Time to replace your Lindenhurst garage door?

Is that garage door on your Lindenhurst garage getting a bit shabby? It goes up and down in a jerky motion while making all kinds of noise. The panels in the door are loose to the extent you can even see light around their edges. The bottom of the door is ‘starting’ to rot and the garage door opener is running slower and slower.

These are some of the symptoms you’ll notice when it’s time to consider replacing your Lindenhurst garage door. Of course, if someone has driven the car into the garage door, that could be another explanation.  There is even another reason to consider replacing your garage door – it simply looks like heck.

A garage door can fail your aesthetic test if it’s simply showing its years. But, it can also fail that test if style has left your garage door in the dustpan of yesteryear. One example is the flat-panel garage door. When it’s down, it looks like a flat wall with horizontal grooves.

While some liked that style years ago, and fewer do today, it was always your essential basic garage door – no frills and nothing fancy. Today, there are garage doors that are simply stylistically outstanding. They put WOW! in the style of a garage door and really enhance the property in general. For instance, there are garage doors that are natural and stained wood that appear as though designed for use in a country estate.

Some overhead garage doors even have the appearance of stable doors that would swing out to open.

Metal (usually aluminum) and fiberglass garage doors are also more stylish today. And they come insulated, as well. An insulated garage door is a must if you’re planning to insulate the garage to get more use out of it in the winter – a key factor to consider here in Lindenhurst where winters get darn cold.

Once you’ve decided to replace the garage door, it’s time to consider which type of new garage door you’ll purchase and how you’ll install it. You may want to resist the urge to do it yourself. You can go to a big, home-supply box store to buy a garage door. It will come with instructions and, if you follow them carefully, you may do relatively OK. But it’s not that good of an idea.

First of all, installing a garage door has a significant element of danger. Garage doors are generally heavy. To make it easier to raise and lower the door, whether by hand or with a garage door opener, there are large springs that assist in lifting the garage door and controlling its descent when closing (you don’t want the garage door to come slamming to the ground when you close it).

That spring is under substantial tension. If that tension is unleashed, someone will probably get hurt. This is why it’s best to call in a professional for this type of project. Garage door repair and replacement simply don't make for good DIY projects.

A professional, a professional you’ve thoroughly vetted, will also help you to choose the appropriate garage door of the style you want and will make sure that you have a garage door opener that is up to the task properly installed.

Screw drive, chain drive or belt drive: choose your Vernon Hills garage door opener carefully

Is it time to replace that garage door on your Vernon Hills garage? Maybe the garage door is looking a bit shabby. Maybe the garage door doesn’t operate nice and smoothly, the way it used to. Maybe you had a total failure of the garage door and it no longer works at all. Even if you’ve just built the garage and are ready to install its first garage door, you’ll want to get a garage door you can trust – that will last a while.

The first thing to keep in mind about how long your Vernon Hills garage door will last is that it will last longer if you maintain it properly. The other thing you can do to ensure your garage door lasts longer, and operates better during its lifespan, is to purchase a quality garage door opener. This starts with choosing the right type of garage door opener.

There are three primary types of garage door openers:

• Screw Drive Garage Door Opener: With a screw-drive garage door opener, there is a threaded steel rod that moves a trolley to open and lower your garage door. The elements from adverse weather can affect the operation of a screw-drive garage door opener. If you live in Vernon Hills, this is something to consider.
• Chain Drive Garage Door Opener: This is the most common and the least expensive style of garage door opener. Just as a bicycle has a chain that moves when sprockets are turned as you pedal, this style of garage door opener moves the door with a chain that is attached to gears on two sprockets.
• Belt Drive Garage Door Opener: This style of garage door opener operates much the same as the chain drive garage door opener only, instead of a chain moving the trolley to raise and lower the door, this uses a belt. It tends to run quieter and is considered, by many, as the top end in garage door openers.

For many people, the driving factor when they choose a garage door opener is cost at the time of purchase. But, if you extend that cost over time, for instance, the belt drive garage door opener is often less expensive than a garage door opener that cost less at the time of installation.

The chains on the chain drive garage door openers tend to wear out and replacement chains are more expensive than belts. Additionally, the belt drive, by its very design, absorbs vibration and abuse better. In the long run, the belt drive garage door opener is probably the best bet for someone in Vernon Hills.

Don’t let thieves use ‘fishing’ technique to break into your Libertyville garage

Libertyville is a nice town. Nice people, not much crime: you couldn’t almost leave your doors unlocked, almost. Unfortunately, crime does come to Libertyville from time to time and you’re better off keeping the doors locked, not just on the house but the garage, too.

Locks may keep the amateur thieves out but, with the pros, it only slows them down a little. When a pro wants to break into your Libertyville garage, the most common way is for the thief to go ‘fishing.’ Yes, fishing, but not in the sense where you go out on a lake in a boat.

Fishing is a technique thieves use to break into a garage. It’s really rather simple; the thief pushes back on the top panel of the garage door. Then, using a wire or, maybe, a coat hanger, they snag the disconnect cord on the inside of the garage door.

You’ve probably used that disconnect cord yourself, at one time or another. You were inside the garage and wanted to open the garage door. You turned the handle in the middle of the inside of the garage and the cables pulled tabs out of the way by the tracks on either side so the garage door would open.

A thief will come into Libertyville and, if they want to get into your garage, they’ll use the same cable but they’ll access the cable from the outside, which defeats its purpose.

Fortunately, there is a solution that will keep the thieves from using this technique. The technique is to have the garage door installed properly in the first place. This means setting the stop points when opening and closing the garage correctly.

This is how the garage door settings are done so that that it is virtually impossible to get in by ‘fishing.’

• Run the garage door opener until the garage door is all the way down
• Keep running it for a few seconds 
• Set the lower stop point

When this is done right, J.J. Watt probably couldn’t open the garage door by fishing.

Unfortunately, there are other ways that a thief might try to break into your garage. That’s why a good security system isn’t a bad idea, particularly if you have valuables in the garage or if it is attached to the house.

Hopefully, no one is going to try breaking into your Libertyville home or garage. If they do, however, you don’t want to make it easier for them and taking away the technique of ‘fishing’ is one way to stop them.