Mission was built out by 1960, and its garages were sized for the cars of that decade rather than the ones in them now.
Post-war housing, original garages
Mission is dense, walkable and almost entirely built out between 1945 and 1960. The garages reflect that — a lot of single-car attached bays, some detached garages set back off the alley, and openings that are frequently 8 feet wide and only 7 feet tall. Modern SUVs and trucks fit through an 8x7 with very little to spare, which is why we get called out here for doors that have been clipped by a mirror or a roof rack.
If you have caught your door, do not keep running it. A struck section usually bends the track behind it, and the opener will happily keep forcing a bent door until something more expensive gives. Shut it off at the wall and call.
Alley garages and what they need
The detached garages behind the older Mission homes take weather from every side, and they are usually unheated and uninsulated. That combination is hard on hardware. Bearings dry out faster, springs corrode, and the bottom seal cracks in a couple of winters instead of a decade. An annual tune-up on a detached alley garage is worth more than it is on an attached one.
Opener choices in a small garage
Mission garages are short, and a standard rail opener eats ceiling space you may want for storage. A wall-mount jackshaft opener mounts beside the torsion bar instead of on the ceiling and frees the whole span above your car. It needs a torsion system rather than extension springs to work, so on some Mission homes it means converting first — but if you have been eyeing overhead storage racks, it is the move.
Getting to you
Twenty minutes from the shop. Mission is small and we cover it quickly.
