Don’t ignore a blinking light in your North Chicago garage door opener

You could close the doors so you don’t see the light blinking in your North Chicago garage door opener. If you don’t see it, is it really blinking. But, unlike a refrigerator, where there’s no to tell whether the light stays on when the door is closed, with your garage, you can stand inside the garage door and see if the light continues blinking when you lower the garage door.

You may be tempted to ignore the blinking light. After all, it’s annoying. Just close the doors and you can forget it. But you may want to consider ‘why’ the light on your North Chicago garage door opener is blinking.

Garage door openers are designed to provide warning signs if there’s a problem. A blinking light in the garage door opener is one of those signals. Now the trick is to figure out what your garage door opener is trying to tell you.

A blinking light in the garage door opener generally indicates one of two specific problems: either there is an issue with the lock button of a problem with a reversing sensor.

Check the lock button first

The lock button is on the remote control. If the lock button is depressed and engaged, a remote control will not open the garage door; the only way to open the door is to use the controller on the wall inside the garage.

This is a security feature designed to ensure that someone can’t hack into your garage with another remote control.

To fix the problem, hold the lock button for five seconds. The light should flash twice. When you see this, press the control button and it should fix the problem.

Not the lock button? Probably the safety reversing sensor

You’ll find these sensors near the floor on either side of the garage door. First, check to see that nothing is in the way blocking the light beam between the sensors. If that’s not the case, it’s possible that the sensors are out of alignment. 

Finally, it’s possible that the sensors or some other component of the garage door opener is malfunctioning. You may want to call a qualified garage door technician to take a look. What you don’t want to do is to ignore a blinking light on your North Chicago garage door opener.

Maximize the use of your garage to enhance your hobby or business

What are your hobbies and how does your garage help? Or maybe you have a business and your garage can fill a need. The point is that, whatever you do, whether working or with your free time, you might consider how your garage can provide useful storage and space.

Let’s suppose that you’re a quilter. You have plastic boxes filled with supplies for quilting. You may even have a 12-foot quilt frame that just takes up too much room in the basement or the backroom. Assuming the garage is heated, you could turn it into a very useful quilting cabin. And a shelving unit along the wall could handle most of your supplies. You could even color coordinate your storage.

Then again, you’re a hunter/fisher/outdoorsman. You’re not a run-of-the-mill enthusiast; you’re serious about your outdoor activities. A place to hang your fishing poles will not suffice. 

You could build a wall full of cubby holes for different lures and fishing equipment. For hunting, you may load your own ammo. You’ll have your loader table with shells, gunpowder and pellets stored in easy reach so, when you do load ammo, you can just roll your chair one way or the other to grab what you need.

If you’re hobby is woodworking, the garage is a woodshop made to order. You have plenty of room for your work bench, table saw, lathe, jigsaw, clamps, hand tools, work horses, and more.

If mechanics are your thing, you can turn your garage into a workshop to refurbish and old car or maintain your motorcycle. You may simply use your garage to store your fishing boat and/or snowmobiles. 

If you’re a tradesman, your garage can hold supplies and equipment. It’s a safe place to park your work truck or van so you less likely to have someone break in and steel your essential equipment.

Whatever purpose you find for your garage, if you set it up smartly, there’s a good chance it can double as the place to park your car. To do so takes planning. 

You’ll want to measure the space and have an idea of the dimensions of your vehicle, tools and equipment. You’ll want to consider items that you can store by suspending them from the rafters.

Done properly, you can dramatically increase the useful value of your garage. Of course, you’ll want to make sure that your valuables are protected and yet easily accessed. This is where your garage door and garage door opener come into play.

The key to ensuring that your garage door and garage door opener are assets to your garage is maintenance. Keep your garage door and garage door opener functioning properly and you can focus on your hobby or business.