Women and elderly need to take extra care before trusting garage door repairman

Finding a garage door repair company that will treat you right is not something you can take for granted. It’s the same with other companies that provide home construction and repair services for homeowners. It’s all the more troublesome if the homeowner(s) is elderly and/or a woman.

There are people in the business world who see women and elderly as easy pickings for overcharging for their services, or for providing services that aren’t really needed. For unscrupulous garage door repair companies, the elderly and women are opportunities they won’t resist.

Of course, not all elderly and women are as easily taken advantage of. In some cases, they are as knowledgeable about home repairs and the mechanics of their garage door as any other average homeowner. But, the nefarious garage door repair contractor may bring their preconceived notions to the door when they come to call.

On the other hand, many homeowners are less than fully informed about the operation of their garage door, and garage door opener. Many don’t realize that a garage door and garage door opener require periodic maintenance and service; they don’t realize that timely service can extend the life and efficient operation of their garage door and garage door opener.

The point is that, for women and the elderly, extra scrutiny to choose a reputable garage door repair company is essential. If you are a woman or elderly, or if you know someone who is, here are some questions to ask before you, or they, hire a garage door repair company:

• How long has the company been in business?
• What is their reputation? Don’t just assume – do some research. Look online and see what other people say about the company. Find out if they belong to the Better Business Bureau (though this is not an ironclad guarantee you can trust them). Ask around and talk to people who have used them in the past.
• Ask someone at your city or village’s building department if they have any experience with this company and if they’re safe to work with.
• Get it in writing. Demand that they give you written documentation about what services they’ll provide and what it will cost. Also, get a copy of the warranty they offer. Be careful that they don’t hit you with unexpected up-charges. Have them show you what is needed.
• Check out their Website. Are they a real business with a Website and their logo on their trucks and the shirts worn by their garage door technicians? In other words, have they invested in their company?
• Write down all pertinent contact information. Take their picture with your cell phone and write down their vehicle’s license plate number. Keep in mind that someone with a nefarious garage door repair company is looking to collect your money and then disappear. Make it as hard as possible for them to do so.

Tracks are critical for trains and Fox Lake garage doors

Trains run on tracks (and they’re real hard to steer when they come off the tracks). Garage doors, such as the garage door on your Fox Lake garage, come off the tracks, too. And they’re impossible to steer when they come off the tracks.

On each side of a garage door is a channel – a track – that guides the garage door up and down when you want to open or close the garage door. The tracks not only guide the garage door, they keep it from falling out of the opening in the front of your garage.

While trains running through Fox Lake run on steel train wheels that rest on the tracks with lips that fit into the tracks, garage doors run on steel wheels that fit inside of the channel-shaped tracks. The wheels have bearings that allow them to spin as the garage door moves up and down. That’s essential since, without the bearings, the wheels would fight to turn and the garage door would drag up and down.

Instead of the 1/2hp motor on your garage door opener, you might need a 20hp motor to drag the garage up and down all the time. In other words, the track and wheels, with bearings, are designed to make it easy to raise and lower your garage door and to keep the garage door moving up and down easily.

Those bearings will last a long time. They’re designed to last a long time. But, even with superior design, they won’t remain in pristine condition forever. The wear and tear of raising and lowering the garage door again and again will take its toll.

Eventually, the bearings in the wheels that guide your garage door up and down will become so loose that the wheel will wobble uselessly or lockup so that the wheel no longer turns. In either case, this puts more strain on your garage door opener and all the parts that work together to raise and lower your garage door.

Is there anything you can do to extend the life of your garage door? Of course, there is. For starters, it pays to keep the tracks clear of debris.

Grass clippings, leaves, dirt, sand, gravel and other detritus can build up in the tracks. They limit the capacity of the wheels and tracks to smoothly and efficiently raise and lower the garage door. Using a broom to carefully brush the debris from the tracks will go a long way to keeping your Fox Lake garage door going up and down smoothly for the long haul.