Tag Archives: garage door repair
The Garage Door and the Broken Spring
If you think you have a garage door broken spring you should know for certain because generally when a garage door broken spring happens you may have to open you garage door manually.
Hopefully you know where the manual override is located so you can open you garage door manually.
If your garage door broken spring happens you may also have other problems with your garage door. This is a good time to call your garage door service company and schedule an inspection of your garage doors and also have them repair the broken spring. They may have to replace both springs. Just because one garage door spring breaks it doesn’t necessarily mean the other one is bad but since they have both been on there for the same length of time it is probable that the other spring has fatigue and may break soon. You don’t need to take that chance. Just have both garage door springs replaced or however many garage doors you have and then only pay for one service call.
A garage door itself can last for a long time. If it is metal it can be repainted if it begins to look tired. A wood garage door may [more]
Up and down. Down and up. Day in. Day out. Double time on weekends.
Your garage door, typically the largest and heaviest moving object in your home, works without any complaints and is at your command with the press of a button. Give it some attention.
Regular garage door maintenance should be done once a year. Getting a professional who looks at all the bearings and springs and just makes sure its operating properly is the thing to do. Usually this amounts to minor adjustment on the torsion shaft bearings. Then the homeowner can lubricate the bearings about every three months since it’s so dry here.
Homeowners should always listen to their garage doors. Once the door is operating properly, it should move up and down quietly and efficiently. There should be no added noise. Any unusual noise probably means something is wrong.
Besides making it easy to get in and out of your home, automatic garage doors are a safety investment. If you have to get out of your car to open the garage, you’re exposing yourself to anybody who is outside. If you drive in, you simply close the door behind you. All garage door openers today are random rotators which means it rotates to a new code each time. So every time you press [more]
My Door Won’t Open! Arrrrg!
You wake up early ready to go to work only to find out that you cannot get to your car and the reason behind it is that the garage door doesn’t open. Eventually, the door opens but it cannot open fully, you must push it quite hard to provide way for your car. If you have enough strength, you could succeed but if you are not, all you can do is go find some help. This is why you should ensure that your garage door repair is well done to avoid such inconveniences.
One of the best ways you can ensure that the repair is well done is by seeking service repair from a remarkable service provider. However, remarkable services do not come in handy. They must be sought after and their credibility researched. Seek information that will lead you to the best service providers from the internet and referrals.
Know what this entails and you will know what to expect from the repair. Usually this consists of the opener and the door itself. Whether their operation is based on a spring tension, swing up as one piece of roll in sections, they all operate under a similar mechanism. They move on [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]
How to Prevent Garage Door Accidents
Garage door accidents, like so many accidents in the home, could be avoided if more care and attention was paid.
A garage is not essentially a play area or a work area, but a place to store your vehicle and household items. You should therefore never let children play around in an open door, especially when we are talking about traditional spring doors, as you are creating a danger zone.
Garage doors should be kept closed. They are not really designed to stay open, and if they were used correctly, then many accidents would be prevented. Although the springs in a traditional garage door are designed to hold a garage door open at half way up, springs can fail at any moment, the garage door falling abruptly down.
Keeping up to date with your garage maintenance is really important if you wish to prevent door accidents. A simple once over, periodically to make sure that none of the moving parts or hardware of the door are broken is all it takes to prevent so many accidents. If you do the simple test of leaving your door half way up, you should be able to determine if the torsion springs are in good order [more]
How Not To Repair a Garage Door
It’s a fact: I don’t like to pay someone else to do something that I can dobetter. Well, at least that’s the theory. The reality is that I’m cheap, and I hate to let my money go on long trips without me. So, I often repair things that I should never mess with, just to save a few bucks. A classic example of my penny-pinching foolishness dates from about 1986, when I tried to repair my own garage door.
I didn’t have a fancy automatic garage door back then. I just had a manual unit: drive up, get out, lift the door, get back in, drive in, get out, close the door. Everything was fine with my little garage door, but I felt that it could be a tad easier to lift. So, I decided to adjust the spring tensioning mechanism myself. Who needs a professional, right? Mull on that last line for a few minutes…
Garage doors are heavy, and without the springs, all you’ve got is dead weight — too heavy to lift. To adjust the door, I had to tinker with the spring coiling components — it’s the coiling process that makes the door easier to maneuver. When I [more]
Prolonging the Life of Your Garage Door
If you want your garage doors to keep on working for many years to come, then all you really need to do is learn a little about garage door maintenance.
The main parts of a garage door that really need to be kept in top working order are the hardware and the springs. Garage door maintenance really is easy and if done periodically, takes only minutes. The most important thing to remember with garage door maintenance is to keep any springs well lubricated. They may also need some adjustment, as well as tweaks to the cables and levers, and this you can leave to the professionals!
The springs are the core component of the functioning of your garage door, and do more than 90% of the work of opening and closing doors of traditional up and over or swing mechanisms. If you are struggling to be open your garage doorway then your springs will need some aligning. Car port door maintenance is not complex, and even if you call out a professional, you should not expect hefty bills for work done. Another possibility to the hard opening and closing of the door is that the springs are worn and need replacing.
A [more]
Garage Door Operator Problems? Let’s See…
When your garage door opener suddenly stops operating properly, the explanation and solution are usually pretty easy to deal with.
Here are the most common problems, along with the most likely repairs for each. For adjustments and repairs that aren’t self-evident, check the owner’s manual or contact a professional.
Garage door opener does not operate with either the remote or the wall switch.
The power source has probably been disrupted. Make sure the motor unit is plugged in. Check the circuit breaker, fuse or GFCI.
Garage door won’t close all the way.
The close limit switch needs adjusting. If not, see if the door is binding when raised and lowered manually.
Garage door reverses immediately after hitting floor.
The close limit switch probably needs adjusting.
Garage door reverses before hitting floor.
The close force probably needs adjusting.
Garage door does not open completely.
The limit switch may need to be moved toward motor unit.
The garage door opens, but the motor won’t stop running.
The limit switch probably needs to be moved away from the motor unit.
The garage door won’t open or close with remote control.
There are several possible solutions: (1) Move closer to the door (you might be out of range); (2) Make sure that the antenna on the motor unit is [more]
Safety Comes First!
Maybe you have never given very much thought to the safety functions of your garage door, or just how unsafe a defective garage door can be.
Because as frequently as your garage doors are used it is vital to take into account all of the maintenance and basic safety features, because most people use the garage door at least a couple of times every day and there are numerous moving components that might be loose or fail resulting in property damage or for someone to get hurt.
Stop and think about this, the garage door may be the heaviest working component of the house. Your garage door is actually a motor-driven device that is frequently being opened and lowered over your car or truck as well as your entire family.
Through the years there have been a number of different kinds of garage doors placed in garages but the most frequently used style is most likely the panel garage doors. These types of doors really are standard panels hinged with one another that will be installed on tacks using a spring system to assist with raising the garage door. They can be manually operated but today most of them employ a garage door [more]