Written by the Compton Roofs team — a family-owned and managed concrete garage specialist. Our owner has 35 years’ hands-on experience of concrete garages, and our site work is carried out by time-served approved contractors who do this work all week, every week. Last updated: 17 September 2026
TL;DR: A major insurer asked us a straightforward question: was repair practical, or did the whole garage have to go? The building was an older Compton with a damaged panel and a tired, obsolete main door. Replacement would have meant demolition, disposal, a new base and a new building — a large claim and weeks of disruption for the owner. Because we have spent decades working on these buildings, we knew there was a better answer: we repaired the damaged panel using components we hold in stock for obsolete Compton garages, then fitted a modern steel retractable up-and-over door in place of the original. The result is a building that is sound, secure and considerably easier to use than when it was new, at a fraction of the cost of replacement. Send a copy of your paperwork, or the width and length plus photographs, and we will tell you whether your building is worth saving.
A major insurer asked us a straightforward question: was repair practical, or did the whole garage have to go?
It is the right question, and it is asked far less often than it should be. On a claim involving an older concrete sectional garage, the default assumption is frequently that the building is beyond economic repair, simply because nobody involved knows whether parts still exist for it. The honest answer depends entirely on which parts are damaged — and on whether anybody still holds the components.
The building was an older Compton with a damaged panel and a tired, obsolete main door.
Neither of those is unusual. Concrete sectional garages are made of individual pre-cast panels bolted to a frame, which is precisely why a single damaged panel does not condemn a building — it is a component in an assembly, not a monolithic wall. The main door is the same story: on these buildings the door is a separate manufactured unit sitting in its own frame, and an original door that has stiffened, dropped or worn out its gear is a replaceable item rather than a reason to demolish.
| What was wrong | The usual assumption | What it actually is |
|---|---|---|
| Damaged concrete panel | Structural failure of the building | One bolted component in a sectional assembly |
| Tired, obsolete main door | No longer available, so building is finished | A separate unit in its own frame, replaceable with a modern door |
| Building is an out-of-production make | Unrepairable | Repairable if somebody still holds the components |
Replacement would have meant demolition, disposal, a new base and a new building — a large claim and weeks of disruption for the owner.
That is four separate jobs, not one, and each carries its own cost, time and paperwork:
From 35 years in the trade: the cost people picture when they hear “new garage” is the price of the building. The cost that actually lands is demolition, disposal, base and building, plus the weeks in between when there is nowhere to put the car, the mower or the freezer.
Because we have spent decades working on these buildings, we knew there was a better answer.
The result is a building that is sound, secure, and considerably easier to use than when it was new, at a fraction of the cost of replacement. The “easier to use than when it was new” part is not a flourish: a modern retractable up-and-over gear is a genuine improvement on the door mechanisms these buildings originally carried, so the owner ended up with a better garage than the claim set out to restore.
No demolition, no disposal, no new base, no weeks of disruption. One building put right.
That is the value of specialist knowledge. Nobody makes parts for a building whose factory closed in 2011, so somebody has to hold them — panels, doors, locks, springs, roof supports and fixings. We do, and we fit them.
The factory at Fenny Compton ceased production in the summer of 2011, and several hundred thousand Compton garages are still standing — the full story is in whatever happened to Compton Buildings. When a manufacturer stops, the supply chain stops with it: there is no parts counter to ring, no catalogue number to quote, and no replacement panel on a shelf anywhere unless a specialist chose to keep holding them. That single fact is what turns “unrepairable” into “repairable” on a building like this one.
From 35 years in the trade: the difference between a repair and a write-off on these garages is almost never the concrete. It is whether the person looking at it knows what the component is, whether it still exists, and who has one.
No two buildings are identical and nothing here replaces looking at yours, but this is the shape of the decision as we see it week in, week out.
| What you are dealing with | Usually repairable | Usually points to replacement |
|---|---|---|
| One or two damaged panels | Yes — panels are individual bolted components | Widespread cracking and spalling across many panels |
| Tired, seized or obsolete door | Yes — a modern door fits in the existing opening | Frame and surrounding panels gone as well |
| Failed or leaking roof covering | Yes — a replacement roof is a day’s work | Roof failure combined with a failed structure below it |
| Rusted steelwork, spars, fixings | Yes — supports and fixings are stocked items | Frame no longer holding line anywhere |
| Rotten fascias, gutters, filler | Yes — routine revamp items | — |
| Base cracked, sunken or heaving | Sometimes, depending on extent | Yes — a failed base undermines everything above it |
| Building is the wrong size for what you now need | — | Yes — repair cannot make it bigger; see new garages |
The wider comparison is set out in new roof vs new garage, and the 7 dangers in old garages covers what to look for before deciding anything. If the answer genuinely is replacement, we handle garage removal as well.
Panels, doors, locks, springs, roof supports and fixings — the parts nobody manufactures any more. Stocked items include door locks and lock cams, door springs, cables, pulley wheel assemblies, spar shelving brackets, roofing bolts and clips, chamfered washers, panel spacers, lining clips, eaves and foam filler, gutter support kits and steel access doors. The current range is in the spares shop.
We supply and fit. If you are not sure what your building needs, photographs of the part usually settle it faster than a description does, and finished work is shown in the gallery.
We are used to dealing with insurers on the customer’s behalf. In practice that means giving the insurer a clear, written specification and a fixed price for the repair, so the claim can be settled on facts about the building rather than on an assumption that parts no longer exist.
It is worth knowing the general principle behind the sort of question this insurer asked: an insurer’s job is to put you back in the position you were in, and where a sound repair achieves that, a repair is the proportionate settlement. If you ever disagree with how a claim on your property has been handled, the Financial Ombudsman Service is the free, independent route once you have complained to the insurer first.
Our part is the building, not the policy: prices are fixed in advance, so the figure the insurer sees is the figure the job costs.
We work nationwide on garage roof replacement, garage repairs, door and window replacements, extensions, asbestos-type roof removal, and demolition. Site work is carried out by time-served approved contractors, and prices are fixed in advance.
Send a copy of your paperwork, or the width and length plus photographs, and we will tell you whether your building is worth saving.
Do not climb on the roof to take photographs, and if the roof is a corrugated cement type of the age that may contain asbestos, do not brush, drill, cut or pressure-wash it — see spotting asbestos on UK garage roofs. You can also just contact us.
Often, yes. A concrete sectional garage is built from individual pre-cast panels bolted together, so a damaged panel is a component rather than the structure itself. In the job described here we repaired the damaged panel using components we hold in stock for obsolete Compton garages, and the building did not need replacing.
Nobody manufactures them — the Fenny Compton factory ceased production in the summer of 2011 — so the only source is a specialist who chose to keep holding them. We stock panels, doors, locks, springs, roof supports and fixings for obsolete Compton garages, and we fit them.
Yes. In this case we fitted a modern steel retractable up-and-over door in place of the tired, obsolete original, and the building ended up considerably easier to use than when it was new. The door is a separate unit in its own frame, which is why it can be upgraded without touching the rest of the building.
It depends on what is wrong, but replacement is rarely one cost: it means demolition, disposal, a new base and a new building. Where the damage is confined to panels, doors, roof or fixings, a repair is typically a fraction of the cost of replacement and avoids weeks of disruption.
When the problems are structural and widespread rather than component-level — extensive cracking across many panels, a failed base, or a frame that no longer holds line. A building that is simply the wrong size for what you now need is also a replacement rather than a repair.
A major insurer asked us that exact question on this job, and the repair was the right answer. We are used to dealing with insurers on the customer’s behalf, and we provide a written specification and a fixed price so the claim can be assessed on what the building actually needs.
It is treated as hazardous waste: removed by contractors trained in asbestos awareness, taken to a licensed disposal depot in line with Environment Agency and hazardous waste requirements, and documented with the correct paperwork, which you keep.
A copy of your original paperwork, or the width and length of the building plus photographs — each elevation, the roof line from the ground and a close-up of the damage. Send them by WhatsApp on 07902 465165 and tell us if it is an insurance claim.
No. We work nationwide on garage roof replacement, garage repairs, door and window replacements, extensions, asbestos-type roof removal and demolition, on concrete garages generally. Compton is simply the make our owner’s 35 years and our spares holding run deepest on.
Far less than a replacement. A repair avoids demolition, disposal, a new base and the weeks of waiting those involve; most roof replacements are a single day on site with time-served approved contractors.
ComptonRoofs.com — Freephone 0800 318359, 10 am to 4 pm. Photos by WhatsApp on 07902 465165.
Written by the Compton Roofs team — a family-owned and managed concrete garage specialist. Our owner has 35 years’ hands-on
Written by the Compton Roofs team — a family-owned and managed concrete garage specialist. Our owner has 35 years’ hands-on
