The old door and hardware leave with the crew, and you are shown the release, remotes and keypad.
- Single and double doors
- Steel and wood-look
- Tracks, springs and seals
- Free estimate
- Warranty
- Lifetime, made in Canada
Garage doors inThornhill
Garage doors in Thornhill: new doors, repairs on every make, and openers in chain, belt and screw drive. Most repair visits close the job, and the estimate costs nothing.
- from the shop, by Yonge St
- 15 min
- City of Vaughan and City of Markham
- York Region
- 70 Google reviews
- 4.9★
- in Richmond Hill
- Since 2018
About · Modern Empire Doors
Both doors,one crew.
We're a garage door company that replaces front doors too, so the two doors on the front of your house are chosen together and finished to match. If a door can be repaired we repair it, and if it's past repairing we'll tell you.
- Since
- 2018
- Shop
- 138 Yorkland St, Richmond Hill
- New doors
- Made in Canada
Services
A new facefor the front of the house.
For a new build or a renovation, with the front door to match.
- Flush or long-panel
- Frosted or clear glass
- Full-view glass doors
- Lites in a row or column
- Warranty
- Lifetime
Foam, not bare steel: quieter, stiffer, and it dents less.
- Foam core, steel skins
- A new bottom seal
- Springs for the heavier door
- Style and colour
- Made in
- Canada
Glass, frame and lock chosen together, since decorative glass is the weakest point of a door.
- Fibreglass, steel or wood
- Sidelights and transoms
- Frame, plate and deadbolt
- Free estimate
- Estimate
- Starts with two photos
A bedroom window has to open from inside without tools, so the opening size is checked before the order.
- Replacement windows
- New or larger openings
- Bedroom and basement windows
- Rated, sealed, trimmed
- Estimate
- Free, started by phone
Springs are chosen by how often the door opens, and a busy door is looked at more often.
- Sectional and rolling doors
- High-cycle springs
- Overhead door repair
- Operators and safety reversal
- Also
- Tune-ups for working doors
Repair and service
Garage door repair,at any hour.
Open 24 hours, every day, weekends and holidays included.
Planning a new door? See the doors
Stuck open at night? The red release cord, and what to leave alone until we arrive.
- Door stuck open or shut
- Off its track
- Spring or cable gone
- Night and weekend calls
- Most repairs
- Finished in one visit
Off its track, or won’t close? A door that grinds, drops or lifts crooked usually needs one part, not replacing.
- Tracks, rollers, hinges
- Cables and springs
- Panels and sensors
- Seals and tune-ups
- Repairs
- Every make of door
A loud bang, then it won’t lift? On a two-spring door, both are replaced when one breaks.
- Torsion springs
- Extension springs
- Cables, drums
- Balanced, tested
- Single door
- Most take about an hour
The remote does nothing? A new opener comes with the remotes and keypad programmed before the crew leaves.
- Opener repair
- Chain, belt and screw drives
- Remotes and keypads
- Safety sensors
- New opener
- One visit, a few hours
York Region
One town, two city halls.
Which side of Yonge Street the house is on decides the permit office, the heritage plan and the noise hours, so the facts below are kept by side.
Municipalities
- City of Vaughan
City of Vaughan Building Standards, west of Yonge Streetsource, vaughan.ca, opens in a new tab
- City of Markham
City of Markham Building Standards, east of Yonge Streetsource, markham.ca, opens in a new tab
- City of Vaughan
Permits
On either side of Yonge, changing the size of a door opening is a building permit job. West of Yonge, Vaughan lists 'Replacing existing windows and doors' among projects that 'do not require a building permit', and east of Yonge, Markham exempts 'Replacing windows or doors with no changes to the size of the rough opening'.source, vaughan.ca, opens in a new tab
By-laws
- Noise hours, Vaughan side
On the Vaughan side, 'Construction noise is permitted from 7am to 7pm', Monday to Saturday except statutory holidays, and work outside those hours needs an exemption applied for at least 90 days ahead.source, vaughan.ca, opens in a new tab
- Noise hours, Markham side
On the Markham side, construction equipment may run on Saturdays only from 9 am to 5 pm, loud noise is not permitted after 7 pm, and Sundays and statutory holidays are off limits.source, markham.ca, opens in a new tab
- Driveway widening, Vaughan side
On the Vaughan side, 'Any plans to widen driveways or cut existing curbs requires approval from the City of Vaughan', and zoning sets the width.source, vaughan.ca, opens in a new tab
- Curb cuts, Markham side
On the Markham side, 'If you want to change the curb by widening or creating a new curb cut, you need a permit' from the City.source, markham.ca, opens in a new tab
and 1 more on the municipalities' pages
- Noise hours, Vaughan side
Heritage
- Thornhill-Vaughan Heritage Conservation District (City of Vaughan, west of Yonge St)
- Thornhill-Markham Heritage Conservation District (City of Markham, east of Yonge St)
The old village around Yonge Street between Centre and John Streets has two district plans, one for each city. West of Yonge, Vaughan requires a Heritage Permit for district properties, after a review that covers doors, windows, trim, cladding and exterior paint. East of Yonge, Markham says 'Owners of all properties in a heritage conservation district must obtain approval for exterior alterations to property'.source, vaughan.ca, opens in a new tab
The houses
Most of Thornhill's houses are detached homes built from the 1960s to the 1980s, around an old village on Yonge Street from the mid 1800s. Royal Orchard and Bayview Glen date from 1960 to 1980, German Mills and Thornlea from the 1970s and 1980s, and Thornhill Woods on the Vaughan side is newer. The village keeps Victorian, Gothic, Georgian and Edwardian houses on Yonge and John Streets.source, en.wikipedia.org, opens in a new tab
Bayview Glen's ranch bungalows on very large lots and Uplands' mid-century bungalows come from the era of single attached garages and carports. Thornlea and Thornhill Woods are two-storey detached houses, Thornhill Woods on 36 and 40 foot lots.source, en.wikipedia.org, opens in a new tab
- postwar
- suburban
- new build
- prewar
From the shop
15 minutes and 10 km from Richmond Hill, by Yonge St.
From Richmond Hill the van runs south on Yonge Street or Bayview Avenue. Highway 7 is the community's northern edge, Steeles Avenue its southern edge with Toronto, Dufferin Street its western and Highway 404 its eastern edge, and Yonge Street divides the Vaughan and Markham sides.
Neighbourhoods
- Old Thornhill (the village): On both sides of Yonge Street between Centre Street and John Street, where the historic business district grew; the community 'is divided in half between the City of Markham and the City of Vaughan'.
- Thornhill Woods: City of Vaughan: a large subdivision north of Highway 407 between Bathurst and Dufferin Streets, popular with young families, with detached houses on 36 and 40 foot lots.
- Uplands
- Royal Orchard
- Bayview Glen
- German Mills
- Thornlea
- Grandview Estates
Reviews
Rated on Google,quoted as written.
From the reviews homeowners left on our Google listing: cut for length, never reworded.
Rated 4.9 out of 5 from 70 reviews on Google (opens Google Maps)After years of dents and damage from hockey pucks, our new garage door looks amazing!!
I’m very happy with the work done on my front door and garage door. … Both doors look amazing …
Everyone else told me I’d be waiting anywhere from 6 weeks to 4 months just to get a door delivered and installed.
My garage spring and cables snapped on a Sunday afternoon, Moe was able to swing by the next morning …
Great Service by Moe, very clean job, on time and no surprises.
It completely changed the look of my home and has already received so many compliments.
The work was done in 5 hours and they cleaned up after themselves leaving no trace of my old garage door and front door.
I called Moe he was here in the same hour and we got our new doors in two days
He didn’t just fix the immediate problem … made sure the door was running smoother and quieter than before.
We were presented with multiple options and given the pros and cons of each.
… replacing my destroyed garage door for a beautiful modern style door.
Replaced my front door and garage door with a remote. … the finished work looks amazing.
I had a quote within a day … and the new door installed by that weekend.
Garage door spring was broken. Moe was able to come out the next day and fit it.
Moe takes the time to get to know what your needs are and has affordable recommendations.
Moe did an excellent job replacing our old, worn down garage door with a beautiful, heavy duty white one.
… he was here the next day and we had our garage doors and front doors done within one week.
The whole process was seamless and I couldn’t believe how fast the job was completed without any hiccups.
… came on short notice to take a look. He quickly diagnosed the problem and had it fixed in no time.
They were super on time, super efficient, and the price was dead on.
Projects
Same house,new door.
Real jobs on our customers’ houses, recreated from the photos we took: the door we took down, and the one we hung in its place.
A two-car door, dented end to end.
Every section of the old door was dented, and the middle had torn open. We hung a flush steel door in the same opening, charcoal to sit with the dark siding, under the same basketball hoop.
Gallery
The styleswe install.
Sixteen garage and front door styles, each one modelled on a door we’ve hung.
Service area
From our shopto your door.
Every town we serve, by the drive from our shop in Richmond Hill. The nearest are on top.
Towns we serve, by the drive
FAQ
Garage doors in Thornhill:common questions.
What Thornhill homeowners ask about the drive, the permits and the houses, with the questions every door raises beside them.
Not here? Ask us for a free estimate.
Planning a new door9 questions
The address moves a quote less than the opening does. Size, material, insulation, windows, one door or two, and the state of the framing are what set the price. On the Markham side, a house in the heritage district may also need an approval before the door can be ordered. You are given a number before any work begins, and two photos by text start a free estimate.
For a like-for-like swap in the same opening, generally not. Raising or widening the opening is another matter, because the header is structural. Which city you ask depends on Yonge Street, the boundary between the City of Vaughan and the City of Markham through Thornhill: Vaughan to the west, Markham to the east. The crew confirms the side before quoting, and a condo corporation may set its own style and colour rules.
The two differ in material, spring specification and labour, so one is not simply the other doubled. Non-standard heights mean a custom size, and older openings are often not standard either. That is why width, height, headroom, side room and backroom are measured before anything is ordered.
There is no honest single number, and anyone who gives you one over the phone is guessing. The price depends on the size of the opening, single or double, the material and insulation, the windows and hardware, and whether the existing tracks, springs and opener can stay. Modern Empire Doors gives you a real number quickly instead: text a photo of the door from outside and one from inside the garage to (647) 323-1826. The inside shot shows the tracks, springs and opener, which is where most of the difference in price lives. Estimates are free.
Two photos and your address. Take one of the door from outside, and one from inside the garage with the door closed, so we can see the tracks, the springs above the opening and the opener. Text both to (647) 323-1826. For most doors that is enough to price the job without anyone coming out first, and the estimate is free.
Most standard replacements are done in a single visit. The old door comes down, the new one goes up on its tracks and springs, and it is balanced and tested before we leave. Doors with more complicated framing, a change of size, or a new opener at the same time take longer. We tell you what to expect for your door when we quote it, not after we arrive, so you can plan the day around it.
Yes. Modern Empire Doors installs front and entry doors as well as garage doors and openers, and you can do both at once, so the two doors on the front of the house are chosen together rather than months apart. One crew measures and hangs both, which keeps the colour, the hardware and the style in step. Send a photo of the front of the house and we will talk you through what suits it.
Not always. Whether the opener can stay is part of the quote. The springs are sized to the new door, so a working opener is not asked to lift more weight; what matters is its age and condition. An opener from before about 1993 may use a fixed code that cheap equipment can copy, and a new door is a good moment to change it. A loud chain drive under a bedroom is the other reason people switch, usually to a quieter belt drive. We tell you which applies before you decide.
Our replacement doors are made in Canada and carry a lifetime warranty. Built for Canadian winters is not a slogan here: a door that seals properly in February is a different product from one that does not, and the difference shows up as cold air, noise and a bottom seal frozen to the floor. If you want the details for a particular door, ask when we quote it and we will go through them with you.
A door that won't work9 questions
Door life follows the springs. A standard spring is rated near 10,000 cycles, roughly seven years if the door opens four times a day, and Ontario winters shorten that. Straight sections can take new springs and rollers and carry on. Bent or rusting sections mean the door itself is finished, and so does an uninsulated door on a heated house. Doors that reach 15 to 25 years usually need springs, rollers and seals.
One crew covers it, working out of Richmond Hill, 9.7 km by road from Thornhill and about 15 minutes away. Nobody is sent from across the GTA, and the van goes to Thornhill Woods, Uplands, Royal Orchard, Bayview Glen, German Mills, Thornlea, Grandview Estates and the old village alike. Weekends and holidays are answered like any other day, around the clock.
Yes: any make of door, and openers in chain, belt or screw drive. Springs, cables, rollers, tracks, panels, sensors and seals are repaired on the door already hanging, and the common failure parts ride on the van, which is why most repairs close in a single visit. A tune-up for door and opener is offered too, before anything breaks.
Check three things before you call anyone. Is the opener getting power, or has the plug come out or the breaker tripped? Is the door locked, or has the red release cord been pulled? And look at the springs above the opening: a gap of a couple of inches in a coil means one has snapped, often with a loud bang beforehand. If a spring is broken, do not force the door or keep pressing the button. Stop there and call (647) 323-1826, at any hour.
Yes. Modern Empire Doors is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, holidays included, and the phone is answered at night. A door stuck open is a security problem, and a door stuck shut with the car inside is a lost day, so neither waits for Monday. Some things can wait for a weekday: a noisy door, a remote that stopped while the wall button still works, a torn seal. If you are not sure which yours is, call and ask.
Usually, yes. The parts that fail most often are carried on the van, so most repairs are finished on the first visit. If you text a photo from inside the garage before we come, we can often see what has failed and make sure the right part is with us. The exceptions are parts made for one door, such as a replacement section in a matching design and colour, which may have to be ordered in. In the meantime the door can usually be secured so the garage still locks.
It depends on the part, and most repairs come down to a handful: springs, cables, rollers, the opener or the safety sensors. We would rather tell you the real price for your door than quote a range that does not apply to it, so text a photo from inside the garage to (647) 323-1826 and we can usually tell which part it is before we arrive. Most repairs are finished in one visit, and you hear the price before any work starts.
Often, if the same section is still made. What people call a panel is usually a full-width section, and the new one has to match the make, size, design and colour of the rest. On a newer door from a current series that is usually possible. On an older or discontinued door it may not be, and a mismatched section can look worse than the dent. Sun-faded finishes are the other catch. Send a photo, plus any label on the door's inside edge, and we will tell you honestly.
Richmond Hill first: our shop is at 138 Yorkland St. From there we cover Vaughan, Markham, Thornhill, Aurora, Newmarket, Whitchurch-Stouffville, King City, Toronto, North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke and Durham Region, for new doors and for repairs, at any hour. If you are close by and not sure whether you are in the area, call (647) 323-1826 and ask; we would rather tell you straight than have you wait.
People also ask
What people searchbefore they call.
The garage door questions people type into Google, answered in a few lines each. Search for yours, or pick a part of the door.
Search 19 answers from Modern Empire Doors
Often searched
19 answers
Most often it is the safety sensors. If anything breaks the invisible beam between the two photo eyes, about six inches off the floor, the door starts down and reverses. Clear the path, wipe both lenses and check that both sensor lights are steady. If the door touches the floor and then goes back up, the close limit on the opener has drifted.
Asked next
A standard torsion spring is often rated for about 10,000 cycles, one cycle being one open and close. At four a day that is roughly seven years; a family that uses the garage as its front door can get there in three or four. Cold winters and poor lubrication shorten it. If a door has two springs, both are replaced together.
Asked next
Most often it is frozen to the floor. Meltwater pools under the bottom seal and freezes overnight, and the opener stops as if it had hit something. Break the bond with warm water or a plastic scraper, never a flame or a metal blade, and do not hold the button down. Thickened grease and cold steel can also make a tired door bind.
Asked next
The sound tells you the part. Grinding is usually worn rollers, squealing means the hinges, rollers and bearings need a proper garage door lubricant, and rattling is loose hardware. A single loud bang is different: that is usually a spring snapping, so stop using the door. Nylon rollers, regular lubrication and a belt drive opener make the quietest door.
Asked next
Try the wall button first. If it opens the door, the opener is fine and the fault is the remote: fit a new battery, even if its light still comes on. Then check that the antenna wire hangs straight down from the motor, that the lock button on the wall console is off, and that a cheap LED bulb in the opener is not jamming the signal.
Asked next
Usually a loud bang from the garage, then a door that will not open or feels extremely heavy by hand. Look at the springs above the door: a broken one has a gap of a couple of inches in the coil, as if it had been cut. Do not force the door. Springs hold hundreds of pounds of stored energy and are not a DIY repair.
Asked next
The guide
Thornhill, both sides of Yonge.
Permits, heritage plans and noise hours by side of Yonge Street, the houses from the village to Thornhill Woods, and the drive down from the shop.
Garage doors in Thornhill: the work done here
The shop supplies and installs new residential and commercial garage doors, and repairs springs, cables, tracks, panels and openers on doors already hanging. It also replaces front doors to match the garage door, and windows. A standard door replacement usually takes one day, and the phone is answered at any hour, night included.
Crew and van leave the Richmond Hill shop, 9.7 km from Thornhill, with the usual spring, cable, roller and sensor parts aboard. Two photos by text, taken outside and then inside with the door shut, are enough to start an estimate, and it costs nothing.
New garage doors in Thornhill: choices and quote
Start with how well the door should insulate, then how it is built and how it looks, and only then the panel pattern, the colour and any glass at the top. Matching the door to the front door and trim shows from the street, and one crew can hang both.
On price, the framing, tracks and opener already there count as much as the door, along with hardware. While the sections are straight, a fault in a spring, a cable, the rollers, the hinges or the opener is a repair. Sections that are bent or rusting, panels no longer made, or repairs that keep coming back point to a new door.
The Markham side of Thornhill: noise hours and heritage
East of Yonge, Markham limits construction-equipment noise on Saturdays to 9 AM to 5 PM and still prohibits it on Sundays and statutory holidays. A scheduled replacement with loud work is therefore booked on a weekday, or on a Saturday that falls within the permitted window. The 24/7 line is for repairs.
Inside the Markham heritage conservation district, owners of every property must get approval for exterior alterations, through a Minor or Major Heritage Permit, and heritage staff may approve work that follows the district policies. A new street-facing garage door, front door or window counts as one, so the crew asks whether the house is in the district before a date is set.
Free estimates · Repairs any hour
Start withthe door you have.
A photo of the door from outside and one from inside, with your Thornhill address, is all we need to quote. Book below at any hour, and the form says where to send them.