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!