Blog Archive: June 2011
What Type of Garage Door is Best for You?
Modern-day garage doors are not limited to the wood of centuries past or steel of decades past. You can also get garage doors made of other materials like aluminum and wood composites. But which of these many materials is most cost-effective and durable? Which looks best? We’ll examine the pros and cons of each material.
Steel is by far the most often picked material for garage doors. They aren’t terribly expensive, they’re quite durable and require very little maintenance, and they can come in pretty much any style you might demand. Steel’s appearance is flexible, as it can be painted or formed into panels, and can be treated with a gel stain that makes it look similar to wood.
When you’re actually doing your shopping there is a few things to keep in mind about steel: it’s a pretty ineffective insulator, and probably requires an outside source of insulation to keep your garage habitable and save you energy. Also, steel panels tend to vary in their thickness, usually varying with the price, and if you want a steel door that will withstand basketball games, you’ll have to pay for it. Aluminum doors are similar to steel in many ways, especially in that they [more]
What to Do About Noisy Garage Doors!
Loud garage doors are annoying, embarrassing, and can be a real pain.
There are many ways that you can greatly reduce the noise from a door, and most of the time you do not require professional help!
First you need to identify what type of door you have.
The first question is whether or not your garage door is the original one installed on your home. If the answer is yes, and your home is 5-9 years old, there are many items that can be serviced and need to be considered.
Homes that are an average age of 5-7 years old generally have builder grade overhead doors installed. Almost always these doors are installed (for cost and profit reasons), with one spring, plastic rollers with no bearings, and plastic bushings. These are notorious causes of garage door noise.
Step one, buy a can of silicone lube at your local Home Depot, or Lowe’s. Apply it pretty liberally to the spring, rollers, and hinges.
Next is a little tricky. You want to look for a black or white bushing that enters the end of the spring that is attached to the wall. DON’T TOUCH ANY OF THE BOLTS! There is an average of 160-220 lbs of force [more]
Safety Matters!
June is Garage Door Safety Month. It’s a reminder to make regular safety checks on your garage doors. Educating yourself and your children on correct use and operation as well as taking proper care of your garage door will help you avoid unnecessary accidents and loss of life.
Here are a few precautions to keep in mind:
Safe distance – Garage openers and wall control units should be at least 5 feet away from the floor, and the door opener control button should be high enough that small children cannot reach it.
It’s not a plaything – Children should not, at any time, be allowed to play with the garage remote control or any part of the door. Hitting the door with their hands or even a soft object may cause the interior mechanism to loosen and the door to malfunction when you least expect.
Familiarize yourself with the manual – Read the door’s instruction manual and understand the door’s emergency release feature so that in case of an emergency you’ll know how to operate it.
Monthly visual inspections and maintenance checks – At least once a month, inspect your door and its component parts for wear and tear. Pulleys, cables, springs, and rollers may [more]
Garage Door Check-Up
Garage Doors are amazing if you think about it a bit. A large, flat panel is rotated up and down either in sections or one big flat plane at least a few times a day without any problems. Well, that is as long as you do some maintenance on your door.
Are you even aware you should do maintenance on your garage door? Well, you should if you want it to last. The first thing to check is lubrication. Regardless of the type of system and door you have, something does the pivot and pull when the door goes up or down. This means you should lubricate the chain on the opener and the pivot points on the braces that pull up and lower the garage [on the outer edges].
Next, check the springs on your door. Look for signs of rust and sag. If you see them, you are better off replacing the springs before they break. If the break, the door can literally be bent out of shape since one side of the door will be supported by a spring while the other sags. This will knock your door out of shape [more]
JUNE: IT’S GARAGE DOOR SAFETY MONTH!
The International Door Association and the Door & Access Systems Manufacturers Association have designated June as Garage Door Safety Month.
The International Door Association and its affiliated dealers will be working to increase awareness of the possible hazards of garage doors and automatic opener systems, and the need for periodic inspection and maintenance to keep them safe. Give your garage door a safety check to insure it’s in proper working order by using these ten garage door safety and security tips.
1. Make sure garage door opener control button is out of the reach of small children.
2. Do not let children play with garage door remote controls.
3. Consult the owner’s manual and learn how to use the garage door’s emergency release feature.
4. Visually inspect the garage door each month. Look at springs, cables, rollers and pulleys for signs of wear. Do not attempt to remove, adjust or repair these parts or anything attached to them. A trained door repairman must make adjustments to these parts, which are under high tension.
5. Test the garage door opener’s reversing mechanism monthly by placing a 2 x 4 board or a roll of paper towels in the door’s path. If the door does not reverse after [more]