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.