Tips for Keeping Your Garage Door Working Perfectly

The garage door is the largest movable component that greatly affects your home’s convenience and security. A well-maintained garage door can secure your vehicle and other personal things. This door has numerous movable parts, including pulleys, hinges, and cables, that can fail if not serviced.

You should listen for scraping or grinding noises when opening these doors. Ensure it lowers or rises symmetrically and moves smoothly every time you use it. With awareness, you can identify an issue before the door breaks down. Here are a few tips to keep your unit functioning properly.

Test the Door Balance

An unbalanced door is a huge problem for the opener; this is the leading cause of common garage door opener problems. Remember, your door’s weight is evenly controlled by the tension on the springs holding it in place, which makes it easier for its opener to move it up and down.

An unbalanced door can do more than strain the opener; it can endanger the life of anyone who uses the door every day. You should regularly test if the door’s weight is evenly balanced. To test the balance, you should start by closing the door and disconnecting it from the opener by doing the following:

• If your home has a belt or chain-driven opener with a 5-piece square rail, you should pull the release rope downwards to disconnect the door.
• The belt or chain-driven openers with T-rails have a manual release rope that you have to pull downwards and then back to the motor.
• For those with jackshaft openers, you have to pull the manual release rope downwards until you hear a clicking sound before releasing it.

After disconnecting the door, you can open and then close it manually. If it binds or sticks while moving up and down, you should eliminate anything obstructing it and lubricate the hinges, rollers, and door tracks.

Finally, you can lift it about 4 feet off the floor and release it. If it stays in place, then it’s well-balanced. A well-balanced door can also move downwards and upwards slowly, but you should contact a professional if it shoots upwards or smashes the floor. If it passes these tests, you can connect it to the opener.

Test the Door’s Auto Reverse Feature

The auto reverse is an exceptional feature that guarantees the safety of anyone using the door. This feature forces your door to reverse quickly when it detects a person, pet, or vehicle on its way. This feature is activated by photocells or pressure  sensors that have to be tested once every month.

To test it, you have to place a 1.5-inch thick block beneath the door and try to close it. If the auto-reverse feature is functioning properly, the door should reverse before hitting the block of wood. When testing the photocell sensors, which are about  6 inches off the ground, you should close the door. While it’s moving downwards, you can place your leg on its path. A properly functioning door should reverse, but if it doesn’t, you should call a professional to fix it.

Tighten Hardware and Clean Its Tracks

Get rid of the debris on the tracks on either side of the door. Examine the brackets securing the tracks to the ceiling and wall. Remember, the vibrations it produces when granting access to your residence can loosen the bolts. Make sure you tighten the fasteners holding the openers and the entire door in place.

Endnote

Garage doors are durable units that can serve you for over a decade, but they can break down with time. If your door shakes when opened, something is wrong with its tracks. This can prevent the door from opening or closing with time. Mechanical issues can make your door extremely loud, so you shouldn’t dismiss them; instead, you should let a technician diagnose and repair it.