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.