These are some of the most common discontinued garage door models in the Portland metro area:
Taylor Garage Doors
Taylor was one of the first manufacturers of insulated steel garage doors. Many homes that were built during the 1990’s and early 2000’s came with either the Taylor T-Core (1 3/8” thick) or Taylor Encore (2” thick). Taylor brand doors have a distinctive design for which there is no match currently being made by any brand. Unfortunately, Taylor went out of business during the Great Recession.
Identifying features:
Panel design – Taylor used a rather distinctive panel design that falls in between the common short panel and long panel designs that pretty much all garage door manufacturers offer today. Their 16’ wide models had six rectangular raised design panels across on each door section, and the 8’ and 9’ wide models had three. While a few other brands (such as the now defunct Stanley) offered a similar look, they are extremely rare
Hinges – Most Taylor doors came with black plastic hinges. The idea was that they were supposed to be quieter than metal hinges. Unfortunately, plastic Taylor hinges are prone to breaking, leading to damage to the door sections when the tongue and groove no longer lined up properly. Eventually, Taylor scrapped the plastic hinges in favor of traditional metal garage door hinges.
Delamination – Many Taylor doors, particularly the 2” thick Encore model, had a problem with the adhesive that holds the metal face of the door to the core. Over time the glue would break down resulting in the face coming loose. This is most noticeable on the ends of the doors where the loose metal face can cause binding against the weather seal and door jams.
Rust – Older models tend to start rusting from the “tongue” edge on the top of each door section. Depending on how much water comes in contact with the door, this can leave ugly streaks running down the face. Unfortunately there isn’t much that can be done to stop this once it begins.
While they did have some problems, Taylor brand garage doors are generally quite heavy duty and rigid – they hold up to a bump from a vehicle better than almost any other brand. If you have a Taylor, it is critical that you make sure that the plastic hinges are tight. When they come loose and then break it can ruin the door. And since there is no current matching design, you could end up having to replace all of your garage doors if one gets damaged beyond repair.
Wayne Dalton Garage Doors
Wayne Dalton is one of the biggest door manufacturers around today. While they do make some good doors, they specialize in light weight builder’s grade products. Most new construction, especially by large homebuilders like DR Horton and Lennar, come with the Wayne Dalton 9100 or 9605.
Model RP36
The Wayne Dalton RP36 was discontinued long ago in the early 2000’s. There are still lots of them in use today. They are relatively easy to damage, and are famous for the rib at the top of the door cracking where the opener arm mounts. The RP36 can be identified by the smooth metal skin on the back of the door and built in ribs. Replacement sections are not available.
Model 9600
The Wayne Dalton 9600 was an extremely popular door with builders, but was changed to the model 9605 in 2017. The new 9605 sections will work with the older 9600, sort of. While the design matches (for most sizes and panel designs), the sections don’t fit together quite perfectly – I have replaced a few damaged 9600 panels with the 9605 and never been very happy with the result.
Wayne Dalton charges an outrageous amount for individual replacement sections. If you have a damaged 9100, 9600, or 9605 I usually recommend spending a little extra money and getting a whole new door from a manufacturer like Amarr – it will be a significant upgrade.
C.H.I.
C.H.I. was a popular brand in the Portland area from the mid 2000’s until approximately 2021. They made good quality doors. Unfortunately, C.H.I. pulled their distribution out of the Portland metro area during the Covid pandemic.
NorthWest Door/Hormann
In mid 2019, NorthWest Door (now called Hormann), made changes to their entire line of residential doors. If you have a damaged model that was manufactured before the change there are no replacement sections available.
Windsor Garage Doors
Many homes built in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s came with Windsor brand doors. They made a variety of residential models, the most common of which were the 730, 755, 775, and 790. While apparently still in business, they stopped distributing in the Pacific Northwest around 2010 and are no longer available here.
