Is your garage door on the fritz? Have you recently noticed strange noises or abnormal movement patterns? When you have an automatic garage door, a variety of issues can cause your door to function improperly. And while a non-functional garage door may seem like a minor inconvenience, it can be a serious safety issue for the untrained homeowner. At Bluff Country Garage Doors, we take safety seriously, which is why we offer dependable, on-call service. Today, we’d like to discuss the most common reasons behind garage door failure, and why you should always hire a professional to perform your repairs.
Improper Track Alignment
The metal tracks that houses your garage door’s rollers must be in perfect alignment for the door to open and close properly. If they become slightly misaligned, you may notice the following telltale signs:
● Grinding noises
● Gaps between the rollers and the track
● Bent tracks
● Abnormally slow movement in isolated areas
Continual opening and closing of an improperly aligned garage door can exacerbate the problem. Because the average garage door is heavy—weighing between 130 and 400 pounds—it may cause the rails to bend even farther out of alignment as it moves through the track. If you observe any of the symptoms noted above, it’s best to call a garage door repair technician before the misalignment gets out of hand.
Broken Torsion or Extension Springs
If your garage door suddenly fails to move up or down, you may be dealing with broken torsion or extension springs. Springs control the movement of your garage door by regulating the tension required to move the door—but they don’t last forever. Depending on the type of springs you have, you’ll typically need to replace them every seven to nine years if you open your door an average of four times per day. And if you open your door more often, you’ll need to be diligent about having replacement springs installed. A word of caution: if you observe a broken spring, do not try to open the door yourself. Springs are highly dangerous and should only be handled by a trained professional.
Broken Cables or Tension Springs
Just as the door’s torsion and extension springs have a limited life, so do its cables and tension springs. If you’ve noticed your garage door closing unusually fast, or if it slams loudly to the ground as it reaches the last foot or two, it’s probably time to replace the tension springs or cables. Like torsion springs, cables and tension springs can be very dangerous to handle if you are not properly trained. Most components of your garage door hold an enormous amount of tension as a high level of force is required to open the door. Rather than risk harm, it’s best to let the professionals repair any broken garage door components.
Objects Inhibit the Door’s Movement
This one might seem like a no-brainer, but it still stumps people every day. If your garage door is equipped with a sensor mechanism, it will fail to close fully if there is an object blocking its path to the ground. If your door moves downward, but suddenly stops and reverses, an object is likely tripping the sensor.
A less common occurrence is debris buildup within the door’s track. For the door to close properly, the track must be unobstructed for the roller wheels to move freely along their path. Even the smallest object—gum, a ping pong ball, your child’s action figure—can stop the door in its tracks (literally). You’ll need to examine the length of the track to determine if debris is causing the problem.
This post first appeared on http://www.bluffcountrygaragedoor.com