There is nothing worse than having your garage door break as it always happens at the worst possible time like when you’re in a rush to get out of the house or when you know that the cold and snow of winter is coming and you definitely don’t want to leave your car outside.
Fortunately, most of the most common garage door problems are easily solved and prevented with regular maintenance:
- Dead batteries – it sounds ridiculous, but simply changing the batteries in your transmitter (the small box in your car that sends a signal to the garage door) is the most common solution. They are often an unusual size, but when you find what they are, keep a ready supply in your glove compartment.
- Photo eye alignment problems – your garage door will only close if the invisible line at the bottom is clear of blockages. You know that it won’t close if there’s something in the way (a very sensible safety precaution!), but if the photo eye components are out of alignment with each other, the system acts like something is in the way and won’t close. You’ll need to do some trial and error, but a piece of string or a tape measure should help to make sure the two sides are pointing directly at each other.
- Track out of alignment – a garage door track is the mechanism that pulls the garage door up and overhead and misalignment can cause serious problems if left unchecked. You’ll know there’s problems by a scratching or scraping sound as your door moves, and you’ll be able to see gaps between the rollers and the central rail. It’s a relatively easy fix to get a rubber mallet and gently tap the track back into position, taking care of course not to knock it too far in the opposite direction!
For some garage door problems, however, you’ll need to get in expert help as it requires specialist knowledge and equipment. These include:
- Broken springs – garage door springs only tend to break after many years of use, so if you’ve just moved into a home, it will be worth having them replaced before they break. A loud bang is the clue that they’ve snapped as well as your door dropping shut rapidly. You won’t be able to operate them at all, so be ready to pay additional emergency call out fees to get your garage door open again.
- Door limit setting issues – each garage door comes with a set of instructions as to how far the door needs to move before it closes. If there’s an error, the system will either not close fully or continue to run once the door is on the floor. Professional technicians will be able to recalibrate the limits and give you advice to avoid this problem happening again.
Your garage door is your guard against having to scrape ice and snow off in sub-zero conditions, so if you don’t feel confident in troubleshooting by yourself, get in touch with your local garage door repair company for a preventative service.