The Strut Connector Kit

Strut Tips

Insulated Garage Doors

 A popular YouTube video shows users how he fixed his insulated door that was buckling on the top two panels. If you click on the above link and play the video for 30 seconds, you may notice a fatal flaw in how he installed the strut. He had good intentions, but this video has destroyed many garage Doors. The picture to the right with the vertical styles is what struts are attached to. However, not all insulated doors have vertical styles. Like our friend in the video. He secured his brace to only thin gauge steel. His door doesn’t have styles. If your not sure if your insulated door has vertical styles, tap a finish nail below the hinge through the skin. If it’s hollow, you will need to install the strut on the hinges.

alt="vertical styles on a garage door"

Can my door support the additional weight?

An easy way to tell if your garage door can handle the additional weight of one (13 pounds) or more struts is to weigh the door. You will need a bathroom scale to do this.
Step 1. Unplug the garage door opener
Step 2. Disengage the opener by pulling the red cord.
Step 3. Lower the door onto the scale

  • If the door is balanced correctly, it will weigh 1 to 5 pounds.
  • If the door doesn’t stay on the scale, then the door is underbalanced, and adding struts will help balance the door.
  • If the door weighs over 20 lbs. the springs need to be adjusted or changed

How many struts do I need

Fact: About 80% of residential wind damage starts with wind entry through the garage door. The majority of garage doors manufactured in the last two decades are engineered to withstand 40 mph winds.
It is no surprise that we ship so many strut kits to California, Texas, and New York because these states and others have over 400 severe winds (40+ mph) events a year. Non-insulated garage doors that face the west are especially vulnerable. Taking a proactive approach and installing two-door struts on new doors will help keep your door looking and running like new.

Angle Iron / Perforated Iron

If you have a non-insulated door with torn or cracked panels and you are trying to get one more year out of your door, then an 8-foot piece of angle iron may be your best bet. Of course, it won’t solve the problem, but it will slow it down.

Garage doors endure Flexural (Pushing In And Out On The Door), Torsional (Twisting) & Tension (Pulling). If you are considering using angle iron or any other brace other than a strut, it won’t stop the torsion forced on the door, and therefore you will eventually get cracks in the panel. We know this from the thousands of struts we have sold online; almost 50% of our customers have tried angle iron or similar only to find out it did more harm than good.

Plus, consider this, two eight-foot pieces of angle iron are $70, the Five Star Doors strut is $109, and we offer a free strut placement consultation worth $45 for FREE. When you eventually get a new door, the strut is transferable whereas, the angle iron is not.

Top Panel

If you have a garage door opener on your door. The door should have a. strut across the top panel. Even with a DC opener there is torque transferred to the top panel.

Bent Panel

Struts will help a bent door by offering the affected panel support. However, once a panel is compromised, it will never look perfect again. The goal is to make it look presentable from street view and to keep it from buckling with other door panels when the door cycles. Before installing the strut:

  1. Unplug your opener
  2. Disengage the opener by pulling the red cord
  3. Lift the door manually high enough to push on the panel. If the door is bent inwards, lift the door sufficiently so the bent panel is centered under the garage door header.
  4. Push firmly but carefully on the door panel. Get it as straight as possible.
  5. Install strut
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