Q: I have a split/dent on one garage door panel. Should I replace it?

A: There are at least 3 panels in a sectional roll up garage door. All screwed together by hinges on the inside of the door. They also are made of different thickness of sheet metal. The thinner sheet metal will tend to split or crack easier.

Anytime a door panel gets dented

it almost always leads to cracking in the future. A lot of the time the dents are caused by someone parking in the driveway and constantly bumping into the door panels. And it is hard to feel the contact with a car because the sheet metal is pretty thin. And if you have a basketball hoop above your garage door. You are certain to get dents in a panel. Splits in door panels lead to water coming into garage and will speed up the rusting process.

almost always have to replace the panel

If the panel is got some major damage to it you almost always have to replace the panel. If the damage is very minor than you can add a strut (Strut: struts are metal reinforcements that attaches at left side of door to right hand side.) to the back of the panel to keep it rigid. Dents can sometimes just can be pushed out from inside of door.

In most cases i have just added a strut and will be a good temporary fix. But once the door panel has deteriorated it just gets progressively worse. And sometimes I have had to replace the whole door.

Ask your technician if it is possible to just replace the damaged panel without having to replace the whole door. Panel replacement is not always possible because age of door.