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.