No, you shouldn’t use the old garage door tracks with your new garage door

It's about time to replace this garage door.
It would be a mistake to use the same
tracks with the new garage door.

You may think you’ll save some time and money by using your old garage door tracks when you install a new garage door but don’t do it. It’s not a good idea.

Garage door tracks are designed to fit the garage door they come with. They are not universal.

You may think that one set of garage door tracks is the same as another. This is because, from a casual perspective, they look the same. The differences are subtle but important. In fact, the differences could make installing a new garage door with old garage door tracks dangerous.

It’s a matter of adjustments and crucial dimensions. The spacing between the tracks matters and won’t necessarily be the same that is required with your new garage door. The spacing is also crucial in terms of the offset between the tracks and the garage door jambs.

If these dimensions are not precise, the door may get hung up as it travels up or down. The door could come off the tracks and fall on your car, or even on you.

Garage door installation requires a qualified technician to ensure that everything is set according to specifications. Garage doors weigh more than you might think. The springs required to reduce the strain of that weight on you or a garage door opener are significant. The springs are loaded to a degree that they could seriously maim or kill someone if they come loose.

There are some projects around the house that qualify as DIYers. Installing, repairing or maintaining a garage door is not one of them.

All those moving parts – care for your garage door to keep it working longer

It’s a door. What’s the big deal? Actually, a garage door is made up of multiple moving parts. Anything mechanical can break and the same holds true with a garage door. The way to avoid problems with your Richmond garage door is to maintain it properly.

Consider that a garage door and garage door opener generally include the following parts.

• Four door panels – some can have windows and they are generally made of wood, steel, aluminum, vinyl, and other materials
• 12 or more hinges
• 10 rollers with 10-ball bearings
• Horizontal and Vertical tracks with 90-degree radius sections between them
• Brackets to mount the tracks and other parts
• Safety photo eyes
• A torsion spring
• Winding cones
• A shaft that runs through the torsion spring
• Cable drums on either end of the shaft through the torsion spring 
• Extension springs
• Pulleys/Sheaves
• Cable
• Locks and Handles
• Rail components
• Quick disconnect door arm
• A garage door opener
• Garage door bottom fixtures
• Weatherstripping

All the parts above that are in bold are moving parts. The door at the front of your house probably has three hinges, which, essentially, accounts for all of its moving parts. A garage door includes at least 30 or more moving parts.

Moving parts wear. Over time, they can break. The enemies of moving parts are friction, heat, and rust. The defenders of moving parts are oil and grease placed, in proper quantities, in the right spots, and in the appropriate frequency.

Grease and oil can reduce friction and heat and ward off rust. When your garage door was installed, it had appropriate applications of oil and grease. But, over time, the oil, and grease wears away and breaks down losing their lubricating capacity.

You’d be surprised how many garage doors have never had reapplications of grease and oil. The same garages were probably never checked or adjusted to ensure they operate properly. These are the first garage doors to break down. The lesson is clear – care for your garage

Broken garage door spring is a repair for a professional

Garage door spring replacement is not for the faint of heart or for the amateur

When the spring of your garage door breaks, you've got a problem and it's a problem that can get worse. The garage door spring is an essential part of your garage door and garage door opener. Most garage doors weigh in at between 150 and 250 pounds. The garage door spring takes the weight off so you, or your garage door opener, can easily open the garage door.

But, if the spring breaks, all that weight is on you. Or, all that weight is on your garage door opener. If it's on you, better eat your Wheaties before you go to open the garage door. If you're relying on your garage door opener to open the garage, without the assistance of that spring, all that weight is bearing down on the mechanisms of the garage door opener and outcome is bleak.

Parts will break. Garage door opener motors will quickly expire. It's not a pretty picture. In fact, you're better off disconnecting the garage door opener and opening the garage door by hand until the broken spring is replaced. And, considering the weight of the garage door, if you don't have the garage door spring to help, well, you've got a workout opening the door and you need to be careful when it comes flying back down.

You can get hurt trying to catch the garage door as it plummets downward. But, you can also get hurt if you try to replace the garage door spring yourself.

Replacing a garage door spring can be fatal

That's not an exaggeration. A garage door spring can take a finger off. It can take your arm off. It can take your head off. That's how much tension there is on a garage door spring.

Even if you are handy around the house, this is not the job for you. The process of installing a garage door spring has to be done correctly. And, if someone gets the doo together, if the spring isn't installed correctly, the garage door can still cause serious injury or death.

Fortunately, garage door repair technicians know the proper way to install a garage door spring. They can do the job efficiently and without injury to themselves or to you.

Why is the garage door opener in your Island Lake garage beeping, squeaking or making a racket?

If your Island Lake garage door opener is making noise,
you may want to have a professional check it out.

Garage doors are seldom absolutely quiet, as it went up and down, but you may notice that your Island Lake garage door is making more noise than it used to make. The garage door opener may beep. The garage door, itself, may make more noise while going up and down. Why is this? Should you be worried? Should you do anything at all?

Beeping: If your garage door opener is beeping, depending on what brand of garage door opener you have, it can mean several things, such as:

1. The garage door opener has a battery backup and, if it beeps every 2 seconds, the garage door opener is operating on battery power. If it beeps every 30 seconds and has a flashing orange LED light, it means the battery is low and requires replacement. 
2. Your garage door has Wi-Fi, in which case a single beep means it’s going into Wi-Fi mode while a single continuous beep means that the unit is trying to connect to the router. Two beeps mean it's trying to connect to the server, three slow beeps mean the garage door opener is connecting to the network and three fast beeps are confirmation that you’ve erased the opener from Wi-Fi. Ultimately, you should ask your garage door technician and/or check your Owners Manual.

Squeaking: With a garage door that squeaks as it goes up and down, the problem is usually insufficient lubrication. The sound isn’t the only problem. If it’s squeaking, it means the door is putting more drag on the opener and parts of the garage door. Things will wear out faster.

Grinding: This is a metal-to-metal sound that could indicate a problem with the chain or belt drive. They may require adjustment or replacement. Once again, you should take care of this problem before it spreads and causes other problems.

Clinking: If you hear a clinking as the door is raised or lowered, this often indicates that you have a problem with your springs. It could also be a problem with the rollers.

Whatever the noise, you shouldn’t ignore the problem. Your Island Lake garage door is trying to tell you something and you should have the problem looked at before it gets worse. However, you don’t have to wait for your garage door to make noise. Bring in a qualified garage door technician for annual maintenance and you may never hear your garage door, or garage door opener, making unwanted beeps, squeaks or a racket.

It’s not too late to turn your garage into a Haunted Garage

Tomorrow is Halloween and, if you’re like most people, you’ve put some spooky decorations out in the front yard and you’ve got a bowl of candy by the front door. Some folks, however, have found a way to add some extra scary to the occasion while getting into the spirit of the event. Some folks have turned their garage into a small haunted house and Trick-or-Treat station.

Instead of waiting for the doorbell to ring, they’re out in the garage, the garage door wide open, participating with the Trick or Treaters as they come by for treats.

The garage is rich in potential when you’re preparing for the arrival of little ghouls, princesses and any of a number of super heroes. And, the great thing is that it’s so easy to convert your garage for the ghostly season that you can easily do so if you start now.

You can start by taking a broom out to the garage and cleaning a little – but not too much. Ghosts and goblins don’t want things too clean. Rather, you can move some of the items that won’t fit with your Haunted Garage to the back of the garage. Then, hang a curtain or sheet (a black sheet, if you’ve got one) to cover up the things in the garage that you wouldn’t see in your Haunted Garage.

On the other hand, you could expand on the theme of a Haunted Garage and mix the spooky with the normal – the things you expect to see in a garage. Just be careful that there’s nothing around that would hurt any of the little Tricksters who will come by for treats. If you opt for the garage themed Haunted Garage, you can add ghosts, skeletons and other frightening decorations in among the items usually found in a garage.

You may, however, opt for a Haunted Garage where the garage is merely the stage for your spooky themed presentation. You may choose a setting from one of your favorite scary movies. But, keep in mind that many of the little monsters coming by your Haunted Garage will be a bit young for some of the scarier movies that are out these days. Your neighbors won’t appreciate it if you keep their children up with nightmares, especially when you’re already helping to keep them up with candy.

Still, even little children expect to see some spiders, ghosts and skeletal characters. Just don’t over do it. Make sure your Haunted Garage is age appropriate.

One nice thing about a Haunted Garage is that, unless you have a finished ceiling in the garage, it’s very easy to suspend monsters and such from the rafters. With a little ingenuity, you can probably rig up a monster on a string that you can let down and pull up when Trick or Treaters arrive.

If you have access, or time to get one, a good technique is to use a fog machine in the garage. Remember that black is the prevalent color for Halloween, along with minimal lighting.

Get yourself a low-wattage light or, better yet, a black light bulb. Then, get creative. Without too much work you’ll have a Haunted Garage the little monsters will look forward to year after year and with no more work required than you want to put into it.

How’s the weather stripping around your Gurnee garage door?

There’s a great-big opening at the front of your Gurnee garage. There’s a hinged assembly that opens and closes in that opening. It’s called your garage door. As winter approaches, the hope is that, when it’s closed, the garage door will provide a reasonable seal.

That’s quite a job for a garage door. Consider that a common garage door size is 16’ X 7’-8”. The outside circumference of that garage door is 47’-4”. You’ll usually find the garage door is made of four sets of panels with three sets of hinges. That’s another 48’ of joint that needs to seal. Together, that’s 95’-4” of area the garage door needs to seal.

Fortunately, the hinged panels are engineered to seal well. If the hinged joints are not sealed, you’ll need to tighten the hinges. If that doesn’t work, you may need to replace the garage door.

The real issue with sealing you Gurnee garage door is around the circumference. The solution to a windy closure of the garage door at the top and the sides are rubberized weather stripping attached to the door frame. The seal needs to be attached properly so that, while it doesn’t get in the way while the door is opening and closing, it’s close enough to seal when the garage door is closed.

At the bottom of the garage door, the rubber seal is attached to the garage door. Now, the garage door needs to be adjusted properly so that it closes tightly while taking into account the rubber at the bottom of the door.

Most garage doors come with rubber weather strip on the bottom. However, as with rubber weather stripping around the sides, the rubber will grow hard over time. This means that, even if you have weather stripping around your garage door, you may want to check the condition of the rubber. Look for cracks in the rubber. Feel the rubber to see if it’s reasonably supple yet.

Good quality weather stripping around your Gurnee garage door, properly installed, will make a world of difference sealing outside air from getting in, as well as rain and snow. With worn, improperly installed or missing weather stripping, the wind, and those other elements will come right in.

Does your Huntley garage door look crooked?

“Honey, is it me or does the garage door look a little crooked?”

If you’re asking your spouse that question about your Huntley garage door, and if the answer is yes, you have a problem with your garage door. As a rule, garage doors shouldn’t sit crooked in the garage door opening. They’re specifically designed to not sit crooked.

Any garage door installer who is worth his salt will install your garage door level. If, following the installation, you notice that the garage door is crooked, don’t let the garage door technician leave until he or she fixes the issue. Or, maybe you should insist that they leave and call a qualified garage door technician who knows how to do the job right.

Fortunately, it’s highly unlikely you’ll find a garage door technician that incompetent. From time to time you’ll run into a garage door technician working in the Huntley area who isn’t as qualified with the technical aspects of garage door installation. The process generally sorts out those who should consider other professions.

Assuming, therefore, that the garage door was installed properly to begin with, if your garage door is crooked, that’s probably a recent development.

Why would your garage door be crooked?

The problem with a crooked garage door almost always comes down to one or two problems: a spring is broken or damaged, and/or a cable is malfunctioning.

The malfunctioning cable is probably the most common culprit. The cable may have jumped off of the cable drum. This could happen because the garage door struck something on the way up or down.

If left unattended, the problem could result in the garage door falling out of the opening onto your car, yourself or someone you love. In other words, this is a problem you want fixed promptly.

The weight of a garage door is surprising to most people because the springs take up most of the weight. That means that the springs have to be strong. It makes for a dangerous combination when working on your garage door. Garage door springs can seriously injure, or even kill, someone who doesn’t know their way around garage doors. This is why, if your Huntley garage door is crooked, it’s best that you call a qualified garage door technician to fix the problem.

Maintenance is the key to your Lindenhurst garage door opener’s durability

Maintaining your Lindenhurst garage door opener
will save you money and aggravation in the long run.

How long should you expect your garage door opener to last at your Lindenhurst home? As with other mechanical equipment, garage door openers won’t last forever. Eventually, they give up the ghost.

If you try to gauge the life expectancy of your garage door opener based on the warranty, you won’t find that information inspiring. Most garage door opener warranties are for about three years. Most of the folks in Lindenhurst don’t want to run out to the store every three years to replace their garage door openers.

The good news is that garage door openers generally last substantially longer than their warranties. In fact, you can probably expect your garage door opener to last at least 15 years and, possibly, as long as 30 years. That’s far more comforting.

Fortunately, you’re not merely at the whim of chance when it comes to how long your garage door opener will last. In other words, there is something you can do about it.

What can you do about the durability of your garage door opener? Maintenance is the key. As Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Maintaining your garage door opener includes replacing the batteries and light bulbs periodically. You should also replace the batteries in your remote control (be sure to unplug the garage door opener before performing any maintenance). When replacing the bulbs in the garage door opener, it’s recommended that you use the factory recommended bulbs.

You should also check the tension of the chain or belt that the garage door opener uses to drive the garage door up and down, depending on which style of garage door opener you have.

Keeping the garage door opener clean is a good thing, too. That policy also works for the garage door mechanism in general. Cleaning the tracks, wheels and other parts of the garage door opener can pay dividends in terms of allowing your garage door opener to last to its maximum potential lifespan.

Lubrication is also imperative if you want your garage door opener to last longer. Look at it this way; if you don’t maintain, clean and lubricate your garage door opener and garage door mechanism regularly, your garage door opener will have to work harder to raise and lower the garage door. The more it has to strain, the earlier you’ll find you need a new garage door opener on your Lindenhurst garage.

Salem, WI, garage door doesn’t have to open slowly

It’s not such a big deal when they’re headed out to the PM&L Theatre for a show but, when they have to get to work on time, or get the kids to Salem Grade School before the bell, there’s no time to waste. Unfortunately, their garage door and garage door opener seem to be conspiring to waste their time.

Did it happen suddenly one day? Probably not. More likely, it was a gradual process where, little by little, their garage door simply took longer and longer to open. Eventually, it took so long to open that they couldn’t help but notice the difference.

When they were new, the garage door opener cranked up the garage door in no time at all. It happened so quickly they didn’t really think about it. They’d push the button and, while they were otherwise preparing to leave, the door finished rolling up in its tracks. Now, when all seatbelts are clicked and doors are closed and locked, and the car is started, they look up to discover that the garage door is only half the way up. They sit in the car and watch impatiently as it continues its journey.

There are several possible culprits behind the slowing of their Salem, WI, garage door, including worn springs or pulleys and belts. It may require needed adjustments to spring tension or the speed setting on the garage door opener. The door may also require lubrication to free up hinges and rollers for ease of travel.

You may find some Do-It-Yourself videos online that will provide instructions on how to improve the speed of your garage door yourself. However, it’s essential to remember that the springs used with your garage door are under extreme tension and have the potential to cause serious injury or even death if something goes wrong while you’re adjusting your garage door. It’s highly advisable that you have a professional work on your garage door.

Annual maintenance of your garage door and garage door opener will help you avoid ever discovering that your garage door is opening slower. Maintenance will help keep it moving free, clear and efficiently.

Salem, WI, is a great place to live. There’s a lot to do in and around Salem. You don’t want to spend your time waiting for your garage door to open.

Why would your Lake Villa garage door jam?

Garage doors are designed to go up and down. With garage door openers, the process is, for homeowners in Lake Villa, such as you, is virtually effortless. But, the frustration can be monumental if your garage door is jammed somewhere between opened and closed.

You may find that you can’t open the garage door and you can’t close the garage door. It’s as though someone built a partial wall in the front of your Lake Villa garage. You can’t get the car in and out, and you can’t keep unwanted animals or criminals out. It’s upsetting.

Of course, proper maintenance of your garage door and garage door opener can go a long way to avoiding this unpleasant scenario. But, simply put, mechanical things sometimes break. The question is, ‘What could cause this kind of problem with your garage door?’

There are several possible causes when a garage door is jammed, such as:

• You have a broken garage door spring: If you have a torsion spring, located above the garage door on a rod extending from one side of the door to the other, you may see a space in the middle of the spring. This means that the torsion spring has broken. If you have extension springs on both sides of the garage door, you may find that one of the springs is broken (DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FIX THIS YOURSELF! The pressure from these springs is tremendous and can cause serious bodily harm or, even, death. Be sure to call a professional).
• The garage door is off the track: If this is the problem, you’ll probably see rollers on the sides of the garage that are not in the tracks. You may even be able to put them back in the track. The problem is that they’re liable to come out of the track again. The trick is to determine why they came out of the track so you can avoid the same problem at a later date.
• Something is jammed into the track: Could a broom handle have fallen into the track and jammed into a roller? Anything that gets wedged into the garage door can cause this kind of problem. Once again, be careful while examining your garage door. Severe pinches and cuts are possible if you’re not careful.
• The garage door opener is broken: If this is the case, you can usually free up the garage door by pulling the release cable. But, you’ll probably want to get that garage door opener fixed again.

As you can see, there are several reasons that garage doors can get jammed and neither open or close. If you maintain your Lake Villa garage door and garage door opener, you may never experience this problem. But, if you do, be sure to call in a professional before performing and significant repairs; garage door repair is hazardous if you’re not familiar with working with garage doors.

Are the rollers in your Grayslake garage coming out of their tracks?

Up and down, up and down. How many times does the garage door in your Grayslake garage go up and down? Smooth, efficient, flawlessly. The garage door is so reliable you don’t even think about it, at least, not until you notice that one of the rollers has come out of the track.

This isn’t how your garage door is supposed to act. It’s just not right. It’s worrisome. What will happen next? Will the garage door fall out of its frame and onto your car – onto you or someone you love? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

When a roller comes out of the garage door track that doesn’t mean the garage door will fall out. Most garage doors have 10 rollers. Several or all 10 rollers would have to fall out of the track before you would have to call Grayslake Fire Protection. But, it’s still problematic when rollers don’t stay in their track.

Why would a roller come out of its Grayslake garage door track?

• The track is damaged: if the track is bent, or otherwise damaged, a roller may come out of the track. Usually, if this is the case, it’s caused because something hit and damaged the track. It could happen, however, if something else is wrong with the operation of the garage door and this problem put stress on the track.
• The door is damaged: if the door is damaged this could also cause the roller to come out of the track. For instance, if there is a dent in the door it could pull away from a track so that the roller is pulled away from the track, too.
• There is dirt or something else in the track: Dirt can pull against the roller on one side of the garage door causing the door to come down unevenly. As the door tips because of the strain on one side, you may find that the door doesn’t span evenly between the tracks. One roller may not extend all the way to the track on one side and could come out of the track.
• The rollers and track may need lubrication: Just as dirt or obstructions in the track could cause the garage door to come down unevenly, a lack of lubrication can cause the same effect. The track and rollers should be lubricated to ensure that the door goes up and down as smoothly, quietly and efficiently as possible. This will put less stress on parts of the garage door and on the garage door motor.

Grayslake is a great place to live. There are beautiful homes and garages in town. But, even with a beautiful garage, maintenance of the garage door and garage door opener is critical.  It can help keep your rollers in their tracks.

Why does my Pell Lake garage door stop short of the floor

The garage door opener on her Pell Lake garage works great. It glides up and down in its tracks as though a hot knife flowing through butter. There’s only one fly in the ointment; the door stops just short of closing all the way.

In the winter, snow will blow under the door. In the summer, rain washes below the door and wets the floor for a wide area in the front of the garage. You can learn to live with it – to accept that your garage door doesn’t want to close completely – but why should you?

The garage door is supposed to go all the way down when it closes. If it doesn’t, there is something wrong; there is a reason that it won’t close properly.

There are several explanations as to why your Pell Lake garage door won’t close completely. For instance …

• You could have a problem with the safety sensors: There are safety sensors on both sides of the door. If one, or both, are damaged or worn out, you’re liable to have a problem closing your garage door completely.
• Your safety sensors are out of alignment: When aligned properly, your garage door should go all the way down. But, maybe someone kicked one of the sensors by mistake (who would kick a safety sensor on purpose?) or something else knocked a sensor out of alignment. If this is the case, the sensors need to be realigned. 
• Your garage door opener may require travel adjustment: Inside the opener casing, there are two knobs for adjusting the travel of the garage door. These may need a little tweaking so the garage door will go all the way down.
• You could have a problem with mechanical parts of the garage door: A bad gear or a binding track may stop your garage door short of its intended destination all the way down to the floor.

There are all potential problems that could keep your Pell Lake garage door from closing all the way. While you may be tempted to fix the problem yourself, you may prefer to call in a professional since there is a way to adjust the travel of the garage so thieves have a harder time breaking into your garage.

Security tip of zip tie to disable garage door emergency release is a bad idea and here’s why …

This emergency release cord is not disabled
with a zip tie. Some are in an attempt
to thwart any efforts by thieves to break
into the garage. A zip tie on the garage
door emergency release is actually a
very bad idea.

A zip tie strapped around the emergency release of a garage door opener mechanism is a tip often prescribed by those who claim they’re in the know. Yes, this can make it harder for a thief to break into your garage (fortunately, there are other ways to confront thieves) but think about the name of this device.

It’s not called the ‘convenient’ release cord. It’s not called the ‘optional’ release cord. This, usually, red cord with a handle found having down from the trolley on the drive chain, is called the ‘EMERGENCY’ release cord. This is because when you need it, you might just have an emergency.

If the power goes out, your electrically-operated garage door opener won’t work unless you have a battery backup or generator. It’s possible that, when the power went out, you would feel that your ability to get the car out of the garage is an emergency – just pulled the cord and lift the garage door by hand. But, that’s not exactly what they meant when they named this mechanism the ‘emergency’ release cord.

By emergency, the suggestion is that something or someone, valuable might be stuck under the door, such as your pet or, worse yet, one of your children. If your child is caught under the garage door you may not have time to bring a ladder over, find a cutter and cut the zip tie off your emergency release cable.

The concern is that a thief can grab the emergency release cord with a coat hanger and release the trolley from the cable. Then they’re in the garage.

So, if a zip tie is a bad idea, what can you do to ensure that your garage door is secure (doubly important if you have a garage attached to the house where they can close the garage door again and work on the door to the house unobserved)?

Below is a list of ideas to secure your garage door suggested by the International Door Association:

Is rust, or damage, causing problems for your Genoa City garage door?

This Genoa City garage door track hasn't
seen lubrication in years and rust is
beginning to build up.

The tracks on either side of your garage door guide the rollers on your Genoa City garage door panels as they travel up and down. If the tracks are bent or damaged, the rollers can hang up and cause problems with operating your garage door. Rust can also cause problems.

When new, assuming it was properly installed, your garage door rolled up and down smoothly in its tracks. The process was quiet and put a minimum of stress on your garage door opener. The process occurred almost invisibly. When you wanted to open or close the garage door, you pushed the button and didn’t even think about the garage door completing the task you had assigned. But, over time, that may have changed.

Increasingly, you notice as the garage door goes up and down. It makes more noise. It may even take longer. And, in the process, it puts additional strain on the garage door opener and all the garage door’s parts.

A badly bent or damaged garage door track may cause a garage door to get stuck. If damaged badly enough, the rollers may even come out of the track. If the latter happens, the door could fall on you or your car.

Rust can also build up inside the track to the point where inefficient operation can become stalled operation.

Fixing the rails can be problematic. If they’re bent, bending them back is often a challenge. If they’re rusted, getting the rust out is difficult if not impossible.

Damaged rails occur because, 1. Something struck the rail and caused the damage, or 2. Something else caused uneven pressure in the operation of the garage door.

The first reason that you might find rust in you Genoa City garage door rails is because they were not properly lubricated. Lubrication will keep the rollers moving smoothly while also fighting off rust.

If the humidity is high around your Genoa City garage, that’s a possible cause of rust in the rails. Or, you could have a leak that is allowing water to make its way into the tracks. While fixing any leakage is imperative, either of these issues illuminates the essential need for proper lubrication in your garage door’s tracks.

Lubricating your garage door tracks, as well as other moving parts of the garage door, includes using the proper lubricants applied in the right places and in the correct level. For this service, it’s best to call in a qualified garage door technician.

Why won’t Tina’s Woodstock garage door open?

It’s been a long day and Tina is happy to return to her Woodstock home. Her thoughts turn to soaking in a bath before a bite to eat followed by reclining on the sofa with a good book she’s reading these days. As she pulls in the driveway, the hits the button on the remote. If she’s timed it right, she’ll pull down the driveway and into the garage without having to hit the brakes; the garage door will open just as the car passes underneath. But, something is wrong.

Tina hits the brakes hard as she realizes the garage door hasn’t opened. It hasn’t even started to open. Now, stopped in front of the closed garage door, she hits the button again. Still nothing.

There are several reasons the garage door isn’t opening. Tina doesn’t care. What she cares about is that her relaxation is on hold. She’ll probably leave the car in her Woodstock driveway go inside and call the garage door repair service. In the meantime, she’ll try to get back to her plan for relaxing. It’s not the end of the world but it has caused a little frustration just when she expected to begin unwinding.

What could be wrong with her garage door? There are several possibilities, including:

• One of the springs that take up the weight of the garage door could have broken. The torsion springs make it possible for the garage door opener to lift and lower the garage door. Without the springs, the garage door opener is a 100-pound weakling waiting on the beach for someone to kick sand in his face.
• Your garage door could have tracks that are out of alignment. Usually, if this is the problem, it won’t cause the garage door to not move at all, but that is a possibility.
• The belt to the garage door opener motor could have broken or slipped off the pulley. In this case, the garage door opener may be running but it is disconnected from the drive that moves the garage door.
• The garage door transmitter may be faulty. If the transmitter worked with your garage door before, it should work now. But, things do break and it’s possible this could happen to your transmitter. You may need to reset the codes or replace the transmitter.
• Something could be blocking the garage door so it won’t open. It’s also possible that the garage door is locked. But, why would you lock your garage door if you want to use the garage door opener to open it?
• There’s another possibility but it’s so simple that you might not think about it; you may need new batteries in your transmitter.

Whatever the problem with Tina’s garage door opener, there’s no reason to stress out. She can check out the batteries, make sure the door isn’t locked or blocked. If none of those are causing the problem, she can call a garage door repair service to send someone to her Woodstock home. But, first, she should soak in a bath, have something to eat and relax with her book. The garage door will wait. Well, maybe she wants to call the garage door repair service first, but, either way, she shouldn’t stress.

Is water leaking under your garage door and how can you keep the water out of your garage?

If your garage door was designed and built properly, your probably don’t have this problem. But, if that isn’t the case, you may have water leaking, or even running, under your garage door and into your garage. Water shouldn’t come into the garage.

The floor of your garage is designed to keep the water out by sloping down from the back and sides of the garage to the door. Some garages have a step up outside the garage door that serves as a damn for water that might otherwise get into the garage. Of course, there are people in McHenry and Lake County this past Spring and Summer who saw water that went much higher than any step outside their garage door.

If you’re having your garage built, before the slab is poured, it’s a very good idea to make sure that the garage floor will take water into account. Once the slab is poured, and the concrete sets, it’s too late. But, there are other things you can do.

The best way to keep water out of a garage after the garage is built, assuming the floor wasn’t designed properly in the first place, is to add something that will impede access for the water. This generally means adding a threshold kit. Threshold kits come in a variety of styles.

With some threshold kits, the garage door, when closed, will sit down on a flat strip of rubber behind a slanted, rubber water damn. Others are sloped down on either side of a thicker piece of rubber. In this case, the garage door comes down on the center of the rubber garage threshold piece.

Whatever type of threshold kit you use, it’s important that the weather stripping attached to the bottom of the garage door is in good shape so that it matches tightly with the garage threshold kit.

It’s also important to note that, if the threshold kit causes the garage door to stop higher when closing, you probably need to adjust the garage door opener and, possibly, the eyes at the bottom of the garage door opening.

Other ways to keep the water out of the garage are more labor and cost intensive. For instance, you could cut a channel in front of the door so the water is caught and flows out to the sides away from the garage door opening. You can also redo the area in front of the garage door. If you have a solid drive leading to the garage door, this is a major renovation. Even if you have a gravel drive, this is a big job. And, it may not be as easy as it seems. What you’re trying to do is to modify the topography in front of the garage door so that water flows away.


One of these latter options is the more likely solution if you’re dealing with a serious problem of water coming into the garage. Assuming that’s not the case, however, it’s important that you install the threshold kit properly. If you’re not sure you can do it right, it’s better to call in a professional from the start. It will often cost more if the professional first has to fix something that went wrong when you were trying on your own.

How do you clean your Richmond garage door the right way?

Your standing in the kitchen looking into the backyard of your Richmond home when you notice, ‘Boy, that garage door is really dirty!’

When it was new, your garage door was the pride of the neighborhood. Well, maybe that’s going too far. At the very least, it wasn’t an embarrassment. Now, the white panels are dingy and there are streaks where water dripped through the dirt to create humiliating rivulets that seem to accentuate the cruddy lack of cleanliness.

This weekend, you’ll have to get out there and clean that baby

Have you ever cleaned your Richmond garage door before? Admittedly, it’s not on the level of rocket science. Still, it doesn’t hurt to prepare yourself so you can do the job right and, most importantly, not cause any damage.

The first point is that most garage doors are relatively solid. You don’t have to be afraid to use a little elbow grease, within reason. In other words, if you’ve been pumping iron for a few years, you may have the muscles that would be too much for the garage door.

Another thing to remember is that there are two sides to every story and there are two sides to your garage door. You many not worry about the inner side of the garage door. After all, your neighbors aren’t as likely to see that side. But, if you are a little more persnickety about things, you may also want to clean the inside of your garage door, too.

If you are going to clean the inside of the garage door, remember that some garage doors are insulated. In some cases, the inside of an insulated garage door is covered by a thin-plastic sheeting. This is where you really want to be careful not to apply too much pressure. Rip that cover, compress that insulation, and you’ll reduce the effectiveness of the insulation.

So, what should you use to clean the garage door? 

A garage door is best cleaned with a mild soap and a soft cloth. However, there are often some nooks and crannies that are hard to get at. In those cases, you may want to use a soft toothbrush. It’s recommended that, once you’ve used the toothbrush to clean the garage door that you don’t use it for brushing your teeth anymore (that’s just yucky).

Make sure you don’t scrub too hard. Even if you have some difficult to erase outlines of rivulets, too much pressure could take the paint off the garage door. If you do that, you’ll want to read our next blog about painting your Richmond garage door.

Time for some Springtime maintenance of your Gurnee garage door and garage door opener

It may not feel like it yet, but winter (not the official season but the actual season) in Gurnee is drawing to a close. With the advent of Springtime, you may feel inclined to start your Spring Cleaning – air things out and put them in order in preparation for the summer ahead. You may want to put garage door maintenance on your Spring Cleaning to-do list.

Winter can play havoc with your garage door and garage door opener. Snow is piled up and is pushed against the door. The cold frosts over moving and electrical parts, temperature changes cause parts to expand and contract. Winter can also cause parts to rust or corrode. The cold breaks down lubricants intended to reduce friction between parts and ease operation. All-in-all, winter is not a friend to your Gurnee garage door and garage door opener.

Garage doors can be surprisingly heavy. Thankfully, large springs are used to counter the weight and make a heavy garage door easy for a garage door opener to move up and down. If the spring breaks or loses its tension, the weight of that garage door falls heavy on the garage door opener. In other words, a bad garage door torsion spring will put a strain on a garage door opener that it is not designed to handle.

Maintenance of your Gurnee garage door and garage door opener starts with a visual inspection. Is anything broken, bent or otherwise damaged. The next step is to listen to your garage door and garage door opener. Run the garage door up and down a few times listening carefully.

In general, garage doors are quieter when they’re new. Has your garage door grown louder as it opens and closes? If so, why?

A need for lubrication is a common explanation as to why a garage door or garage door opener is louder. However, damage to any part of the garage door or garage door opener can also cause the garage door to make more noise while going up and down.

Next, watch the garage door. Does it roll up and down in its tracks smoothly? When first installed, if properly installed, a garage door will move up and down seamlessly, as though floating in its tracks. But, after a while, as it comes closer and closer to the need for maintenance, you’ll start to notice a jerky motion in the operation of your garage door.

Once the inspection of your garage door is complete, and any repairs are made, it’s time to lubricate appropriate parts. A qualified garage door technician will know best wish parts take lubrication, which don’t and what kinds of lubrication are best to use.

If you maintain your Gurnee garage door and garage door opener now, not only will it take care of you through the summer ahead, it will also last longer into the future.

Does your Ingleside garage door have a case of the jerks?

Remember when your Ingleside garage door used to ride up and down in its tracks when you pressed the button of your remote for the garage door opener. It was the pride of Ingleside.

No, your Ingleside neighbors probably never thought about your garage door one way or the other. And, in fact, you probably don’t remember your garage door going up and down in its tracks smoothly because you probably never gave it a second thought.

The only reason you’re thinking about it now is that your garage door is not going up and down smoothly in its tracks. It jerks its way up and jerks its way down. The garage door moves a little then stops before jerking back into motion. And, overall, the process takes longer than it would if your garage door was still going up and down smoothly.

So, why would your garage door suddenly change from smooth operation to this jerky nonsense?

First of all, it probably didn’t happen all that suddenly. In reality, your garage door probably became less-and-less smooth in its operation over time. It’s the old story of the frog that slowly boils. You didn’t realize the garage door was getting jerky until it was jerky enough that you couldn’t help but notice.

Until the garage door got bad enough, you were focused on other things: thinking about where you were going, things you had to do or the conversation on your cell phone. But, one day you realized. You asked yourself, “What’s wrong with the garage door.”

What’s wrong with the garage door? It could be a number of things:

• Something could be coming loose – hinges, bolts, the tracks, etc.
• Something is out of alignment or needs adjustment
• A lack of proper lubrication has finally taken its toll

In some cases, it may take years before you notice the problem – notice because the garage door goes up and down with a jerky motion. It could also happen in less time, for instance, if a bolt or a hinge breaks. Whatever the case, this jerkiness, and its cause, are usually causing additional wear, tear and strain on your garage door opener and garage door.

The solution when you notice your Ingleside garage door has gotten a case of the jerks is to call a qualified garage door technician (there is a spring loaded with considerable tension that could cause harm to someone who isn’t used to working on garage doors). Better yet, don’t wait until your garage door has the jerks; have a garage door technician come by once a year and do a little maintenance – check things out, tighten things up and apply some proper lubrication.

Do you want your Twin Lakes garage door to break and strand you in the garage?

You’re in a hurry. You need to run into Twin Lakes – to Bodi’s Bake Shop on Main Street to order a cake, to Trellis to give them an order for flowers and to Red Barn Catering & Events to reserve the hall for your event. You’d have a full day even if you didn’t have to make these stops. But, your event isn’t far in the future and all you want now is to start the car, open the garage door and get on the move.

With your arms full, your phone cradled between your shoulder and your ear, you fumble with the keys while climbing into the car and dumping your armful in the passenger seat. If things aren’t hectic enough, your sister is now telling you she won’t be able to make it. Mom and Dad’s 50th won’t come again and this isn’t acceptable. You start to argue with her as you start the car and push the button for the garage door opener to raise the garage door.

“I just can’t get away,” your sister says and then there’s a bang. You look around unsure of what caused the noise. Seeing nothing, the only thing you notice is that the garage door isn’t open yet. You hit the button again and continue trying to convince your sister she should make the trip down from Eau Claire.

“Twin Lakes isn’t that far,” you say while realizing the garage door is still closed. You push the button again and continue the discussion. After speaking another minute, you see that the garage door is still down, and you mutter, “What the heck” and your sister loses her temper thinking you’re talking to her.

You try to tell her that you were talking about the garage door but it’s too late; she’s already hung up in a huff. You can call her back but first, you need to figure out what’s wrong with the garage door. You push the button again and, this time, you can hear the garage door opener running. But, the garage door isn’t moving.

You get out and take a look. You don’t know much about garage doors but the way the cable along the one side is wrapped loosely around the drum up on top doesn’t look right. As your phone starts to ring, and you realize your sister is calling back, you mutter, “I don’t have time for this,” though it’s not clear if you mean your sister, the garage door or both.

You answer the call, cradling the phone on your shoulder again while trying to lift the garage door manually. It hardly budges as you hear your sister say, “What the heck are you doing?”

Having little time to explain, you tell her you have to go and, hanging up fairly sure she’s put out again, you ask Siri to find a garage door repair company. Siri thinks you said “garage floor” and isn’t a lot of help. Finally, exasperated, you do an online search and call the garage door repair company you find there.

The news isn’t good. First of all, it will take them a little while to get out there to fix the door – not long but you’re counting seconds, at this point. Then they tell you that, with that cable disconnected, you’ll probably need help lifting the garage door manually.

You’re asking yourself, ‘Why did this happen,’ only you said it out loud.

The garage door repair technician, thinking you’ve asked him, replies, “Well, usually, it happens when a garage door isn’t properly maintained.”

That makes sense but it doesn’t help you now; Twin Lakes is still several miles away and you have a lot to do with a diminishing amount of time to do it in.

My Fox Lake garage door is teasing me – it won’t go all the way down

The garage door goes up. The garage door goes down. Your hope is that your Fox Lake garage door goes up, and down, when you ask it to. But, what if it cheats; what if it doesn’t quite go all the way up or down?

No, your garage door isn’t actually teasing you, laughing over your head as you puzzle at its failure to complete the task you’ve asked of it. Your Fox Lake garage door may simply be out of adjustment.

There are knobs inside the garage door opener assembly, the box at the ceiling that responds to your signals and initiates the process of raising or lowering your garage door. Over time, those adjustments can change with the result that you’ll find your garage door isn’t quite open all the way or closed all the way. A simple adjustment should fix the problem.

You want the garage door to open all the way because you don’t want to risk hitting the garage door with the top of the car as you pull in or out of the garage. You want it to close all the way so that the  elements – including cold, heat, rain, snow and ice – can’t seep underneath the door.

When the garage door is down all the way, the weather strip at the bottom of the garage door should seal against the concrete floor of the garage. Anything short of a tight seal is an example of the garage door opener cheating and coming up short on the completion of the task you’ve given it.

If you have your garage door maintained periodically, a quality garage door technician will check to make sure that the travel of the garage door is complete going up and down. They’ll also lubricate the hinges and rollers while otherwise ensuring that your garage door, and garage door opener are operating properly and efficiently.

When your garage door opener is working properly, you don’t have to worry about this winter’s snow and cold sneaking under the garage door while the garage door opener snickers over your head.

Maintenance is the key to your Pell Lake garage door opener’s durability

How long should you expect your garage door opener to last at your Pell Lake home? As with other mechanical equipment, garage door openers won’t last forever. Eventually, they give up the ghost.

If you try to gauge the life expectancy of your garage door opener based on the warranty, you won’t find that information inspiring. Most garage door opener warranties are for about three years. Most of the folks in Pell Lake don’t want to run out to the store every three years to replace their garage door openers.

The good news is that garage door openers generally last substantially longer than their warranties. In fact, you can probably expect your garage door opener to last at least 15 years and, possibly, as long as 30 years. That’s far more comforting.

Fortunately, you’re not merely at the whim of chance when it comes to how long your garage door opener will last. In other words, there is something you can do about it.

What can you do about the durability of your garage door opener? Maintenance is the key. As Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Maintaining your garage door opener includes replacing the batteries and light bulbs periodically. You should also replace the batteries in your remote control (be sure to unplug the garage door opener before performing any maintenance). When replacing the bulbs in the garage door opener, it’s recommended that you use the factory recommended bulbs.

You should also check the tension of the chain or belt that the garage door opener uses to drive the garage door up and down, depending on which style of garage door opener you have.

Keeping the garage door opener clean is a good thing, too. That policy also works for the garage door mechanism in general. Cleaning the tracks, wheels and other parts of the garage door opener can pay dividends in terms of allowing your garage door opener to last to its maximum potential lifespan.

Lubrication is also imperative if you want your garage door opener to last longer. Look at it this way; if you don’t maintain, clean and lubricate your garage door opener and garage door mechanism regularly, your garage door opener will have to work harder to raise and lower the garage door. The more it has to strain, the earlier you’ll find you need a new garage door opener on your Pell Lake garage.

What to do if your Antioch garage door opener is possessed

Some of us are old enough to remember 1982 when the movie “Poltergeist” was playing at the Antioch Theater. Or, maybe you’re younger and you went to see “The Conjuring” in 2013. Whichever haunted movie you prefer, you probably shrieked with delight when the movie’s specters began moving things mysteriously through the air. It’s not as much fun, however, when apparitions apparently take control at your house, such as when your garage door opener seems to have a mind of its own.

Yes, it’s possible that your Antioch garage door opener is possessed. It goes up even though you haven’t pressed the button and asked it to. You find it open in the morning knowing full well it was shut the night before. Or, as you begin driving into the garage, the garage door opener suddenly decides to close. It gives every indication that phantom spirits are in control. But, whether you believe in ghosts or not, there are other possible explanations.

What, other than a ghost, could cause your garage door opener to act irrationally? Here are some considerations:

• You could have a problem with your garage door opener’s wiring. Rather then poltergeist, this could be the result of other entities living in your garage, such as mice. Mice can chew through the wires, or partially chew through the wires. Whether mice are the cause of your garage door opener’s wiring issues, this problem can cause ghostly self-operation of the garage door.
• You can also have a problem with the circuit board in your garage door opener. As with almost everything else electronic these days, garage door openers have circuit boards to assist with operation. But, if there’s a problem with the circuit board, odd things can happen with your garage door.
• Your controller can also have issues, whether you have a more traditional controller or if you’re using your cell phone to operate your garage door.
• The sensors at the floor could be out of alignment causing erratic behavior with your garage door opener.
• Your neighbors could have their wireless controller set to the same code as your garage door opener.
• You could have a practical joker afoot. 

Whatever the problem with the garage door opener in your Antioch garage, you may want to call a qualified garage door technician to take a look at it. If that doesn’t work, well, you can always call a paranormal investigator or exorcist.

Is the rubber supple and strong at the bottom of your Park City garage door?

Your garage door goes up. Your garage door goes down. But, when your garage door goes down, does it have an effective rubber strip at the bottom to seal with the concrete entryway to your Park City garage?

Garage doors are designed to have a weather strip at the bottom of the garage door. On the one hand, it absorbs the shock when the garage door hits the pavement. On the other hand, it seals out some of the cold, rain and snow from coming into

the garage.

Let’s suppose you’re out in the garage one Saturday during this upcoming Park City winter. Outside, it’s cold. It’s snowing. The snow is blowing. And if you don’t have a good weather strip at the bottom of your garage door, there’s a good chance the snow is blowing under your garage door.

A rubber weather strip is attached to the bottom of your garage door before it’s installed. In other words, it’s there from the beginning.

New rubber is soft and supple. It flexes well. It rebounds when the garage door comes down to the concrete. But, rubber is a petroleum-based product. Over time, the petroleum degrades. Adverse weather conditions, such as those that are common around Park City, spur along the degradation of the weather strip at the bottom of your garage door.

In time, the weather strip is no longer soft and supple. In time, it becomes hard and rigid. Then, it cracks. Its useful time is passed.

The solution is to replace the weather strip at the bottom of your garage door with a new weather strip. Your new weather strip will be soft and supple again, and ready to keep those Park City winter conditions outside of your garage.