We moved to a new house and bought the Chamberlain HD620EVC from Home Depot and because of the tight timeline we had, we decided to get the professional to install it. It was a huge mistake to let Home Depot Installation Service do the job. Looked what happened after less than 1 week!!!! Luckily no one was injured or we would have contacted the lawyer and sued them. The time I spent on fixing it could have been used on the installation ourselves.
Can you believe this is called professional installation from Home Depot Installation Service? Okay, let’s examine the problems.
At least 10 mistakes the installer had made
First of all, I am just another DIY guy but with more than a decade of Home improvement experience, I feel I have enough qualification to point out what went wrong with such a simple installation and I will show you my DIY fix.
Installation Quality: (see photos for details)
- Angle iron bent by using too much force on screw/bolt from impact wrench
- Installer did not even know how to screw/bolt properly in a straight line, leaving the bolt rested with 30 degree angle on the iron
- Angle iron was not level with the drywall tape line! Installer did not know use tape to measure, probably eyeballing.
- Opener buttons were not even level and they were not lined up
Lack of Common Sense and Customer Care: (see photos for details)
- Buttons mounted top of another – How can you tell which one controls LEFT/RIGHT door? Common sense on usability! Possible reason: Drywall Anchors were provided by Chamberlain package but installer did not use any. Why? Because there was wood stud vertically, taking short cut to finish the job faster instead of focusing on customer care.
Lack of Structural knowledge: (see photos for details)
- Using only a small piece 2×4 with 4 screws to support the track, that’s the first reason why the whole thing fell
- Wood was not pre-drilled and screws were placed too close to the edge, causing the wood to split. That’s the second reason for the track to go down
- Wayne Dalton garage door has the warning label in RED color not to install on that thin metal plate. No common sense or knowledge on structure/support.
- On one of the metal brackets, they have given you 4 holes for a reason. But 2 bolts were missing.
- With such high ceiling, whenever the garage door opener was engaged, the whole unit was wobbling so much. Additional support was missing from the whole structure.
Quote from the warning label “Do not attach trolley type operator to this stile. Its only purpose is to meet ULC ORD-C263.7. Attach trolley type operator to top of section using Wayne-Dalton operator bracket. Part No. 324864”.
The solution and DIY Fix
Obviously the installer was not in Garage Door installation business, probably Home Depot just hired some handyman off the street. As I said, I am not a professional either but with some common sense and help of Google, I have fixed all of the issues in the proper way. What a waste of time. See the photos in details (with description).
Home Depot – Full Refund (satisfaction guaranteed) but they didn’t communicate
We told Home Depot about the incident at Customer Service and they were glad that there was no person being injured or damaged to the cars, otherwise we would have contacted the lawyer and sued both the installer and Home Depot. Well, they gave us full refund on the installation – that’s good part about the satisfaction guaranteed. We told them we would fixed this ourselves and asking them not to send anyone attempt to fix it.
Next day, guess what happened? The same installation guy showed up and apologized for the incident, his boss told him to come to fix it. Of course, I politely sent him away. Obviously, Home Depot management had some internal communication issues – we have told them repeatedly (several associates at Customer Service desk) not to send anyone. Sigh.
HGTV Anyone?
The installation guy was actually a very nice person with good personality but I am sorry just being nice doesn’t cut it, I guess the guy needs to watch more HGTV.
Side Note: Chamberlain HD620EVC – same problem with Nest/Honeywell
On the side note of Chamberlain, it’s a very good product. The “Timer-To-Close” feature is the best, it is a must have. Strongly recommended. However, the SmartPhone Control has huge privacy and security concern, the problem is that it doesn’t let you communicate with your unit via WiFi without Internet. It forces you to go through the cloud, the problem is exactly like Honeywell/Nest Smart Thermostat. The unit does not have a local web server, MyQ internet gateway sends data to the server every 10-20 seconds. Therefore, if hackers break into their cloud database, they can sell the data to the local burglars. They will know exactly your daily routine (what time you usually leave the house and what time you come back). For people with high security and privacy concern, do not use.
Hi.. i’m also in the GTA..where did you get your operator bracket? I tried calling a few local dealers but had no luck….
I got it from this place [PRIVATE MESSAGE], these guys are expert. Call them in advance making sure they have stock before you go pick them up.
You missed one part, you did not install a strut over top of the built in strut for a proper installation. The Wayne Dalton doors are not much thicker than the foil on an old TV dinner, you might want to fix that error before your door sticks to the ground and the operator folds your top section. Oh and putting 4 lags in the nose piece is way overkill, there are four holes to give you and alternate mounting.
Thanks Mike for the comment. The local garage store expert who sold me the bracket said I should be okay without additional strut, indeed I asked the same question too. But I am not an expert, I just trusted them. So far no problem for more than 1.5 years, if it breaks I will post it here. Hopefully it doesn’t happen.
Not sure if anyone is still watching this but if so, how would you reinforce the strut.
I did not reinforce the strut as I mentioned in the above comments. My fix already passed 2 years since I first wrote the article and it has been pretty solid so far. But I have seen my neighbor’s door installation (done by another professional), they added a long metal strut on the very top portion of the door. Then they attached the nose piece where top screw goes through the new strut and the bottom screw was attached to that thin metal plate with the warning sticker. But of course, if you add additional struct for reinforcement, you cannot use the Wayne Dalton bracket I have.
A few observations…
The required torque on the ceiling mount lag screws will easily deform the steel angle, and perhaps even slightly crush the drywall beneath. Often the experienced tradesman may angle the mounting lag screws to ‘get more meat’, which may actually more desirable than screwing perpendicular through the hole which may barely overlap the joist (in which case you are likely to split the joist… bad idea).
The top angle not being lined up with the drywall tape… OK I’ll give you that one, as long as the drywall seam is parallel to the door (likely it is). His eyeballing should have been followed up with a tape measure, LOL. Now about the wobbly long angle… that’s par for a pro install. There is not much lateral load on the motor anyways, and most building codes won’t require much more than what your installer did. That said, I like to ‘cross brace’ it, even on the shorter installs… just one piece of angle going from the bottom corner near the motor, to the opposite corner near the top angle will stiffen her up quite a bit. If you get it as close to the corners as you can, it will be even stiffer than your setup with all those extra bars (since your design still leaves 2 very long ‘cantilevers’ at the bottom). That said, I’m a form follows function type, and many customers prefer no cross brace (it is quieter than when cross braced).
Just an update – Today is 2019 March, it’s 5 years after the fix. Zero problem so far. For those of you were wondering reinforcing the strut was needed and if the Wayne-Dalton bracket was good enough, I can tell you everything is still working perfectly.
Hi there, can you let me know where you got this piece ?
thanks.
Nino.
Update: Today is July 2022, the garage doors are still running strong. It passed 8 years without a single problem, that pretty much concludes you don’t need to install additional “strut over top” as per some comments said. Wayne-Dalton bracket and self tapping screws are strong enough.