Garage doors are an essential part of most American homes and businesses. When they break down they become a major problem that can cause injury, security risks, and great inconvenience. Knowing the warning signs and acting upon them, preemptively prevents a breakdown and ultimately saves the property owner money. Garage doors are easy to take for granted -Until they malfunction. This is why we always recommend regularly scheduled maintenance and repair services. Standard garage door spring mechanisms last for around 20,000 cycles. Tension springs last between 5,000 to 10,000 cycles, depending on the model. A cycle is a way of measuring how many times you open and close your garage door. One garage door opening and closing equals one single cycle. This formula equates out to a general lifespan estimate of your garage door which is listed as follows: 2 cycles daily equals out to about 14 years. 4 cycles daily equals out to about 7 years. 6 cycles daily equals out to about 5 years. 8 cycles daily equals out to about 3 years. As you can see, daily use plays a major part in your garage door life expectancy. Here are five common warning signs to look out for in order to prevent a breakdown.
# 1. Excessive Noise: This is one of the easiest tell-tale signs that something is wrong. Your garage door becomes excessively and in some cases progressively louder as time goes by. Garage doors are not usually quiet mechanisms, but, the sound should be smooth, efficient, and at a reasonable and unchanging pitch. Wrenching and irregular, strained sounding garage doors should be serviced immediacy. These sounds could be a serious warning sign that you’re having problems with your door’s opener motor.
# 2. Door Will Not Move: This, of course, is one of the worst case scenarios. It’s incredibly inconvenient to say the least, especially when you can’t get your car out of the garage. You should always be able to manually lift your garage door, when you can’t, this could be a sure tell-tale sign that your springs are stuck or faulty. Garage doors can weigh in excess of over 200 pounds. This makes them a dangerous risk factor when springs start to go out. This is also a number one major problem with older garage doors as springs eventually degrade overtime with continual use. Garage door springs are a repair job for the professionals. The incredible tension involved in the springs makes working on them way too dangerous for anyone else.
# 3. Unresponsive Remote Prompts: One of the other most frustrating occurrences that a property owner can have with their garage door is when the remote simply refuses to work. Besides undermining the convenience of an automatically opening garage door, frustrations are compounded by all of the different problems that it could be. Low remote batteries are the most common and easy problem to fix. Dirty “eye” infrared transmitters on the remote, or receptors on the opener, are also simple common problems to fix. Loose power cords are more uncommon, but possible. Replacing the remote is a last chance attempt before facing the expensive fact that it’s the automatic garage door opener that’s broken.
# 4. Sagging and/or Off-Center Doors: The best way to test for this problem is to open the door half-way and then look to see if one side is lower than the other side. The bottom of the door should be aligned evenly on both sides of its tracks. Uneven unbalanced doors can become a real danger. A lot of excess stress can be quickly added onto the entire garage door’s system because of the added stress and accelerated wear and tear that it causes – Especially when it comes to door springs.
# 5. Garage Door is Shaking: This is never a good sign in a garage door. Anytime that this problem starts to happen, immediately shut the garage door off and then call a reputable repair service, ASAP. This problem is usually a sign of a serious tracking problem. It can literally cause the garage door to come crashing down on you or your car when the heavy door falls off of its tracks – This is why we recommend that you immediately stop using a shaking garage door, it’s simply way too unsafe to be worth the risk.
With all of the use and abuse we give our garage doors on a daily basis, it’s inevitable that you will eventually have the need for some basic repairs over the years. By using preventive maintenance and knowing the tell-tale signs that needed repairs may be imminent, a property owner can add years to the lifespan of their garage door. Since a garage door purchase is an investment, just like your property, it’s important to take good care of that investment. There are many other important issues to consider when properly maintaining your garage door, such as making sure your door is sufficiently insulated. Something as simple as poor insulation can lose a property owner money on their utility bills. Getting seasonal check-ups through an established garage door maintenance and repair specialist every three months is a reasonable schedule to adhere to. The specialist can then do a thorough examination of your garage door in order to prevent any major breakdowns. By utilizing the five warning signs that are listed above, you will now know exactly what to look for, what to do, and what to tell your garage door repair person when you call them.
Let New York Gates answer some of your important questions about the problems that you’re having with your garage door. They’re located in Brooklyn and cover the entire five boroughs of New York City. Email them today at info@nygates.com or call them directly at 1-718-614-0616. They will be perfectly happy to help you.
