If a man’s home is his castle, then the garage door is the drawbridge. The garage is your portal to the outside world, the place where you store your vehicle and extra supplies, a place that you pass through every single day. It’s easy to take for granted how important your garage is until it becomes a problem. One day you’re driving in and out of it with ease, the next you’re dealing with a garage door that won’t open or close at all. It’s hard to feel like the king or queen of your castle when the drawbridge won’t come down.
Troubleshooting garage doors is our specialty and our passion at Kaiser Garage Doors and Gates. We’ve helped homeowners handle every conceivable problem a garage door could have and gotten them up and running again. If you’re having trouble with your garage door, take a look at this list of eight common garage door issues and see if one of these will save the day.
If you can’t open your garage, the fault might lie with your remote. Before checking out the door, take a look at your opener. It could as simple a fix as changing out the batteries, or it could be that the remote’s sensors are faulty.
Sometimes your garage door may end up hanging unevenly. There’s all sorts of reasons why this could happen, but the important thing to keep in mind is that this is not a problem you should try fixing yourself. Only a professional (like the members of our staff) should handle a crooked garage door; the risk of personal injury, destroying the garage door or damaging the inside of your garage is simply too great.
Related: Is Your Garage Door Safe?
If your door isn’t opening, there’s a good chance that the safety sensor is out of alignment. If you use your garage a lot, at some point that you may end up bumping the door’s safety sensor and knocking it out of place. If the sensor is unaligned, it won’t respond to your door opener.
You should replace your rollers every five to ten years. The door rollers can wear out from constant use, and if they break down you’re going to have a very hard time getting your garage door open. Check for signs of wear before running out and buying a new door.
The hinges on your door can degrade and break down over time from frequent use. Weak hinges are also an irritant because they can make your garage door noisy. It’s important that you keep your hinges lubricated to prevent this from happening.
The rails are another part of your garage door that can naturally wear out. Like the hinges, keeping the rails lubricated is essential to good garage door maintenance. If you want your door to keep opening and closing smoothly, you’ll want the rails to be in tip-top shape.
Wear and tear can take its toll on your garage door motor, making it run weaker. Many motors have a limit switch on the operator that you can adjust to get it back in running order. This switch is usually found on the side of the motor. If you can’t find the switch, double-check your owner’s manual.
If your door starts shimmying from side to side or moving strangely, there could be something wrong with its tracks. Check the wheels to make sure that nothing is blocking them. If the wheels aren’t obstructed, then the fault could lie with the springs. Do NOT try to fix the springs yourself- garage door springs can be very dangerous.
Related: Services We Offer at Kaiser Garage Doors and Gates
Do you have a problem with your garage door or are you looking to install features to make it safer? We’re experts at repairing and replacing garage doors! Give Kaiser Garage Doors and Gates a call at 520-884-1771.
