Des Plaines housing by age
The median year built for housing units in Des Plaines is 1966, and the 1960s are the city's biggest building decade: 5,370 of its 23,856 housing units, about 23 percent, were built from 1960 to 1969. About 36 percent of the stock was built before 1960, including 2,135 units built in 1939 or earlier.1
About 59 percent of the city's housing units are single family detached homes and about 8 percent are single family attached homes such as townhomes, while about 28 percent are in buildings with five or more units; about 78 percent of occupied homes are owner occupied.2
Garages behind pre-1960 houses
A garage of that age may have begun with a side-hinged carriage door and received an overhead door later. Some of the overhead doors on those houses still ride on extension springs on an older door rather than torsion springs. On a house from before 1960, which spring type the door runs on is one of the first things a technician identifies.
An opener for a door that started out manual is a specific job on garages built in 1939 or earlier. On a 1960s house, cables on a 1960s door are checked where they meet the bottom bracket.
The city's contractor rules
Contractors working in the City of Des Plaines are required to register as contractors with the city, and all registrations expire on December 31 and will need to be renewed.3 The city uses a table to split licensing requirements by trade. The contractor table marks a contractor's license as required for general contractors and for an "other" group that it says includes, but is not limited to, concrete and asphalt, demolition, excavation, fence, HVAC, mason and windows and doors contractors.3 The table does not name garage doors by their own name, so what row a particular company falls under is a question for the city.
A bond rule covers public ground. A bond is required for any contractor doing work on city property or in the right of way, though a bond is not required from State of Illinois licensed contractors doing work in the right of way.3 The right of way is the street end of the driveway.
The city's building permit process is now digital, and permits are applied for online through its Customer Self Service Portal, with contractor registration completed through the same portal.4
The city's permit guides and codes
Des Plaines publishes separate residential permit guides. The city lists Express permits that include guides for detached garages and for driveways, and a separate guide for remodeling, room additions and attached garages.4 None of those guides is titled for garage doors; ask the city.
The city has recently updated its codes. City Council approved the adoption of the 2021 I-Codes on December 15, 2025, including the International Residential Code, the International Building Code, the International Existing Building Code, the International Fire Code and the International Property Maintenance Code among them;4 the new codes went into effect on January 1, 2026. What they require of a specific overhead door job is a question for the city.
What Des Plaines' garage permit guide says
Des Plaines requires a building permit for a new or replacement attached or detached garage at a home, with a separate demolition permit to tear down an existing garage, and its required inspections run through footing, pre-pour, framing, underground electrical, final building and final electric.5
The city's detached garage guidelines say electric is required in all garages, that a detached garage may be no larger than 720 square feet and no taller than 15 feet or the height of the house, and that all garages must have hard surface driveways on both public and private property.5 Those are construction rules for new garages, not rules for a door replacement on an existing one.
Driveways and floodplain additions in Des Plaines
Des Plaines allows one driveway per lot and sets the widest a driveway may be at the property line by the garage it serves: 20 feet for a single car garage or carport, 23 feet for a two car garage and 26 feet for a three car garage, with a minimum width of 10 feet.6 A homeowner planning a driveway change alongside a door job has that width rule to check against the garage type before the permit is filed.
The city's guide for remodeling, room additions and attached garages says properties in the floodplain must submit photographs of the existing structure with their plans, and that federal floodplain regulations require a current appraisal of the building, two years old or newer, to decide whether the work complies with FEMA rules.7
Des Plaines' permit guidelines say permitted work may run from 7am to 7pm Monday through Saturday and from 10am to 6pm on Sundays and holidays.5