16 June 2017
 Categories: , Blog

Do you own a home with a garage? Are you tired of the door creaking, rattling, or otherwise misbehaving when you try to use it? Whether your garage door is outright broken or just needs a few simple adjustments, this can be a frustrating experience. But while it can be tempted to do these repairs on your own, some repairs are too dangerous for the average person to attempt. Here are some common issues with garage doors and whether or not they require an experienced technician to do the repairs:

Loud rattling noises: The screws that hold a garage door's tracks to your house can sometimes work themselves loose as a result of the vibrations that the door makes as it goes up and down. This loose track then causes loud rattling noises and can make even more screws work themselves loose. Fortunately, tightening screws is one of the easiest garage door repairs that can be done. Disconnect the garage door opener from the power before checking for loose screws and tracks. If you can find no loose screws and the door still rattles abnormally loud when opening and closing, you may need a professional to discover whether some of the track needs to be replaced.

Refusing to open: In order to allow a relatively small motor to lift up the weight of a garage door that may weigh several hundred pounds, each garage door assembly uses one or two heavy duty springs to hold most of the weight. Over time, these springs can eventually distort or crack. If your garage door is refusing to open, even though you've checked to make sure that the motor has power and the garage door remote has fresh batteries, the cause may be one or more broken springs. However, due to the stress placed on the springs, this is one of those garage door repairs that is best left to the professionals. Attempting to replace a spring on your own can be dangerous.

Refusing to close: As a safety measure, modern garage doors can have a number of sensors to determine whether or not something is blocking the path of the door. One type of sensor is optical, refusing to close if it can "see" anything blocking the invisible beam of light that it sends out. Unfortunately, small cobwebs and even simple dust can sometimes be sufficient to block these sensors and fool them into thinking that there's something there. You should be able to clean this type of sensor easily, allowing your garage door to close once again. If it still refuses to close, the issue could instead lie with a pressure sensor in the garage door. A pressure sensor is used to tell if the garage door has hit something along the way. A miscalibrated pressure sensor can cause the door to think that there's something in the way, even if there is nothing there. A technician experienced in garage door repairs can soon set this issue to right.