Is the Antioch garage secure enough as a hiding place for those Christmas presents?

You don’t have to worry about the little ones. Their youthful naivete is sufficient that they won’t go looking. But Peter, that little rascal’s curiosity is definitely getting the better of him. The old hiding place, not really a hiding place at all, on the shelf in your master bedroom closet, of your Antioch home, isn’t even remotely secure enough. You’ll need to get a bit more ‘creative’ about hiding the Christmas presents this year.

For Peter’s sake, you’ve come up with just the right place to hide the Christmas presents. In the back of your Antioch garage is a deep, floor-to-ceiling closet. Put the presents up there and they are clearly beyond the inquisitive capacity of Peter to find them. The top shelf is high enough, and in the shadows, that there’s no way he’ll see them from the floor.

Of course, an adult wouldn’t have much trouble finding them at all. But Peter is only 8. You know he won’t find them in the garage. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure you lock the doors. It was just a couple years ago that the Antioch Police were warning people to keep their garages secured.

Unfortunately, it’s not enough to just lock the side door and bring the overhead garage door down. Those recent break-ins that prompted the warning from the police involved someone hacking their garage door opener.

With all the money you spent on Christmas presents, especially with time you’ve missed from work due to COVID-19, the money you’ve spent is money you can’t afford to lose. And even if you could, the disappointment on the faces of the children Christmas morning is more than you want to contemplate.

Is your Antioch garage door secure enough for hiding the Christmas presents?

Can someone hack their way past your garage door – illicitly control your garage door opener? There are several things you can do to avoid this Scrooge-like behavior with an Antioch Christmas approaching, not to mention afterward. Here are some ideas:

1. Never leave your garage door opener in the car. If you do, all the nasty elves have to do is to break into your car.
2. Mount motion sensors by your garage to discourage the Grinch who might steal your Christmas. You might also install motion-activated security cameras. There’s a good chance the Grinch is a bit camera shy.
3. Install a padlock in the track of the garage door. Placed through a hole in the track, just above one of the rollers, the padlock can stop a burglar in their steps even if they hack the garage door opener.
4. Keep your code for your garage door opener remote secure.
5. Ensure that you have an up-to-date garage door opener that is more difficult to hack.

If you take these simple steps, the chance that some Grinch or Scrooge will break into your Antioch garage and make off with the kids’ Christmas presents, or any of the other valuables you keep in there, is extremely remote. On the nigh before Christmas, you’ll sleep soundly even if a creature is stirring, including a mouse. Of course, what to do about that mouse is a subject for another article.

Time for a new garage door opener on your Wadsworth garage?

Wouldn’t it be nice if the garage door opener on your Wadsworth garage would last forever? Unfortunately, the time to replace your garage door opener may come before it has completely lost the ability to open and/or close your garage door.

Wear and tear will take a toll on your garage door opener. You can mitigate that wear and tear somewhat by maintaining the garage door and garage door opener on your Wadsworth garage but, over time, that garage door opener will no longer operate as efficiently as it did when it was new.

Not only will your garage door opener get a little long in the tooth overtime, but technology is liable to pass it by. Simply put, upgrades on the technology have left older garage door openers in the dust, so to speak.

When deciding whether to replace your garage door opener, assuming it hasn’t broken down entirely, there are several questions to ask yourself:

• Is your garage door opener still operating efficiently? Watch and listen to the garage door go up and down when you operate the garage door opener. Does it move smoothly? Though it’s often difficult to tell, does it appear to take longer to go up and/or down? Does the garage door opener make more noise than it used to make?
• Does your old garage door opener provide the security you require? This not only refers to its ability to keep burglars out, but also to a comparison between the security features of newer garage door openers and that older model. Newer garage door openers can come with a rolling code feature that makes it far more difficult for nefarious individuals to hack into the transmitter and open the garage door.
• Do newer garage door openers provide new features you’d like to take advantage of? Newer models can allow you to use your smartphone or a tablet to operate the garage door. Some come with battery backups so that, even if there’s a power outage, you can operate your garage door opener. They may also come with improved safety features to avoid damaging the door, or something under the door, when raising or lowering the garage door.

Hopefully, your garage door has a few years left in it. But it doesn’t hurt to evaluate your garage door to see if it’s time for a new garage door opener on your Wadsworth garage.

Maintenance will keep your Mundelein garage door and garage door opener off your mind this Thanksgiving

When you’re returning to your Mundelein home from the grocery store, a turkey and all the fixings in the back of your car or SUV, as you pull in the driveway, and push that button, you’re counting on the garage door to open. You have enough on your mind without dealing with a broken garage door opener today.

You’ve planned this meal to the last detail. And though it will only be the immediate family this year, what with the coronavirus, even a smaller turkey requires the same preparation before going into a pre-heated over. It still requires basting. The stuffing, the vegetables, the rolls, the potatoes: they all require preparation and planning so they’ll come out of the oven or the pan, ready to eat, when you’re ready to start carving that turkey.

Detail and maintenance are also required to ensure that the garage door operates as you want it to operate and when you want it to operate. If you ignore the garage door on your Mundelein garage for too long, it’s a wing-and-a-prayer whether it will continue to work as expected.

The detail involved in the operation of your garage door and garage door opener started when they were designed. Those designs are generally not new. Some say that the first garage doors were designed and built in 3500 BC. Of course, the design has been updated somewhat since then.

C.G. Johnson, of Hartford City, IN, is credited with inventing the first garage door opener in 1926. His design has also seen significant improvements over the years. 

As garage doors and garage door openers have experienced design improvements, they have relied on bearings, hinges, gears, pulleys, springs, belts and/or chains, etc, to work in concert to provide a garage door that opens and closes, smoothly and quietly, on demand. Those parts require cleaning, lubrication and adjustments to keep them in optimal working order.

If you perform the appropriate maintenance on your Mundelein garage door and garage door opener, you won’t have to give your garage door and garage door opener a second thought when you come out to the garage to get the pies you stored there in time for dessert. Thanksgiving dinner will come off without a hitch and your garage door and garage door openers will be the furthest things from your mind. 

Can ‘fishing’ get around your Antioch garage door security?

Is your Antioch garage secure? This is an especially crucial question if your garage is attached to your house. If someone were to break into your garage, would they have easy access to your house? Would you and your loved ones be at risk?

You push the button on the garage door opener remote to lower the garage door. Presumably, someone would have to have access to your garage door opener remote to get in, assuming the side door is securely locked. But you may not have barred them from entry into your Antioch garage to the degree you’ve assumed.

Some of the nefarious individuals who would consider breaking into your garage and/or home are rather clever. They may know of a trick – a trick called ‘fishing.’ 

The Way Fishing Works to Break into Your Antioch Garage

‘Fishing’ is a method someone breaking into a garage can use to open a ‘secure’ garage door. It’s actually fairly simple:

• They push back the top of the top panel of the garage door.
• They reach inside with a coat hanger or a stiff wire to snag the disconnect cable.
• They give the disconnect cable a yank.
• They lift the door.

It’s so easy that it may seem that there is a critical flaw in your garage door security. But you are not entirely at their mercy. If you anticipate the possibility that some unsavory character(s) would try to ‘Fish’ their way into your garage, you can eliminate the threat.

‘Fishing’ is no match for a properly adjusted garage door. If the garage door is adjusted so that the ‘stop’ point is tight to the floor a body builder won’t be able to push the top panel back to get the coat hanger inside and hook the disconnect.

Securing your home and garage door is a valuable idea in the best of times. The way things are these days, you may want to take additional steps to secure your Antioch garage door and home.

Be a ghoulish Picasso with your Fox Lake garage door as your canvas

In the past, you may have created a spooky Halloween scene in your Fox Lake garage. You covered the walls with black plastic and decorated with scary creatures. In the middle of the garage, you had a decorated table with a tub of candy for trick or treaters. But, with COVID-19, you may not feel inclined to open the garage to all those little ghouls. 

This doesn’t mean you have to skip Halloween Trick-or-Treating altogether. You simply need to modify your approach – apply your creativity a little differently. Even if you never created a haunted hovel in the garage before, you may want to give it a whirl this year, just for fun.

Keeping the garage door closed means witches and goblins can’t come in. But you can still provide a scary scene outside. Maybe you’ll have a bowl of candy on a table outside the garage for trick or treaters to take from on the honor system.

Think of your garage door as a eerie canvas where you can express the frightening specters of your creative juices. Along with blow-up dragons and witches on the front lawn, you can make your garage door the envy of the neighborhood this Halloween. Just to get those creative juices flowing, here are some ideas to consider:

• Project Halloween images onto your garage door
• Strategically place a light so it shines through a sheet dancing in the breeze to create petrifying shadows on the door
• Put a black sheet on the door and decorate it with spooky cutouts and pictures
• Fill a glove, put it in a shirt, stick it under the garage door 
• Make a flattened witch with the back of a broom sticking out of the garage door as though they crashed
• Put spooky figures in the windows alongside the garage door with light shining up on them, or from behind, so that they create a haunting image
• Put spider webs in the corners and tombstones of a graveyard in front of the garage door
• Make it appear that blood is dripping from between the panels of the door as though the garage is filled to the brim with blood
• Decorate as though the door is a large face with scary eyes and sharp teeth
• Hang bats from the eves

Of course, you may want to open the garage door and build a haunted scene inside. Whatever you decide, have a wonderful and spooky Fox Lake Halloween.

Currently, Trick or Treating is scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday. However, you should check with the city for any changes in hours or special instructions related to the pandemic.

Make sure garage door seals and keep leaves outdoors

 This time of year, they invade your home. You find them everywhere: on the kitchen floor, on your rugs and carpet; upstairs and in the basement. LEAVES!!! How are they so successfully invasive? The answer is so simple. They hitchhike on your shoes. That means that they start outdoors. But the gateway where they have the most success is in your garage.

You pull the car into the garage and leaves come with you on your tires. Or the wind blows them in while the door is open. However, they get there, you step out of the car and they stick to your shoes. Then they let go when you’re inside the house. In fact, once they’re in the garage, you could run out to the garage to grab some dog food or something. When you go back into the house, you’ve got leaves tagging along.

It’s a nuisance in the house cleaning up all those leaves. That’s particularly the case after people have stepped on the leaves and ground them into the carpet or hardwood floor. 

Wet leaves pose a safety hazard

Leaves are also a safety hazard on hardened floors, such as the hardwood mentioned above, or the concrete in the garage. The leaves are frequently wet. You can easily slip on them and fall. In either case, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Prevention means cleaning the leaves in your garage before they have a chance to hitch a ride into your house. It’s also important to clean the leaves from in front of the doors – the front door, the patio door and the garage door.

Of course, this time of year, no sooner do you clean the leaves up than Mother Nature puts more leaves down where you cleaned up the other leaves. You have to stay after the leaves. Keep a broom near the front door and the patio door. A leaf blower ready to go by the garage door will help.

You may also want to avoid leaving the garage door open for extended periods. The longer it is open, the more chance that leaves will blow in from outside.

It’s also important to make sure that your garage door closes completely. This means that you want to check the weather strip at the bottom of the garage door. Then you want to make sure the door is adjusted so it closes completely. It should come down far enough that the rubber weather strip seals against the floor.

Are bugs bugging you in your garage?

Some of them see you coming into the garage and quickly hide. Others don’t care. They boldly run across the floor in plain sight. They may hover around you or fly in to bite. The denizens of your garage are a nuisance. They can even prove costly.

‘They’ are rodents and insects that think you built your garage as a home especially for them. They’ll take ownership – move in, settle in, and infest your property. They might even consider the garage the first step to moving into your home.

What can you do about them? Fortunately, you’re not defenseless against that horde of nature’s vermin. Your job is to take the battle to the pests. Remove them. Drive them out of your garage. And here is how the weapons and strategy you need to take the war to the bugs and rodents in your garage:

Protect your boundaries: Ask yourself how they’re getting in. Some simply fly, run or crawl in anytime the side door or garage door is open. Others find holes or cracks where they can enter even if the garage doors are closed. Seal those babies up. If you find a crack, fill a crack. You may have to use wood or siding. You may want to use an expanding-foam filler in a spray can. They make versions of this that the little invaders don’t like to chew through.

Set up some ambushes: There are traps made for use against different types of enemy troops. You have ant traps, fly traps, mouse traps, etc. Some of these are available in no-kill models for those who prefer to take prisoners. You may need to spray outside the perimeter of the garage, and even across the floor under the garage door, with a safe chemical that will turn the invaders away.

Take out their infiltrators: Once inside, ants, spiders, mice, moles and other pests like to setup house. Next thing you know, they’re having ‘little ones.’ Clear ‘em out. Knock ‘em out. Kick ‘em out. It’s your garage. Be the boss and lay down the law. Look in nooks and crannies, behind shelves, anywhere they can hide. Then, ‘convince’ them it’s time to leave.

Clean the battlefield: The smallest debris may look like nothing much to you. But to bugs and vermin, those scraps may contain a three-course meal. Look for things the invaders may feed on. These are the resources they seek and will attract them to your garage. Clean out signs that they’ve started building homes – webs and nests. Tear ‘em down. Sweep ‘em out.

Check the garage door for gaps: If you’re garage door is older, the tight-fitting panels may not fit as tightly anymore. The door may require an adjustment so it comes all the way down. You may need to call in an expert to help bolster this defensive mechanism.

The point is that you don’t have to surrender to the invaders. When bugs come crawling, buzzing, running or flying, you can turn them away. 

Is your garage door remote up to date?

There was a time when you opened the garage door by getting out of the car, walking over to the garage door, turning the handle and lifting. You may even have had a teenager you could tell to get out of the car and open the door for you. But those days are long gone. Almost everyone has a remote-control garage door opener today.

Even with garage door openers, the technology has advanced significantly. Instead of a clumsy box with push buttons that clipped to the visor of your car, you may have a small modern remote. You may even use an app on your cell phone to control your garage door opener. 

Newer garage door opener remotes may simply have one button to tell the opener when to raise or lower the garage door. Or, you may have a 3-Button garage door opener remote that controls lights, gates and the dishwasher in the kitchen. Okay. It probably doesn’t control the dishwasher but that would be cool if it did, wouldn’t it?

If you use an app to control your garage door opener, you can even open or close your garage door from across town or while on vacation in Fort Myers. This way you can confuse the neighbors who know that you’re out of town. On the other hand, if you leave home and suddenly remember that you forgot to close the garage door, you can do so from miles and miles away. Or you can just check.

Some garage door openers have Wi-Fi capability. Some of these have built in technology to prevent ‘forced openings.’ You can even turn the lights on and off with these kinds of remotes.

When you have your garage door opener installed, you’ll receive the remote that comes with it. In some cases, however, you can upgrade to a better garage door opener remote, as long as the garage door opener in the ceiling of the garage can work with the technologies of the new remote.

On the other hand, if the garage door opener, or the garage door itself, are getting old and worn, you may want to upgrade while replacing the opener or door. Then again, maybe your garage door opener or remote merely need some adjustments. Bringing in a qualified garage door technician will help you determine if it’s time to upgrade your remote, or replace the ones you have.

Is your Antioch garage door opener past its prime?

You don’t think about it much but, when you do, you can’t help but appreciate your Antioch garage door opener. Garage door openers are so customary today that virtually everyone has them operating their garage doors. But that wasn’t always the case. There was a time when garage door openers were almost unheard of.

You love your garage door opener because it is such an incredible convenience. As you’re driving up to the garage, or preparing to leave, you simply push a button and the garage door rises of lowers in accordance with your wishes. In the winter, or during heavy rainstorms, you can get in and out of your car without exposing yourself to those harsh elements so familiar to folks in Antioch. But there comes a time when garage door openers require replacement.

When do you need to replace your garage door opener?

One sign that your garage door opener needs repair or replacement is that, when you push the button to operate the garage door opener, nothing happens. That’s a pretty obvious clue that something is wrong. It may require some minor service but it requires something. 

Short of total failure, there are other signs that your Antioch garage door may have run its course. For instance:

Boy, that’s loud! If your garage door is increasingly loud when you operate the garage door opener, you have an issue. The garage door may need some lubrication and adjustment (hopefully). But it’s also a possible sign that the garage door opener isn’t what it used to be.

W-w-w-w-w-h-h-h-a-a-a-a-t-t-t-t is making the garage door vibrate like that? Excessive vibration when your garage door opener is in operation is another sign of a problem. Garage doors should not vibrate much when the door is going up or down. Once again, this can indicate the need for maintenance, lubrication and adjustment but can also indicate the garage door opener is past its prime.

I said, “UP!” If you push the button to open the garage door, it starts to go up but then, inexplicably, changes course, something is wrong. It’s recommended that you should have your garage door and garage door opener checked.

What’s with this button?! You keep pushing the button to activate the garage door opener, but nothing happens. After several tries, the garage door finally responds. This isn’t how a garage door opener is designed to operate. You may have a problem with the garage door opener control. But you can also have a problem with the garage door opener. In either case, and to find out which is the case, you should have the garage door opener, and the control, checked out.

The garage door opener on your Antioch garage should last quite a few years. But there will come a time when it has opened or closed the garage door for the last time. Remember that timely maintenance can help extend the life of your garage door and your garage door opener.

You can still have that Libertyville garage sale during the pandemic

Libertyville is a great city for a garage sale. People in town just love a relaxing Saturday afternoon when they can cruise through the neighborhood looking for garage sales. But, with the coronavirus, is it safe to have a garage sale?

The answer is yes, if you take precautions. You can have a garage sale, and it’s a great way to clear out some of those unwanted and no-longer used items that are taking up space in your Libertyville home, garage and yard. Safely having a garage sale in the age of COVID requires that you take some steps to ensure the safety of you, your family and prospective buyers who check out your garage sale.

Here are some suggestions to consider before you have a garage sale at your Libertyville home:

Put up signs by your house and garage that are clearly visible indicating the desire that people wear masks and observe social distancing while shopping at your garage sale. You may want to add language to that effect on signage that you put around the neighborhood pointing people to your garage sale.

Have some extra facemasks available. You can even charge a dollar for a facemask if someone needs one.

Have hand sanitizer handy. It will comfort the nervous when they see they can use your sanitizer to clean their hands. And it’s a good thing for you and your family to use since you don’t really know who has come to your garage sale and touched the items you’re selling, as well as the cash and change you exchange.

Be prepared to wipe things down. Have sanitary wipes handy so you can wipe down items potential buyers have touched. You might even impress customers when they see you wiping their purchase down after the sale. It says you care.

Maintain your Libertyville garage door and garage door opener

When the garage sales over, or maybe before, you may want to have your garage door and garage door opener maintained. As long as you’re putting the garage to work for you, return the favor and give a little TLC to the garage door and garage door opener. You’re Libertyville garage door and garage door opener will thank you.

Can a hot Antioch summer cause problems with your garage door and garage door opener?

Winter can play havoc with your Antioch garage door. Summer is a strain on your garage door and garage door opener, too. You might say that spring and autumn offer opportunities for garage doors and garage door openers to relax a little. It’s those other two seasons that put garage doors and garage door openers to the test.

Currently, Antioch is in the middle of another summer. Temperatures have frequently topped 90 and are otherwise hovering in the 80s. There are several factors where summer heat challenges the operation and durability of your garage door and garage door opener. For instance:

The sun beating down on your garage door: We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘It’s hot enough you can cook an egg on the sidewalk.’ Unfortunately for your garage door, the burning heat of the sun is not restricted to the sidewalk. While, at midday, the sun may not hit your garage door as directly, depending on which direction your garage door faces, there are parts of the day when the sun beats down relentlessly on your garage door.

Consider that black pavement can hit temperatures of 140-degrees under the assault of the sun. If your garage door is made of wood, the sun can dry out the wood causing cracking. Additionally, when things get hot, they expand. If your garage door is expanding from the heat, things can get a bit tight in the way the door operates. The sun can even trick the sensors for your garage door opener.

The effects of heat and humidity: The heat and humidity on a sultry summer day can cause problems with the wiring of your garage door opener, as well as the sensors. If the bearings for the wheels that roll in the channels on either side of the garage door are not properly lubricated, the heat and humidity can exacerbate the problem.

Summer storms bring power outages: Your garage door opener should be connected to a surge protector to avoid problems if there is a power outage. Summer storms in Antioch, and the lightning that often accompanies such storms, can cause problems.

Garage door maintenance and garage door maintenance are summer insurance

Timely and proper garage door maintenance can go a long way to mitigating summer-related problems with your garage door and garage door opener. Adjustments and properly applied lubricants take away much of the wear-and-tear that shorten the lives of garage doors and garage door openers.

An ounce of garage door summer-problem prevention is worth a pound of cure. Have your garage door and garage door opener maintained and this Antioch summer can do its worst and you’ll be fine.

Should you replace the garage door opener on your Burlington garage?

Experts say that a garage door opener has an average lifespan of between 10 to 15 years. Some will last longer but they generally, the garage door opener on your Burlington garage, will start to wear out after 15 years, if not sooner. Homeowners don’t always notice when the garage door is losing its oomph.

The problem is that a garage door opener may break or suddenly malfunction. In such cases, it’s obvious that the garage door opener needs replacement. But, even if there isn’t a catastrophic problem with the garage door opener, it may have gone well past its prime.

Without an obvious problem, the garage door opener will wear out slowly – so slowly, in fact, that you probably won’t notice the difference. If you were able to compare the performance of your 15-year-old garage door opener with its performance when you first had it installed on your Burlington garage, you would see the difference right away. But you won’t notice the difference between its performance yesterday and today, or on the same day last year. The change is gradual.

You can extend the life of your garage door opener. The key is maintenance. Maintenance includes properly lubricating the garage door and adjusting the garage door and garage door opener. Without maintenance, rust will attack the rollers and hinges. This will make the garage door harder for the garage door opener to open. The same is true with adjustments.

When the garage door and garage door opener are out of adjustment, the garage door opener has to work harder to do its job. Over time, the extra strain will show on the garage door opener. You may not see it. After all, the change is generally still gradual. But it’s happening anyhow. The door will take longer to open and close. It will make more noise in the process.

Obviously, if the garage door opener is worn out, if it’s past its prime, you may want to consider replacing it. But there is another reason to consider replacing a garage door opener.

Is your Burlington garage door opener a dinosaur?

Technology may have left your garage door opener behind. Are you still using a clunky old garage door opener remote control box? If so, you may find that it isn’t instantly responsive. You may have to push the appropriate button several times to activate the garage door opener. And, keep in mind that, if someone wants to get into your garage, or into your house through your garage, they can break into your car and use the garage door opener clipped to the sun visor.

The electronics on your newer garage door openers are light years ahead of the old models. Instead of clipping a clunky old remote to your visor, you can operate an app with your cell phone to control your garage door opener.

With new garage door openers, you can even close you garage door if you’re many miles away from your Burlington home.

Kenosha CDL drivers should not neglect maintenance of trailer overhead doors

While folks in the Kenosha may not get out driving as much in these days of sheltering-in-place, as a truck driver, you’re probably as busy as ever. This means that you’re raising and lowering that overhead door in the back of the trailer with increased frequency.

Using an overhead door naturally causes wear and tear on the door. It’s inevitable. But is there anything you can do about it? Of course, there is. Just as maintenance of the overhead door of the garage at your Kenosha home, or the loading dock doors where you pick up and deliver goods will extend the service life of those overhead doors, maintenance of the overhead door in the back of your trailer will make a difference.

Maintenance includes lubricating springs and hinges. It also means adjusting the door for peak performance.

You don’t have to lubricate or adjust the overhead door on the back of your trailer every day – not even every week or month. But when is the last time you did maintain the overhead door in your trailer? If you’re like most CDL drivers, it’s probably been a while.

Maintenance of your trailer’s overhead door will help you to avoid situations where springs break, where hinges give way, where the door gets jammed because it isn’t going up or down evenly. But maintenance of the overhead door will do more than that.

Maintaining the overhead door in the back of your trailer will ensure that the door operates smoothly and easily. If you’ve been fighting with the overhead door in back there’s a good chance that, if nothing else, it could use some maintenance. Of course, it’s possible it already requires repairs, but we don’t want to jump to the worst conclusions.

One note of safety: if the overhead door in back of your trailer does require repairs, approach the process with extreme caution. In fact, it’s probably best that you call in a pro. Just like the springs in your Kenosha garage or loading dock are under extreme pressure, so are the springs in your trailer’s overhead door. You can get hurt or worse if something goes wrong.

10 Tips for Securing Your Garage

Your garage is a place where you park your cars and store things. You may even use it, occasionally for leisure and hosting. It’s a great addition to your home. But is it secure?

You can’t take garage security for granted. If you do, it becomes the weak point where the nefarious in our society can gain entry, whether they intend to steal, vandalize, or cause harm. Therefore, securing your garage is as important as securing your home. Here are some tips to consider when securing your garage:

1. Don’t leave high-dollar toys sitting in the garage, in public view, for extended periods of time. If you can, secure these items in the garage so that they’re not visible to people passing by in the street or on the sidewalk. Otherwise, try not to leave the garage door open unnecessarily where those less scrupulous individuals can scope out your garage and your possessions.
2. Don’t forget to close the garage door. Of course, this is critical when you’re not home as people can gain access to the garage and, potentially, the house while you’re not there and are unaware. But, if you are home, this creates another issue – the safety of you and your loved ones.
3. Add some lighting to the area around your garage. People who are up to no good prefer to act in the shadows. Casting light around your garage, possibly with the use of motion sensors, is a great way to discourage those whose motives run off the tracks somewhat.
4. Avoid providing shields for would-be burglars, etc., around your garage. Sheds, bushes, items left outside can provide hiding places for those who want to break into your garage. Take a strategic look around your garage and try to deny those opportunities for folks with ill intent.
5. Secure doors and windows. Deadbolts may not keep bad guys out, but they’ll slow them down. Deadbolts on the windows, on the service door, and on the garage door can prove frustrating for someone trying to break in.
6. Strategically plant some prickly bushes. No, you don’t want bushes that provide cover for someone trying to get into your garage. But some low bushes that are uncomfortable to come into contact with can deter someone outside your garage. Putting prickly bushes under the windows is a great idea.
7. Have your garage door adjusted so burglars and such can’t use the old trick of pushing back the top panel of your garage door and grabbing the release cable. You can also have a garage door release cable shield installed.
8. Secure the door inside your garage that leads to your home. Chances are, there are things far more precious inside your home than inside your garage. If someone can break into your garage, and the inner door is unlocked, they can walk right in. Secure this door and they’re now at another level of security.
9. Don’t leave your garage door opener clipped to the visor of your car. Those with disreputable intentions simply have to break into your car to get into your home.
10. Purchase a new garage door opener to replace that outdated model. The security with an older model of garage door opener is not up to the level of newer models. Even if your old garage door opener works, you may want to consider a newer garage door opener. You can get a garage door opener that uses an app on your phone to open the garage.

Organize your Antioch garage for fun and function during the COVID-19 lockdown

How many times can you watch Harry Potter? No doubt, you’re sick of the news already. Sick of the news, sick of the walls that confine you in your Antioch home. You need something to divert your attention. You need an activity that is productive while offering a mental release from the COVID-19 lockdown and organizing your garage might just be the ticket.

The garage is one of the most inefficiently used spaces we have at our homes. It becomes the receptacle for all those things we don’t want to put away right now. We tell ourselves, “I’ll get to it later.” But when is ‘later?’

With lockdown-induced time on your hands, this is a great time to straighten out the garage. Maybe you can clean the garage enough that there’s room for both cars again. But, as long as you’re at it, maybe you should take it a step further.

Don’t just straighten out your Antioch garage; organize it

Organizing the garage goes beyond cleaning and straightening. Done properly, organizing includes a plan. To make an effective plan, you need to start with an inventory of the things you keep in the garage. When complete, you may want to go through this list and determine if there are items in the garage you really want to put somewhere else.

Once you’ve created your list, go through and prioritize based on likelihood and frequency of use. In other words, if you garden a lot, your gardening tools and materials are a higher priority. If you work on your car or motorcycle frequently, your tools are high priority.

Next create a layout of your garage and start planning where things can go. You may want to consider adding shelves, pegboards, and hooks that will make storage of items in the garage easier. Thankfully, hardware stores in the Antioch area are considered ‘essential’ so you can pick up some hooks, pegboard, and shelving if you need it.

Another good idea is to go online and look for garage organizing hacks. You can come up with some wonderful ideas for maximizing the use of your space in your garage.

If you do a good enough job organizing the garage, you may decide to pick up some epoxy and paint the floor. But, whether you take the project that far or not, you should take a few minutes to consider the condition and maintenance of your Antioch garage door and garage door opener. It’s nice to have an organized garage. It’s wonderful to have a garage door and garage door opener that work smoothly and reliably when called upon.

Have you checked your garage door’s balance lately?

The question above asks if you’ve “checked your garage door’s balance lately?” We might just as well ask if you’ve ever checked your garage door’s balance. Seriously, how many people do you know who check their garage doors to see if they’re balanced? Do you know anyone who has ever checked the balance of their garage door?

Since it’s done so infrequently, what’s the issue? Why bother to check to see if your garage door is balanced? The answer is rather comforting:

• It’s easy to do
• You can improve the performance and durability of your garage door and garage door opener

Checking your garage door’s balance is so easy that we’ll share it with you here and now.

How to balance your garage door:
Step 1: Close the garage door and pull the emergency release handle down and away from the door until the door is disconnected from the trolley.
Step 2: Lift the garage door to the halfway point. Let go. When you let go, the garage door shouldn’t move. If it’s balanced, it’s supported by the springs and will not go up or down.
Step 3: Lift the garage door all the way open and, once again, let go. The garage door should rise slightly. If it slams closed, even if it slowly drifts down, your garage door is not balanced.
Step 4: With the door remaining disconnected from the trolley and the garage door opener, raise and lower the garage door slowly. While doing so, listen and feel for spots where the garage door binds, hangs up or grinds and sticks. The garage door should move freely.
Step 5: Close the garage door completely and pull the release handle again. Press the remote control for the garage door opener and the trolley should move into place connecting to the garage door again. If this doesn’t happen, you may have to lift the garage door until it engages with the trolley.

If your garage door fails to pass any of these tests, give a qualified garage door technician a call. They’ll come out and balance your garage door for you.

When the garage door isn’t balanced, it makes more noise, it takes more time to open and close and it causes more wear and tear on the garage door and the garage door opener. Your garage door and garage door opener will last longer if you keep your garage door balanced.

At Garage Doors and More, we tip our hats to other essential providers

If your garage door is broken, even within the bounds of coronavirus isolation, you’re liable to find it essential that you have the garage door fixed and promptly. While abiding by the governor’s ‘shelter-in-place’ order, you still need to go out and pick up groceries. And, if there’s a medical emergency, or simply a doctor’s appointment, you’ll want to have access to your vehicle in the garage.

There’s no denying that, even while shutting down the economy to prevent the further spread of a pandemic, there are roles that are essential – that we can’t ‘shutdown.’ Those who operate in those essential fields are denied the sanctuary of staying in their own homes relatively safe from the spread of COVID-19.

Taking that additional risk, these are individuals who deserve a degree of respect and appreciation. This actually includes a fairly substantial list of people in a number of roles.

We don’t have to think long before we realize that first responders are among those most at risk while fulfilling an essential need. First responders include police officers, firemen, EMT and paramedics. If someone is sick with coronavirus, and they call emergency services, the people who respond cannot avoid coming into some level of contact with someone with the disease. In many other cases, the first responders have no way of knowing if the person or people they’re dealing with are infected.

At hospitals and other medical facilities, the people who work in the medical profession are expressly called upon to help people with coronavirus or who may have coronavirus. There’s no escaping it – only precautions to mitigate the risks.

But there are others we depend on while isolated

Of course, there are many others who serve us during our enforced isolation. Chief among these people are those who serve, somewhere along the line, in the food industry. This includes farmers, truck drivers, restaurant owners and workers, the young man stocking the shelves at the local grocery store, and the cashier where you pay for your food.

When we go to the grocery store, we may spend 20 minutes or half an hour. During that time, we inevitably come into contact with other people, with products other people have touched. We can, as the first responders do, take precautions. We can wear masks and rubber gloves. But we can’t 100-percent avoid the risk of catching the disease. The clerk stocking the shelves at the grocery store is there for hours. During that time, they have no way of escaping the risk.

If you need your garage door fixed, garage door techs understand how important that is. But we also understand how important other essential providers are in our lives. We want them to know how much we appreciate them.

Stuck in your Pleasant Prairie home waiting for pandemic to pass? Good time to tackle To-Do List including garage door maintenance

You and others in Pleasant Prairie may want to catch up on your garage door maintenance while you’re stuck at home waiting for the coronavirus pandemic to break. Garage door maintenance?

Yes, that garage door does require maintenance though, of all the mechanical devices we use in our lives, the garage door is often the last to receive a touch of care. One reason is that garage doors are reasonably well built and, even if you don’t maintain them, they’ll generally run for years. But that isn’t too say they run at their optimum efficiency.

Anything mechanical requires due diligence to keep it in good operating condition. This includes the garage door on your Pleasant Prairie home or business.

For garage door maintenance, call in the pros

A qualified garage door technician will generally complete the maintenance of your garage door in relatively short order. It’s not a significantly expensive process either. It simply requires an understanding of what parts require lubrication, what kind of lubrication, what adjustments are necessary and the ability to identify significant wear or problems.

The garage door weighs more than the garage door opener would suggest; the garage door opener makes raising and lowering the garage door look so easy you may be fooled into thinking the garage door is much lighter than it really is. To make the job appear so easy, the garage door comes with a substantial spring or springs that bear substantial tension. The tension is sufficient that, if something went wrong or came loose, serious injury or worse is possible.

In other words, knowing how to maintain the garage door properly includes knowing how to maintain the garage door without anyone getting hurt.

What happens if you don’t maintain your Pleasant Prairie garage door?

Failure to adequately maintain your garage door and garage door opening system may not cause the door to breakdown tomorrow. However, left without maintenance long enough, a breakdown is inevitable. Garage door maintenance will reduce strain and wear on your garage door.

In the long run, this means that garage door maintenance will save you money on future repairs. And, in the meantime, it will keep the door operating smoothly, efficiently and quieter. Yes, the door will slow down over time. It will become louder as it gets older and, particularly, if proper maintenance isn’t performed.

Proper garage door maintenance is something you should have done on your Pleasant Prairie garage door and garage door opener about once every year. And some of the more established garage door companies are available, even during this crisis, to perform that maintenance. You’re stuck at home anyhow – might as well have garage door maintenance performed today.

In spite of coronavirus, garage door repair techs are safely still available for service

Beau, Dave and Craig are still on the job to safely repair
your garage door during the COVID-19 pandemic. And
Tracy is in the office to handle scheduling and payments.
In this way, Garage Doors and More is maintaining
appropriate social distancing while responding to
your garage door needs.

This is not the right time for your garage door to get stuck, not when the world is shut down over coronavirus. With the door sitting half-open, it’s like an invitation to any prowlers who aren’t following the Illinois governor’s order to ‘Shelter-In-Place’ or is otherwise taking advantage of the situation on either side of the state line. If only there was someone who could help.

You’re in luck. There is. Some of the more dedicated garage door repair companies, such as Garage Doors and More, are still available to assist people in Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois who have garage door needs. But even they understand this isn’t business as usual.

At Garage Doors and More, they want to help people who have garage doors that require repairs. But they refuse to endanger customers with COVID-19 while helping with their garage doors. In fact, they refuse to take these concerns for granted.

They will perform service with little or no one-on-one personal interaction. In other words, they’ll take appropriate precautions.

Customers don’t need to come out to the garage while the service is performed. They can indicate what they need by email, text or with a phone call (847-917-3039). They can even make arrangements for garage door service by contacting Tracy Bristol in the office using the Garage Doors and More Facebook page.

When the work is done, the garage door repair technicians, who will wear nitrile gloves during the servicing of your garage door, will wipe down any surfaces they’ve come into contact with. All invoicing and payments can be handled electronically.

For the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, some garage door repair companies may but back their hours if they do remain open. That includes Garage Doors and More, where they have reduced hours and their service area. But what they haven’t reduced is their commitment to join the fight to end the pandemic or their commitment to ensure that your garage door is operating properly when you have so many other things on your mind.

What is your garage door repair technician’s goal: fixing your garage door or selling you something?

Your garage door is stuck. Wisely, rather than trying to fix it yourself, you call a professional garage door repair service. Hopefully, a technician arrives in a minimal amount of time to take a look at your broken garage door. But, once they show up, what is their priority?

Some garage door repair companies look at service calls as opportunities for sales. They probably have a column on their financial ledgers for these upsells. The technicians may even receive a commission from products and services they sell when they come out to a service call. Is this what you’re looking for when you need your garage door repaired?

Sometimes, the technician will discover worn parts or equipment that should be repaired or replaced sooner than later. But it’s all a question of their focus.

A quality garage door repair company doesn’t build its business on upselling parts, equipment and services to customers who merely want their garage doors to operate properly again. These garage door repair companies focus instead of building their business based on reputation and customer satisfaction.

They know that, when the time comes that a garage door has outworn is service life, the customer would rather call on a company they can trust to replace that garage door. If a garage door opener can’t do its job efficiently any longer, customers will know that a trusted garage door repair company will give them the garage door opener that best meets their needs rather than the garage door opener with the highest markup.

The difference in focus isn’t just about whether to upsell or to build a business based on reputation; it’s also a question of how long the company plans to do business in the area. A garage door repair company that is in the business for the long haul knows that reputation is everything. They know that focusing on upsells will harm their reputation over the long haul.

Garage door repair companies that worry about how much they can make on upsells when making service calls aren’t worried about what their customers will say to other prospective customers. These garage door repair companies don’t plan to be around that long anyhow.

How established is your garage door repair company?

Leave garage door repair off the Antioch ‘Honey-Do List’

As the Antioch weekend approaches, Brad prepared for the Honey-Do List that Lisa always used to welcome him to his two days off work. There was always plenty to do: replace the dryer vent, paint their daughter’s bedroom, clean the bugs out of the light fixture over the kitchen table, install the sliding shower door in the basement bath, etc. But there are some jobs better left to professionals, assuming you don’t your spouse to suffer a grievous injury.

If your spouse knows nothing about electrical work, you may want to hire an electrician to fix the light switch with a short. If your spouse has never worked with a garbage disposal before, you may want to call a plumber. If they don’t have experience working at heights, call a roofer to patch the roof. And, unless they truly know what they’re doing, calling a garage door technician to fix the garage door.

The risk of electrocution is all you need to know to justify relying on an electrician. The risk of falling says it all when your unqualified spouse starts to get out the ladder. The level of tension on the springs and cables used for your garage doors are enough to seriously maim or kill someone.

People have lost fingers and hands trying to fix their garage doors themselves. People have died because they didn’t call in the pros.

When a garage door technician comes out to fix your garage, if you’re using a reputable company, you can take heart that the job will almost certainly be done right. And it will be done safely. But don’t wait until something is broken to call in the garage door pros.

Garage door maintenance is the key to avoiding most garage door repairs. Unfortunately, however, when it comes to maintaining the mechanical equipment they use, garage doors are the most frequently neglected.

Garage door maintenance will make the likelihood that your garage door requires repair far less likely. And garage door technicians know how to maintain garage doors the same as they know how to repair them.

You have enough other things that need to be done around your Antioch house. Leave those dangerous chores to the pros.

Is your Wonder Lake garage door balanced?

Is your Wonder Lake garage door balanced? Most people look for balance in their lives, not that too many find it. With your garage door, balance

is crucial. If the garage door isn’t balanced, their will be additionally strain and wear on parts of the garage door and garage door opener. It’s also a matter of durability and safety.

When your Wonder Lake garage door is balanced, the door is more apt to operate smoothly and with as little strain on the mechanics of the garage door and garage door as possible. When the garage door isn’t properly balanced, a chain of destruction can set in. This part wears cause strain and wear to that part and so on.

The garage door springs are among the first parts where an unbalanced garage door is felt. These are high-tension springs. They hold a lot of weight and make it possible for a half-horse-power, more or less, garage door opener to smoothly lift and lower a garage door that might weigh from 100 to 400 pounds, depending on the size and materials used in the manufacture of the garage door.

Even if you’re not using the garage door opener – if you’re opening the garage door manually – the springs make it easy to raise and lower the garage door.

If, for instance, the garage door was up and a garage door spring broke or let go, the door would come crashing down. In so doing, it could damage your vehicle or other things that are in the way. It can also injure or kill people who are below the garage door when it falls.

When the garage door is balanced, this is generally not a concern. The springs will last and last. Other mechanical parts of the garage door and garage door opener will also last much longer (everything else being in good condition).

With a balanced Wonder Lake garage door, the door will raise and lower smoothly and it will be quieter doing so. You’re less likely to experience the jerky motion of a garage door in trouble.

Have you considered your garage floor as a canvas for your creative juices?

Is your garage door up to protecting the floor?

Have you ever looked at your garage floor – really looked at your garage floor? You may see a dreary, flat, plain-grey surface. Then again, maybe you never really look at your garage floor. It’s there. It holds your car off the ground but, otherwise, what’s the point? You may be passing up a tremendous opportunity.

How about thinking of your garage floor as a blank canvas where your imagination can run wild? With some imagination, you can transform your garage floor so that it makes a statement about you and how you use your garage. In fact, it can transform your entire garage while enhancing its value as a part of your home.

There are a number of ways you can paint your garage floor. The marketplace is full of epoxy finishes that will bring flat-grey to life. For instance, there are a variety of speckled epoxy paints that come in a myriad of colors. Or, if you’re someone with a particular appreciation for more horsepower, you may want a black-and-white checkered-flag approach.

If you’re transforming the garage into a Man Cave, a decorative surface on the garage floor is a must. But, an epoxy surface on the garage floor makes more sense than simply aesthetically. That coat of epoxy will go a long way to protecting your garage floor.

Moisture is the enemy of concrete. It eats away slowly but consistently at a concrete surface while constantly searching for a chink in the concrete. In the winter, when you add the effects of cold, snow, ice and road salt, the moisture approaches your concrete floor with an adrenaline boost. This is when garage floors suffer the most.

An epoxy coating on your garage floor doesn’t have the absorbency of concrete; it’s like a protective shell. While protecting your floor from moisture, it also holds other substances at bay, such as dirt, grease and oils. It makes the garage door easier to clean. But, there is another vital element to consider when putting an epoxy coat on your garage floor.

WHAT ABOUT THE GARAGE DOOR!!! 

Does your garage door sufficiently hold back the cold and the elements? Doing so is among the duties of a garage door (along with holding nefarious individuals back from taking your belongings and protecting you and your loved ones). Make sure the seal at the bottom, and around the top and sides, of your garage door seals properly – that the seals are supple and able to do their job. Also check that your garage door isn’t so old that it is loosening up and failing to seal between the panels when closed.

If your garage door is in good condition, it’s time to turn your attention to that big, gray canvas under your car.

Is your Zion garage door making noise as a symptom of a problem?

Since the day your garage door was installed in the garage of your Zion home or office, it has begun to age. Every day, it’s a day older. Every year, it’s a year older. Every decade … well, you get the idea. Over time, you’ll notice that it is louder and louder when opening and closing. This is somewhat normal. But, there are times when the noise your garage door makes could indicate a problem you should address.

If you never used your garage door, rust would still represent a threat. The bearings, gears, springs, hinges and other parts won’t experience the wear-and-tear normally experienced by a garage door that is well used but rust will still attack. The thing about rust is that it will attack the metal parts of your garage door whether you use it or not.

Assuming you do use your garage door with frequency, which is likely with most garage doors on most homes in Zion, rust is not the only issue. Parts will begin to loosen over time. Bearings can become loose or rigid. Springs can lose their mojo.

 Inevitably, these changes will reduce the efficiency of your garage door and garage door opener while increasing the amount of noise they make when in use.  If parts outright break, the first indication you may have is the volume of the noise your garage door makes when raising or lowering.

Broken parts can also quickly incapacitate your garage door. They can even make your garage door dangerous to use. This is why maintenance is essential for your garage door. Timely maintenance (usually about once a year) will go a long way towards the avoidance of broken garage door parts or garage door openers.

Along with annual maintenance of your garage door, using your sense of sound is essential to monitoring the condition of your garage door. If the garage door begins making more and/or louder noise, have it checked out promptly. You could catch a problem early before it spreads and causes other problems while increasing the cost of repair.

Still, regular maintenance is the best way to avoid problems with your Zion garage door. It will keep it operating more efficiently and quieter, too.

Heating garage offers multiple solutions for North Chicago winter

It gets cold in North Chicago during the winter. No doubt that will be the case this winter, too. And, when it’s cold outside, unless your garage is heated, it’s darn cold in your garage, too.

The solution to a cold garage in winter is to heat your garage. The comfort associated with a heated garage is not the only reason you should consider heating your garage. In fact, there are several advantages to a heated garage that go beyond comfort.

Your car will love your heated garage: The oil thickens in your car in winter. This puts an additional burden on your car’s starting system. The battery needs more than its usual juice; it needs enough juice to turn over an engine with frosty sludge inside. A heated garage will keep the oil warmer and, as far as the battery and starter are concerned, it might as well be the middle of a North Chicago summer when you go to start your car. Your snowblower will also start better in a heated garage.
Your garage door and garage door opener will love your heated garage: Winter plays havoc on garage door parts and the garage door opener. Parts freeze. The change from warm to cold will cause parts to expand and contract.
Items you store in the garage will love your heated garage: Not everything you customarily keep in garage is conducive to extreme-cold temperatures. If the garage isn’t heated, you would do well to move these items, such as liquids – paints, stains, garden items – into the house.
You’ll love your heated garage: Go out to work on a project in the garage in the winter and, if it isn’t heated, you’d better bundle up. Remember – LAYERS!!! But, if you have a heated garage, you can go out there wearing the same clothes you wore inside he house.
Your Man Cave will love your heated garage: If you’ve turned your garage into a Man Cave, a heated garage is essential, assuming you want to use the garage in the winter, too. Kick back on the sofa and enjoy some suds while watching a football, basketball or hockey game, and you’ll be in the lap of luxury.

The point is that a heat transforms your North Chicago garage into another room for your home in the winter.

Things to consider when heating your garage:

• Install a safe, approved and properly sized heating unit
• Install the heating system properly so fumes from your car engine can’t get into the house
• Ensure that the walls and garage door are insulated (will go a long way towards keeping the heating bill down).