Tag Archives: garage door opener
Want a Smooth Operating Garage Door?
With regular care and occasional professional maintenance, your commercial or residential garage door will work smoothly. However, you may find yourself in a situation where you cannot properly open or close your garage door. There are a number of different reasons why your garage door may not be operating properly. Here are a few tips to help you identify the source of the problem:
Problems Closing
Faulty Garage Door Sensors: One of the most common reasons garage doors have trouble closing is that the safety sensor’s beam is obstructed. Make sure there is nothing under the garage door and that the sensors are pointing directly at each other.
Door Closes, then Reverses: If your door begins to close, but stops and reverses, then you may have to adjust the door’s sensitivity settings. Your garage door opener is designed with a safety feature that reverses the door if there is too much resistance under the door. Bumps in the door track may set off the sensor.
Problems Opening
Opener Runs but Door Doesn’t Move: If the garage door opener is running, but the door does not move, then the door may not be connected to the track. Check the emergency rope to see if it has been pulled by [more]
Breaking the Code
A key point of entry into your home for thieves is the garage, and if you own an older type garage door opener, your home could be vulnerable.
The weakness of these units is the frequencies that operate them, using something called “fixed codes”. Fixed codes were initially developed years ago to combat a shared frequency problem. If a homeowner wanted to change the frequency, all he or she had to do was preset a digital code by switching eight to 12 “Dip Switches” on the receiver and transmitter. Whatever number sequence selected for the receiver (garage door motor) had to be the same for the transmitter (remote).
Multi-Code System
With this multi-code system, garages were secure again. Or were they?
Now a new problem developed. Burglars were scanning these frequencies with something called a “code grabber”. Criminals were able to defeat the multi-code system by grabbing codes from homeowners who were leaving their homes. There were basically two types of scanners. The first type scooped up the code when the homeowner pushed the garage door to either open or close it.
Once displayed on a screen, the criminal could immediately re-transmit the signal to open the door. The second type of scanner would [more]
Garage Door Keypad
A garage door keypad is used on the exterior part of the doors.
It allows you to use a code to unclose the door automatically. It is a safe and convenient way of ensuring that the things you keep in your garage remain safe. When you are choosing a garage door keypad, you can select a wireless or wired one.
To use it, you need to get a suitable location to fix it on the exterior part of your garage. The installation process varies if you are using the wireless keyless entry. Once you have installed it, it needs to be programmed. To do this, you need to refer to the manual to find out the buttons that you are required to press. When you are programming the keypad, you have three options that you can work with. You can program it using its remote, motor or keypad. When you are programming the keypad, check if it requires a 4-digit code or whether you need to enter six digits.
There are some common problems that are associated with wireless keyless entry keypads. In most cases, the door refuses to open. The problem can be the keypad or the garage door itself can be [more]
HOT NEW PRODUCT: MOTORCYCLE GARAGE DOOR OPENER
This is one of the hottest new products of the year!
Deciding Between Garage Door Repair or Replacement
On an older home, a homeowner may find a need for garage door replacement. Sometimes the door has reached a state that will require such a replacement, but sometimes the problem can be fixed with garage door repair. Knowing what problems can be repaired while what other problems will require replacement can help a homeowner have an easier experience in their efforts to maintain the value of their home.
Some problems that can arise can be easily remedied with garage door repair. If the door is not moving well on its track, sometimes the fix can be simple. Though it is often best to call a professional service to address these repairs, working to diagnose the problem can save time and money for the homeowner. Looking to make sure the brackets that mount the track to the wall are not loose, and checking for dents in the track is a good place to start. Cleaning the tracks to remove dust and grease can also help the door run more smoothly. Loose bracket bolts can be tightened, and small dents can be fixed with a rubber mallet, but severely damaged tracks will require a garage door replacement service to replace the tracks.
With [more]
Garage Door Spring Tips
An important component in the mechanical make-up of garage doors is the spring system.
Without springs the doors would not rise and fall. These components should be in good, strong working condition at all times for the doors to function properly. The counterbalance springs do the actual lifting and closing.
When the doors rise the springs unwind. This provides the necessary power to do the lifting. When the door closes, the weight of the door winds the springs back up until the door is entirely shut. At this stage the springs are fully tensed again.
The springs need to be adjusted periodically.
When the typical door weighs about three hundred pounds and involves the co-ordination of pulleys, cables and springs, this is inevitable. It is not difficult to do a cursory check up. With safety glasses on one can pull on the red emergency release cord so that the doors are opened manually. By lifting it halfway and observing if it stays in place or falls, one can determine if it is out of balance. If it falls, then it is not in balance.
There are other assessment suggestions described on the site for testing the poor performance of the doors. When the doors need [more]
Friday Funny!
The worst garage door opener installation… EVER!
The Garage Door Remote: Serious Business!
When installing an automatic garage door opener, you will find they come equipped with a garage door remote to allow the door to be operated from inside the vehicle, the home or any other location within range of the remote control. Unlike the remote which operates numerous appliances in the house like your television set, the garage door remote does not operate on infrared, which needs a direct line of sight for the signal from the remote to access the controller.
Since the garage door remote doesn’t have to see the opener to operate it will send the signal through walls and doors and, based on the quality of the opener, over distances as far as 150 to 200-feet. This allows a person operating a vehicle to open the door from the end of their driveway so the door is open before their vehicle reaches the garage door. They can also utilize the garage door remote to close the door once inside, prior to exiting the vehicle, to remain protected from the elements and other risks which may be present.
When building garage, you can also consider installing garage door rollers in your garage door. Choose the right remote to open the [more]
Garage Doors: A Home Improvement Trend
What is one of the hottest home improvement trends?
Garage makeovers, because the right garage door will not only enhance the beauty of your house, but increase its value too. Just as much as having the wrong garage door, a damaged or unkept one will decrease the value of your home.
Garage doors are often the single largest feature for the front of the house and will play a major factor in complementing the overall style of your home. Consumers often consider the garage door as just something to cover the opening where you park your cars. But this should never be overlooked. Garage makeovers will make a difference and bring undeniable advantages to your home.
So, what is the right door for your home?
First and foremost, it is to select a design that can be well-integrated to your existing architectural style. You don’t want your new garage door to stick out like a sore thumb; you want it to appear as if it has always been a part of your property.
Quality is next. There are many garage doors in today’s market with varying degrees of quality. Martin Garage Doors offers you the finest quality for your money. Keep in mind that quality [more]
Garage Door Operator Back-up System
Ride through any housing development built in the last 15 or 20 years, and one aspect of the homes jumps out: the garage is right up front.
So it follows that a recent online survey found that 71 percent of homeowners use their garage door as the primary access point to their home. It’s so common that many people no longer carry house keys.
The problem comes when there’s a power outage and access to your home can be impeded.
I had a guy tell me he was trapped outside of his house several days. The power went out, his family was out of town, he didn’t have a house key, and he ended up at the neighbors’ for four or five days.
For getting out in a power outage, modern garage door openers have an emergency pull cord. You give a yank, and it disengages the door, allowing you to open it by hand. (If your garage door is balanced and working properly, you should be able to open it with two fingers.) But there are people who don’t know how the pull-cord works, and the process can be too much for the elderly or people with disabilities. And even if you can [more]