Garage Door Won't Work - Things to Check Before Calling a Professional
Have you ever tried to make a pot of coffee but the coffee maker sputtered and shut down, leaving you with a frustrated feeling and a strong need for some java? Remember when you tried to vacuum your living room carpet and the motor burnt out? As consumers, we hate it when our appliances don’t work. We have them in the first place because we want them to perform a task for us like making coffee and picking up dirt! When they don’t work we have the options to throw them away, have them repaired or fix them ourselves. Garage doors are no different. As the largest appliance in your home, your wood or steel garage door has a job to do – work on demand, every time! When it doesn’t we have those same options; fix it ourselves, pay someone else to fix it, or do nothing at all.
Option 3 is no option at all!
That’s right; we have to have the garage door fixed; we need it to work and every time, too. That leaves either calling in a local Ahwatukee, AZ garage door specialist or fixing the problem on our own. Actually, our Ahwatukee Garage Door Repair shop recommends both actions. This is because there are some things you can check before you ever call in a professional. Doing so will save you money and time and even teach you a few things about garage door parts and functions that are useful to know.
There’s more to your garage door than your garage door!
True statement! Your garage door is more than a slab of wood or metal that moves up and down. It also consists of other parts and accessories that include your springs, opener unit, cables, pulleys, tracks, hinges, sections, safety eyes, and lots more. Doing a simple check on some of these items can reveal what is really wrong with your door, and often, after making a simple adjustment, your garage door can work as good as new again!
Battery power
One of the simplest and easy checks that you can do is to inspect your remote’s battery. There have been countless service calls made by garage door professionals when all the homeowner really needed to do was to replace the battery in the remote. Check yours. If you have a home tester, proceed to do so. If you don’t, you can buy one inexpensively for about $20, either locally or online. Or, you can take your remote’s battery in to a local home improvement or retail store that tests them for free. If the battery is good, at least you know. If it’s not, simply buy one and you just saved yourself a service call and lots of time.
Safety eyes
Your garage door uses safety sensors to regulate when the door opens and closes. Check yours to see if they are aligned correctly. If you already know how to do this, proceed with your check. If not, refer to your owner’s manual or go online and view any number of videos that show how to check your sensors and align them correctly, if needed. While you are doing so, check for frayed or cut wires, cobwebs, loose hinges and other things that can block your safety beam or cut if off completely. Please note that your safety sensors are easy to adjust manually and once you are comfortable with doing so, you’ll be able to move them slightly so that the beams align and your garage door can work reliably again.
Garage door path blockage
Modern garage doors have a safety mechanism that prevents them from closing if something blocks their path. This is a good thing. Otherwise anything (or anyone) underneath the closing garage door can be hit or crushed under the weight and momentum of the closing door. Garage doors weigh several hundred pounds and who needs all that mass coming down on them? Something as small as a child’s toy can trigger this reversing action and send your garage door right back up after it had already started to close. Other things that can do this are items like rocks, chewing gum or dirt in the tracks that can prevent the rollers from moving forward. If nothing is blocking your garage door’s path, be sure to check the tracks and see if they are clean and allow movement from the rollers inside. It’s always a good idea to keep garage items away from your sensors as they can not only fall or lean on them, they can block the closing garage door’s path and prevent it from closing. Garden tools, trash cans, hoses, skateboards and boxes should all be far enough away from your sensors or tracks so that movement is not infringed in any way.