Harbor still has colonial-era houses, carriage barns and old outbuildings, some of which now serve as garages. Walt Whitman was born in 1819 in West Hills, in what is now Huntington Station, and his farmhouse is a state historic site. South of the village, Huntington Station filled in with postwar capes, ranches and high ranches, many with attached single garages.

That range means technicians see everything here: tall carriage-barn doors that need custom sizing, heavy wood doors on older homes, and standard 8- and 9-foot steel doors on suburban streets. Old barn-style openings often lack the headroom for a ceiling opener, and a wall-mounted opener or a side-mount kit can solve it.

Hills and harbor

Huntington is hillier than most of Long Island, and many driveways slope toward the garage. Water and leaves follow the slope to the bottom of the door, so a worn bottom seal shows up fast, and in winter that water can freeze the door to the floor. Replacing the seal, and in some cases adding a threshold, keeps the garage dry. Near the harbor, galvanized hardware helps resist salt air.

If you live in one of Huntington's incorporated villages, such as Northport, Huntington Bay or Lloyd Harbor, permits come from the village, not the town.

Permits and paperwork in Huntington

Huntington is a hamlet in the Town of Huntington. Building permits for most addresses come from the Town of Huntington Department of Planning and Environment (Building Division); villages such as Northport and Lloyd Harbor have their own. A like-for-like repair, such as new springs or an opener, does not usually need a permit. A new door, a widened opening or a wind-rated coastal installation may, and the installer should check before ordering.

Garage door contractors working in Suffolk County generally need a home improvement license from the Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing and Consumer Affairs. Ask for the license number when you book. New York law also requires a written contract for home improvement work over $500.

What Suffolk's climate does to garage doors

Suffolk has shoreline on the Sound, the Great South Bay, the Peconic bays and the ocean, so salt air reaches far inland and rust is the most common enemy of springs, cables and hardware. Winters bring hard freezes and road salt, and the first very cold morning of the year is when tired springs tend to snap.

Heavy rain is no stranger here: Islip recorded 13.57 inches in 24 hours in August 2014, the New York State record. A good bottom seal and a door that closes evenly keep that water out of the garage.

ZIP codes and nearby areas

Calls are taken from all of Huntington and Huntington Station, ZIP codes 11743 and 11746. Nearby Suffolk County communities also covered include Cold Spring Harbor, Centerport, Greenlawn, Wyandanch, Saint James and Central Islip.

Nearby town pages: Northport, Oyster Bay, Syosset, Melville. See every community on the Suffolk County page.