If you have ever had an issue with your garage door or opener, you know how frustrating it can be. As a richardson garage door service provider, we understand the unpredictable the Texas weather, and can imagine how awful it would be for you or your vehicle to be stuck outside in a storm because your garage door malfunctioned.
Just as anything, your garage door and opener experience wear and tear throughout their life of repeated daily use. In the majority of cases your garage door is the heaviest moving object in your home, and the garage door opener is charged with doing all the lifting. These are simply a few reasons why it is important to inspect your garage every so often and ensure that it is functioning properly to avoid an accident that could come with property damage, or even worse, injury. Since the need to inspect your garage door and opener is not exactly common knowledge, we thought it might be helpful as a richardson garage door service provider, to give you a quick and easy how-to-guide on performing a basic inspection of your garage. These Inspections can help increase the life of your garage door and opener through basic repairs and upkeep, thus, saving you money and avoiding the possibility of damage to your home and/or in an even worse case injury or death.
Here is a Quick 9 point inspection that you can follow:
(note there are more things that can be inspected, but this list is a basic rundown to check for common issues)
- 1) Start off by ensuring that your emergency release handle is working properly by pulling the handle and then re-engaging the handle afterwards.
- 2) Check the garage door panels for cracks, dents, signs of fatigue, or separation of materials. Also, check to see that the door has safety warning labels in place.
- 3) Inspect your spring for damage, and give all the bolts on the garage door a once over to ensure that everything is securely connected.
- 5) Verify smooth door function: make sure both inside and outside of the garage door are equipped with a handle. Check to see that the door moves freely, is not excessively noisy and the rollers stay in the track throughout the opening and closing.
- 6) Check the counterbalance springs to make sure they have a containment mechanism ( in most cases this is a center cable or shaft).
- 7) The wall button should be inspected. Proper placement of the button should be in clear view of the door and 5-feet off the floor a safe distance from all moving parts.
- 8) Make sure that your safety beam does not exceed the maximum of 6-inches above the floor, and test the safety beam to verify that the door returns to fully open position when the beam is interfered.
- 9) Test the contact reversal safety system, and verify that the door returns to fully open position.
(Tilt up garages require a different inspection)
We realize that this list does not cover every nook and cranny, but it is a great start and can be used to avoid costly repairs and replacement by extending the life of your garage through minor upkeep.
If you do find yourself in need of garage door or opener replacement or repair, don’t hesitate, call us now at 972-698-6031. American Best Door Service is a trusted Richardson garage door service provider and would love to help find the best solution for your situation.