Parker Garage Doors

Garage Door Repair Phoenix

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(602) 870-9848

Help Minimize Heat With Garage Door Insulation

The Arizona summer is upon us and with it comes increasing temperatures and higher energy bills. Summer temps can feel like a scorching hot oven, especially if you plan on spending any time in your garage. Many people utilize their garage space using it to exercise, work on cars, as a workshop for various tasks, and even as a man cave.

During the summer months you can expect your garage to be between 10-20 degrees hotter than the temp outside!

garage_door_insulationLiving in Arizona we know the highs can get into the 120’s which means your garage space can reach up to 140 degrees on some days! Not only does a temperature that high make being in your garage unbearable it also makes it unsafe! And let’s face it, if your garage is connected to your house like most peoples are, it makes keeping your house cooler a little harder. This means that your air conditioning system works harder and in turn you see your energy bill go up even more so during summer months. And let’s be real, no one likes a higher energy bill!

Did you know the summer heat can greatly affect your garage door’s opening system?

The heat creates issues with the electronics involved and can hinder the opening and closing mechanisms and even cause the motor to overheat. Another expense is added if you call for garage door repair or an adjustment!

What Can You Do To Make Your Garage Cooler During Summer?

Use & Time of Day-  The early morning hours up to about 10am prove to be a much cooler time to spend in your garage. Opening your garage door a little to allow some of the trapped hot air to escape also helps. Definitely avoid being in your garage between 3-6pm when temperatures are the highest making your garage a dutch oven!

Garage Door Colors/Material- Believe it or not the color of your garage door and outer exterior matter! Darker colors tend to conduct more heat. Installing a lighter-colored door or choosing to paint it a lighter shade can reduce some heat. Same goes for the material of your door. Steel doors are heat conductors whereas wood doors are natural insulators.

Ventilation System- Your garage ventilation system or lack of one can be a huge factor in the rising temperatures in your space. An active ventilation system is a bit pricer than the normally used passive systems but also a lot more economical and efficient.

Installing a Fan- While a fan can only help to a certain extent it does help to improve the airflow and circulation, which can help to break up that hot stagnant air! Removing clutter and creating a more open space can help airflow as well.

And…

The #1 Way to Help Minimize Heat…Garage Door Insulation

Garage door insulation is the number one way to help combat that horrible summer heat. All of a sudden you can see yourself spending time in your garage again! On top of helping to decrease the higher temperatures in your garage, insulated garage doors offer so many other benefits as well!

Benefits of Insulated Garage Doors Include: 

  • Greatly reduce heat transfer
  • Lower energy bills
  • Insulation helps quiet noisy garage doors
  • Reduces outside noise
  • Helps keep cold air out during winter
  • Better constructed as opposed to uninsulated garage doors

Now that you are aware of some of the benefits of an insulated garage door what do you need to know when choosing the right insulation?

R-Value- The R-Value of a garage door is key! What does R-Value mean? This is basically the number that measures the insulation in your door. The higher the R-Value the better the insulation. In fact, an R-Value of R18 or higher can help reduce radiant heat, ultimately helping to keep the inside of your garage a lot cooler.

Thank you.

Overall Insulation– An insulated garage door can do wonders for the temperatures within your garage but in order for them to work to their maximum potential it helps if the walls of your garage and attic space are insulated as well.

Type of Insulation- The type of insulation matters. While the R-Value measures the performance of insulation it helps to understand which types are best. For example, convex reflective foil-faced foam utilizes radiant heat which helps to reflect the heat away from your garage. Flush foam insulators help to absorb heat from conduction, while reflective foil has a 97% reflective rate.

If you are looking to survive the summer heat while still being able to utilize your garage spaceit’s highly beneficial to look into replacing your garage door with a higher R-Value door or by adding insulation to your existing one.

One more positive factor to consider when deciding on insulating your garage door… it helps add to your homes overall value!

If you have any other questions or want to insulate or upgrade your existing garage door, give Parker Garage Doors a call! We’ve been providing honest, affordable service in Phoenix, Lake Havasu and throughout the valley for over 20 years. We are family owned and operated and know our stuff when it comes to garage doors.

 

Converting Your Carport Into A Garage

carport_conversion_phoenix_azIf you live in the Phoenix area, then you are living in a home that was built in the 1950’s. Many of those homes come with a carport instead of a garage. Most of these homes have single or a double carport.

These carports are very useful as homeowners store their cars and other valuable possessions into these covered structures. But as households become bigger, homeowners are looking to add additional space for storage or recreational by adding a garage.

The average carport and/or garage size can range from 10’ x 20’ or 20’ x 20’. Converting your carport can add an extra 200 to 400 square feet of living area.

Adding a garage to your home can be an expensive project, but you can save money if you already have a steel carport built into your home. If you are looking to expand and are planning on having a garage built, here are some ideas to help you add value to your home by converting your carport into a garage door.

Obtaining The Needed Permits

Before starting any construction project at home, do not bypass the permit process. If you decide to bypass obtaining the legal permits needed, selling your home in the future without the correct documents can cause problems. Make you (or your contractor) are familiar with the process.

Benefits Of Carport Conversions:

Residents in Arizona are all too familiar with stepping outside your home (in 115 degree weather) just to start your car. The benefits of a garage far outweigh the benefits of a carport. There is much more room for storage or can even be used as a living space. Converting your carport into a garage is a good investment, adding value to your property.

Expansion? Or Conversion?

If you are looking to store extra items or need a more secure option for storage, then you may need a utility carport. This is similar to having a shed in your backyard. These are very convenient and is a great way to store outdoor gear.

Many of the older homes in the Phoenix area on average have less square footage than newer homes in other parts of the valley. An easy way to get more square footage is by converting your carport into a garage.

If you need a space to store additional vehicles, expanding your carport or converting your carport into a garage is the way to go. You can store bikes, ATV’s and other equipment. Add value to your garage by building windows, a walk-in door and/or storage shelves.

Since the carport already has a roof and has walls on two or three sides, this makes it easy and fairly inexpensive to remodel your carport as a den, extra bedroom or a garage.

Metal Workshop Conversion

If you love taking on household tasks yourself and are constantly starting projects around the house, then you might be in desperate need of a workshop. Instead of a garage, you might want to consider turning your carport into a workshop.

Enclose the carport on all four sides and install insulation into the walls. Adding a walk-in door for easy entrance and a large garage door for over-sized equipment will add value to the garage and your home.

If you rather have a ‘open air’ workshop, you can extend the carport, but not actually enclose it. By doing this, you will have a work area that is sheltered from precipitation, ,but can still be used as a loading/unloading area keeping materials safe and secure.

Metal Barn Conversion

If you live outside the city and have large animals, then you might be considering to fully or partially enclose your carport for your animals. You can store equipment, feed and care for your animals in this much larger created space. Windows and large doors can be an added bonus.

There are several options when it comes to converting your carport into a garage. Our goal is to meet the needs of our customers 100% of the time. We have several industry standard carport conversions you can choose from, or you can have a custom one built for you. If you are looking for ideas, give us a call now!

How Do I Convert My Carport Into A Garage?

Building a garage involves a little more than just throwing up some walls and adding concrete slabs. It may seem like a task that you can do yourself, but we always recommend that you hire a professional to ensure the job is done correctly.

The first step is to make sure you have permission to begin a construction project at your home. Whether it is the city, county or your homeowners association, make sure you have the right documents to begin work. As we mentioned earlier in the article, hiring a licensed and insured contractor who has experience with converting garages is our recommendation, but if you plan to do it yourself, this guide will help you along the way.

Build Masonry Stem Wall: usually six to eight inches tall along the perimeter of the carport/garage. Using wood can cause mildew or termites

  • Framing WIth Studs: several 2×4’s will need to be tightly installed to support the roof and walls.
  • Insulate Before Enclosing: Insulating the space between the walls will keep out the summer heat. Insulation is only required if the garage is going to be a liveable space.
  • Add Electrical Before Drywall: Electrical wiring should always be installed before you begin the drywall process.
  • Be In Compliance/Follow Code Requirements: be sure to comply with local building and fire safety regulations. Unpermitted work can lead to fines, inspections and even possibly tearing the entire structure down.
  • Gutter/Drainage For Roof: In most cases, the roof for the carport can serve as a rook for the garage. Add a gutter if water does not drain properly.
  • Finishing Touches: Painting, windows, storage shelves will not only make your new garage more convenient, but it will also add value to your home.

PGD in Phoenix and Surrounding Areas

We also offer repair and installation services for all types of doors. We are available 24/7 for commercial and residential customers. PGD is your ‘one stop shop’ for all your garage door needs. Call (602) 870-9848

June: Keeping Your Garage Door Safe & Secure

As we continue to celebrate National Garage Door Safety month, the professionals at PGD will like to share with you a list of maintenance tips to ensure your garage door is safe and secure. Be sure to tell everyone in the house you are doing maintenance on the garage door to avoid serious injuries and/or property damage.

Organizing Your Garage

In many households, the garage is used as an extended closet, or storage place for the family. Ideally, we will all like to park our vehicles inside the safety of our garage, but the truth is some of us have too much stuff stored inside to make that a reality. The garage is normally used to store items that do not fit inside the house.

Keep your garage door organized by using pegboards, milk crates and plastic storage totes. These storage utensils are a great fit because you can see everything! No need to guess what is inside. If you really want to be organized, you can have a summary on each plastic storage totes of what is inside making it easier to find a missing item.

You can also use old metal garbage cans. You can recycle them and use them for storing fertilizer, dog food and other items.

Standard Garage Door Safety Features

In the 1993, federal law required all manufacturers of residential garage doors change the way they make their product. All residential garage doors manufactured after January 1st, 1993 must have the following:

  • A built-in automatic reverse feature that reverses two seconds after sensing an object is under the garage door.
  • A 30-second reverse timer that activates the garage door to open 30 seconds after sensing the door has not fully closed.
  • Have a secondary entrapment protection system. (Example: edge sensor, a photoelectric eye etc.)
  • The ability to close the garage door with manufacturer’s suggested devices. (Example: remote, keypad, etc.)

It is very important to make sure that all sensors are active on your garage door. If the sensors are not working properly, the garage door will continue to close, even when something is under the door. You can test this functionality by placing an object below the garage door when you close it. The sensors mentioned above will cause the door to reverse if something is stopping the door from closing.

Maintenance To Prevent Costly Repairs

You should get in the routine of visually inspecting the mechanical parts of your garage door on a regular basis. Open and close your garage door to see that everything looks and sounds correct. If there is something that looks out of place, or if your garage door is noisy, call a service technician to diagnose the issue right away.

Keep an eye on the rollers, tracks, springs, cables, pulleys, bolts, angles and struts that allow the garage door to function properly. Make sure they are lubricated and in working condition. These parts on the garage door can easily become worn down over time if not maintained.

Preventing Garage Door Injuries

The best way to avoid injuries is to always keep your hands and body away from the garage door while its opening or closing. It is important to teach your children and others in the household about garage door safety. Small children are well known for playing with the garage door opener to pass time during summer. Teaching your family how to operate the garage door safely can prevent injuries in the future.

Inspecting your garage door regularly is also essential to maintaining a safe garage for yourself and others. You can save money by doing it yourself, but hiring a trained professional to tune-up your garage door will ensure safety and security. Have the comfort of knowing your garage door will be functioning.

Safe and Secure

PGD recommend that you have more than one way of accessing and opening your garage door. We suggest at least 3 ways to open your garage in the case of an power outage, lost or stolen device. Make sure you test your garage door opener devices on a regular basis so you are always able to open and close the garage door when needed.

There are also ‘Smart’ garage doors that allows you to control your garage door from a smartphone or tablet. Call (602) 870-9848 now if you are interested in transforming your garage to a ‘Smart’ garage door.

Tips To Keep Your Garage Door From Breaking Down

If you are eager to learn more about garage door maintenance and safety, you have come to the right place. Usually, the garage door is the largest movable object inside your home. When used correctly; your garage door allows you to park your vehicles, garages can be used as storage space or you may use it as an additional living space for your house. Your garage can even help you save money if insulated properly.

Here Are Some Tips To Keep Your Garage Door From Breaking Down

Though having a garage door is very convenient, it can also be very dangerous causing serious injury, or even death. Even if you are capable of making small repairs to your garage door, we always suggest that you call a professional. Especially if you are in need of a new garage door installation or spring replacement for your existing garage door, leave that task to the professionals. So here are some tips to keep your garage door from breaking down.

Call A Professional

‘Do-It-Yourselfers’ repairman can easily be injured when working on a garage door, but children can also be seriously injured. Small children have a bad reputation of playing with garage doors. If you have little ones, it is important to teach them that the garage door is an operating system, and not a toy.

Feel free to take time to browse around the Parker Doors & More website for more information on the products and services we provide. Our goal is to offer information and techniques to best maintain your garage door so you can get the most of its use over the years. We will show you how to perform routine checkups and outline garage door safety for all ages.

Garage Door Safety

Not only does Parker Doors & More want you  to be educated on your garage door, we also want you and your family to be safe when operating the door at all times. Here are safety tips for you and your children:

  • Do not play with the garage door or garage door opener. They are dangerous if misused and can cause serious injury, or even death.
  • When the door is closing, do not stand, walk or run in the door’s path.
  • Children should not be allowed to have access to the remote controls or push the wall controls for the garage door opener systems. Keep all remotes out of reach of children.
  • Keep fingers and hands away from the door sections when the garage door is opening or closing to avoid injury.
  • Perform routine maintenance on the door to keep it operating properly.  Annual maintenance by a trained technician is recommended.
  • Remember that the garage door is powered by electricity. Always unplug the garage opener before repairing the wiring and other electrical issues.
  • Never attempt to repair garage door springs or garage door cables. Cables and springs are under a high amount of tension. Special tools are needed to repair and install garage door springs and cables. It is best if a trained service technician performed these repairs.
  • If someone backed into the garage door, call a service technician to perform a full inspection. Even though it may look as if no physical damage was done, the alignment can be off, creating a dangerous environment.

Garage Door Check-up

Below are a few maintenance techniques you can perform on your garage door to ensure it is working properly. By following these maintenance directions, you will better understand how your garage door operates and you will be able to prevent any major, costly repairs. Before you perform these tests, make sure everyone in your household is aware that you are working on the garage door and it should not be used.

Perform the following in this order:

  1. Monthly Visual Inspection: Stand inside the garage with the door closed. Inspect the garage door springs, cables, rollers, pulleys and the mounting hardware. Check for signs of any damage, fraying, wear or tear. Does the mounting hardware look loose? Are the cables beginning to fray? If something doesn’t look right, or if the garage door doesn’t sound right, call Parker Doors & More to have the garage door inspected by a professional.
  2. Monthly Balance Test: If you have an automatic opener for your garage, close the door and disconnect the automatic opener. Once the automation is disconnected, manually open the garage door. The door should lift smoothly with very little resistance. Once the garage door is fully open, it should stay open on its own. If the door is difficult to open, or if it doesn’t stay open on its own, the door might be out of balance and will need to be looked at by a professional.
  3. Monthly Reverse Mechanism and Photo Eye Test: Garage door openers manufactured after January 1, 1993 are required, by law, to be equipped a reverse mechanism, meaning that is something is in the garage door path while closing, the door will automatically reverse.
  4. Photo Eyes. If your garage door has photo eyes, or sensors at the bottom of the garage door, test to see if the sensors are working properly. Push the button to close the garage door. While the door is closing, place an object where the garage door touches the ground, blocking the sensors. The garage door should reverse automatically. If your door fails any of these tests, call a professional from Parker Doors & More.
  5. Semi-Annual Lubrication: Apply a small amount of spray lubricant to the door hinges, rollers and tracks.

The Take Away

Although some of these tips may be obvious to some, we can easily forget them with our day to day lives. Apply these tips to keeping your garage door from breaking down, and you’ll increase your garage door’s life span.

Garage Door Service 24/7

Parker Door’s & More is a leading garage door repair company in Phoenix and the surrounding areas. We provide high-quality garage door services for commercial and residential customers throughout the Valley. We are family owned and operated, established in 1988. We only work with high-quality garage door and opener products and aim for exceptional customer service.

Contact us online or call (602) 870-9848 for more information now!

 

Upgrade Your Garage | Phoenix Garage Doors

#1: Smart Garage Door Openers

The first and most foremost to add to any garage is a powerful garage door opener from one of the many prestigious manufacturers available on the market today. Many of the garage door openers currently being sold are massively smart. In combination with a smartphone app, these smart garage door openers alert you if you fail to close your garage door, no matter where in the world you may find yourself.

#2: Laser Parking Assistant

Your car would likely benefit from the purchase and subsequent installation of a laser parking assistant. Laser parking assistants aid you in parking your vehicle perfectly each and every time. They turn on as the garage door opens and turn off when your vehicle’s hood reaches the exact spot it should stop at. This prevents you from damaging the wall with your car. Installation is relatively easy.

#3: A Work Table

No garage should be without a work table. Considering the fact that many things take place in a garage – the least of which is parking the vehicle inside – a sturdy work table isn’t just a want…it’s a must have. Many of today’s work tables have built-in storage for easy accessibility to your tools and other garage gadgets. There are also many build-it-yourself blueprints out there for those of you that are handy around the house.

#4: Storage Systems

No matter what you use your garage for, storage, and lots of it is a necessity. Many of the storage systems available today allow enough storage room to store all of your belongings including items you may consider too big for storage. Peg boards and wall storage are also very important as they allow you to quickly access tools and other items you use on a daily (or weekly) basis.

#5: A Quality Garage Door

Last but definitely not least important for your garage is none other than a high-quality garage door. Considering that a mid-range garage door literally pays for itself, in the event you sell or refinance your home, there’s never been a better time than now to invest in a new garage door. We carry a wide variety of new and replacement quality garage doors for you to choose from.

#6: A Professional Garage Door Repair Technician

If you choose to stick with your old garage door, it’s important to keep it properly maintained and repaired, so as to avoid any unnecessary headaches associated with a malfunctioning garage door. Give the professionals at Parker Garage Doors a call today at 602-870-9848 for prompt assistance for any of your garage door repair and maintenance needs.

 

Garage Door Repair – Holiday Specials

The holidays are a time for presents and parties, which means money is always being spent! There is nothing worse than experiencing garage door issues during the holiday. We don’t want this to be an area where you have to spend tons of money. So we decided to show you, our customer, that we are providing amazing specials for this holiday season.

To avoid having major garage door repairs in your future, it’s a smart idea to do regular maintenance check-ups. That’s why we have provided you with our Tune & Lube Special. If you are trying to improve the overall look of your home, before family comes into town, we have a discount on any new garage door & opener.

Take this holiday season to prepare your home for the new year, by allowing us the opportunity to take care of all of your garage door repairs. Make your home holiday ready! Parker Garage Doors & More is proud to be the Valley’s one-stop source for quality garage door services.

  • Springs
  • Openers
  • New Garage Doors
  • Roller Replacements
  • Commercial Garage Replacements

For more information on how we can help you with your garage door repairs, call us at:

Phoenix Area – 602-870-9848

Lake Havasu & Parker, AZ – 928) 216-5756 

 

 

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Parker Garage Doors & More

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22350 N 20th Ave
Phoenix AZ, 85027

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Lic # ROC K-05 297069

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(602) 870-9848 - Phoenix Metro/East Valley
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