Looking for late-Christmas present ideas for dad? Don’t forget that Grayslake garage

What to buy dad? Don’t we all struggle with that question. And, now that Christmas has just passed, hopefully, you got dad a gift that he really loves. But, if you don’t feel that the gift measured up, even though he put on a good show of appreciation, as he always does, there’s always the after-Christmas shopping season where you can pick up some bargains. And as you look for those bargains, don’t forget his Grayslake garage as a potential generator of gift ideas.

How much time does he spend in the garage. Is he known in that Grayslake neighborhood as a woodworker? Does he tinker on an old car in the garage? Is he an avid gardener and does his magic in the yard working out of the garage?

If he’s a woodworker, there are tools you can buy. Hmmm? He already has all the tools he could possibly need? How ‘bout a book with woodworking ideas? 

Is he into classic cars and the garage is his shop where he tunes and/or rebuilds a classic hotrod? If that’s the case, the options are almost limitless. Tools. Car Dealer/Hotrod Parts Signs. Books of Classic Cars. Be sure to get something that fits with his chosen brand (if he’s a diehard Ford man, a Corvette sign may not be the best choice).

If he’s a gardener, you’ll also find an almost limitless supply of options. There are gardening tools, books, supplies, seeds, statues, etc. Is he ready for a new pair of gloves? 

What about the garage itself. Is that garage door opener a little long in the tooth? Or is the garage door itself falling apart? If he has an older garage door opener, he may not be able to control it as easily as some of the new models allow, new models that are controlled by smartphones and/or with Wi-Fi, Siri or Alexa.

Could he use some new coach lights outside the garage door? Would new LED strip lights prove useful inside the garage? How ‘bout a camera and/or alarm system to secure the garage and keep that hotrod, woodworking equipment or landscaping tools safe, along with everything else he keeps in there?

How ‘bout a paint job for the floor of the garage? If it’s a hotrod garage, you could have a professional apply a checkered-flag paint job on the floor.

Hopefully, you and your entire family had a very Merry Christmas. And, with 2023 just a few days away, hopefully you have a Happy New Year, too.

Compared to the Pilgrims, we have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

This replica of the Mayflower in Plymouth, MA,

helps us to appreciate our blessings as we

celebrate another Thanksgiving.

Last year was the 400th Anniversary of the first Thanksgiving. Not the first day it was officially celebrated in the United States but the day when Pilgrims and Indians first sat down and celebrated the fall harvest together.

The Pilgrims, after an arduous journey on the Mayflower, had arrived in the New World in December of 1620. It was only a year later, in November of 1621, that the celebratory meal was shared.

For those who arrived in present-day Plymouth, MA, had great cause for thanks. The passage across the North Atlantic was storm filled and five of the 102 passengers failed to survive. But surviving the trip didn’t guarantee survival overall; another 45 of the 102 Mayflower passengers died in the winter of 1620-21. This made the fall harvest of 1621 crucial. 

The handful of Plymouth Colony survivors were depending on a good harvest to provide them with the nutrition they would need to survive their second winter in America. 

It is said that they celebrated the event with a meal that included turkey, fish and shellfish, fruits and vegetables, potatoes and pumpkin pie. No one is absolutely sure that was the menu that day, but it was undoubtedly a feast, at least by their standards.

There was no thought of watching a football game on the television. No one worried about whether they left the garage door open before they drove to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family. 

There was no gas oven or microwave to assist with the cooking. There was no refrigerator to keep things cold until ready for cooking or the table. This was a celebration that, by our standards today, was enjoyed in the harshest conditions. And yet, they were thankful.

This, they say, is the original Plymouth Rock.

True or not, it's a symbol of the arrival of the

Pilgrims in 'The New World.'

Today, we have all those comforts. We have widescreen televisions to watch professional athletes playing football. We have homes that are heated. Properly done, the meal, from main course to side dishes and desert, will arrive on the table at the intended and coordinated times.

We live in a world of these comforts. That includes fine homes, jobs to earn money that will put the food on our Thanksgiving tables, a nice car and a garage where we can park it out of the elements. And we have garage doors with remote garage door openers to open and close that garage door so we don’t even have to get out of the car when it rains, or even when it’s dry.

All-in-all, we have a lot to be thankful for.

All of us at Garage Doors and More wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Body-slamming garage door craze is more than stupid; it’s a social media trend

Hey, Joe, watcha wanna do tonight? 

Uhm, I don’t know. Maybe we could go and throw ourselves at some garage doors. That should be fun.

That's lit. Let’s go.

Now, if the conversation above sounds a bit like the script from an episode of Bevis and Butthead, don’t go jumping to conclusions; turns out this is actually happening with some regularity. It’s become a trend.

Bored mostly-teens have discovered the thrill of an absolutely empty experience and are tossing themselves, bodily, against strangers’ garage doors. The unpleasant result is frequently a damaged garage door. It could also include bodily harm.

Exactly what youngsters think they’re accomplishing isn’t clear, though this isn’t the first generation to arrive at a silly expression of, well, nothingness. After all, in the ‘90s, people wore fanny packs and started that sagging pants phenomenon where they showed off their underwear. Hopefully, they didn’t combine the two.

The next decade, people were wearing shutter shades and wore long, long scarves that could get caught in elevator doors. But, while these trends might injure your reputation, over time, they didn’t generally lead to bodily harm.

Not only do they toss themselves bodily against a garage door but they capture the event on video. It has become a social media trend. You toss yourself against a garage door while a friend videos ‘the fun’ and then you share it on social media.

While we all hope nothing serious happens to the human pinballs, almost inevitably, damage is done to the garage doors. Dents are pounded into the surface of the garage door. Worse yet, if they hit the door where it is backed up by a brace, they can damage the inner structure of the garage door.

In some cases, the damage is so severe that a garage door may become inoperable. In worst case scenarios, the garage needs to be replaced. At the very least, repairs area almost inevitably required. 

In most cases, individuals who find this entertaining tend to throw themselves against metal or fiberglass garage doors; wooden garage doors are often a bit firmer. It doesn’t mean a wooden garage door can’t be damaged but it’s harder to do. Someone has to throw themselves at a wooden garage door with greater force.

In the process, a wooden garage door is more likely to cause injury to the human pinballs. It’s a tough game but, if someone is silly enough to do it, there are risks that may take the fun out of the experience. And if it’s not injury, it’s against the law to go around damaging peoples’ property, even if someone uses their own body to do the damage. 

Time for garage door maintenance before Fox Lake winter sets in

It stands there stoically waiting for your call, that garage door that responds on order whenever you call. But its job is about to get more difficult. The difficulty of standing sentry at the large opening to your garage door is challenged when a Fox Lake winter arrives.

The cold does something funny to different materials, such as metal and wood. It makes them brittle. In some cases, the cold can cause moisture to cling to the surface as frost.

At the same time, the cold effects liquids, too. It freezes water and thickens oils. The frozen water can put pressure on parts of a garage door when the water freezes between two surfaces. And as lubricants thicken, they don’t spread as well. Their effectiveness is challenged by the cold.

Metal parts in your garage door include bearings and hinges. These are among the parts that suffer the most when that Fox Lake winter arrives. And when they struggle, they put additional strain on the garage door opener.

Think about opening a door with new hinges as compared to a door with old and rusty hinges. Naturally, you’ll have to use considerably more effort to open the latter door. The same is true of a garage door opener when the hinges and bearings are old and rusty, or when they’re dealing with the effects of winter.

Preventative medicine for your garage door and garage door opener, before winter sets in, is to have some timely maintenance performed on your garage door.

Garage door maintenance includes applying fresh lubricants were called for. It also calls for adjusting the door, the garage door opener and related parts. If everything is lubricated and adjusted properly, the strain is reduced all around.

Garage door and garage door opener maintenance are good things to consider any time of the year. But that’s even more true during the winter.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that your garage door or garage door opener will fail this winter. But that extra wear, tear and strain will show over time. The life expectancy of your garage door and garage door opener will be shortened. On the other hand, if you maintain your garage door and garage door opener well, you can count on get the maximum amount of reliable service from both of them.

In Fox Lake, winter is inevitable. Some winters are colder. Some winters have more snow, sleet or freezing rain. But winter will come. A little garage door maintenance can reduce the effects of the approaching winter on your garage door or garage door opener.

Garage can augment celebration this Lake Villa Labor Day

If all goes as planned, no rain will fall in Lake Villa this Labor Day but, if it does, don’t give up; move your celebration into the garage. No, not the barbeque. You don’t want to start the garage on fire. Still, the garage can offer a place to continue the fun when the sun won’t cooperate.

If you’re not sure if the weather will support your party, you may want to undertake some preparation just in case. Clean out some space in your Lake Villa garage. Make sure the lights work. Bring some music out and place the entertainment equipment in a stable place where you can all enjoy it without fear of knocking anything over.

When you clean out some space, it might not hurt to sweep up the floor. But more than that, you may want to sweep the back of the garage door.

Dirt and debris, such as grass and leaves, may be clinging to the inside of your garage door. You don’t want such things to drop into someone’s food or drink.

Spiders and other pests may use your garage door as a pathway to scrounge for food. Those spiders may have cast their webs there. Once again, you don’t want a spider dropping into Aunt Mable’s lemonade shandy. But sweep gently so you don’t damage anything your garage depends on to operate.

You can have your tables and chairs ready to go – ready for outside the garage or inside. If you’ve got a refrigerator in the garage, keeping foods and drinks cool is covered. Otherwise, get your coolers ready and plan to pickup some bags of ice before the festivities kickoff. 

When it comes to lighting that single bulb at the ceiling may not set quite the tone you’re looking for. You may want to string some lights in the garage to create a festive atmosphere.

If you want, and if you can’t clear everything out of the garage for the event, you can get some tarps and cover up those tools, toys and equipment you keep in the garage but that won’t add to the ambience. 

If you’ve had enough foresight, you may have added a screen to your garage door entrance. This will help to keep flying insects at bay. Otherwise, you may want to use some bug spray in advance of the event and/or light some citronella candles during the party.

Even if the sun is shining (and hopefully the sun is shining), your garage is a great asset for your party. It offers a place to sit and relax for those who don’t want to sit in the sun. You may also use it as the buffet and bar area.

Labor Day is the last unofficial blast of this Lake Villa summer. Make sure you’re ready to make the most of it. And don’t forget the potential of your garage.

Is it time to clean your Richmond garage door?

You’ve got a nice garage door out there on your Richmond garage but even nice garage doors get dirty. From time to time, you may want to give that garage door a bath. For that matter, if the door is dirty, the garage is probably dirty, too. You can wash the entire garage door.

One way to clean a dirty garage door on your Richmond garage is to hire a company with a power washer to come out and clean your garage and garage door. Or you can rent a power washer yourself. The other option requires additional elbow grease and/or effective cleaning solution.

Even with a power washer, it’s a good idea to use an effective cleaner and a brush. By brush, this refers to the kind that attaches to a handle, such as a broom handle. Gives you the leverage and reach to get up high without necessarily dripping all over yourself.

Clorox, the bleach maker, recommends using a mix of ½-cup of bleach to a gallon of water. But bleach is harsh and you may want to opt for something else. As with any cleaning solution, you probably want to try it out somewhere as inconspicuous as possible to make sure it doesn’t have a negative effect on the base material or the paint or other surface coating.

There are a number of other cleaning products you may want to use. The key is that, while you want something that doesn’t damage the material or surface, you also want a cleaner that washes off easily.

Another consideration is the rubber weatherstripping around your garage door. You’ll want to clean this, too. But you don’t want to use anything that will dry out the rubber. It might make sense to wipe it down with a damp cloth.

You also want to be careful not to hit the inside mechanism that operates your garage door. Most of these parts are metal and can rust. Many of the parts that operate opening and closing your garage door require lubrications. You don’t want to wash away the lubricants.

In fact, when you’re done cleaning your garage door, it’s not a bad idea to have some maintenance done on your garage door. This will ensure that all adjustments are proper and everything that should be lubricated is properly lubricated.

Of course, when washing your garage door, you should prepare for the experience. Choose a warm day when you won’t mind getting wet. Wear clothes that are appropriate for the occasion. 

• Fill a bucket with water and your gentle cleaning solution
• Wet down the surface you’re cleaning
• Scrub the surface with a soapy brush being careful not to do any damage but scrubbing hard enough to loosen the dirt
• Rinse down the surface 
• Wipe down the weather stripping
• Adjust and lubricate the inside garage door opening mechanism

Some folks even wax their garage doors. That’s certainly an option, assuming you won’t get too much wax into texture of the surface where you can’t get it out.

Hiring someone to power wash your Richmond garage door is a nice way to get the job done while you make other use of the time. But, you want to make sure they do a good job and they don’t damage anything.

On the other hand, if you do it yourself, you can save some money, as long as you do it right.

What are the UV rays of the sun doing to your Lake Villa garage door?

The sun is incessant in its attack on your Lake Villa garage door. It bears down without mercy drying out the wood, fiberglass or metal and draining the color of the paint or material. It doesn’t care how your garage door looks and it doesn’t care about it’s effect on how your garage door works.

Have you ever seen a badly faded garage door in your Lake Villa neighborhood? Of course, you have. How did it get that way? Mostly, it got that way because of the sun.

There’s an ultra-violet component to the sun’s rays that are destructive. They’ll fade the paint on your car as sure as they’ll fade the paint on your garage door.

UV rays play a nasty game with the molecular structure of materials. They dry out the rubber weather strip around the garage door. But they don’t stop there. They go after the garage doors themselves.

The longer the sun bombards your garage door with its UV rays, the more brittle and less flexible your garage door becomes. Cracks can appear in your garage door whether it’s made of fiberglass, metal or wood. Overtime, your garage door would disintegrate. 

The color will fade, and a chalky substance will appear on the surface. Moving parts will lose their lubricants. And the longer you operate mechanical parts without proper lubrication, the more wear and damage they experience.

The first thing to do to protect your garage door from the harmful effects of the sun’s UV rays is to lubricate moving parts with sufficient frequency, and the proper lubricants. This will make a tremendous difference in the life-span of your garage door and garage door opener (keep in mind that the garage door opener has to work harder when bearings and hinges on the garage door are not properly lubricated).

Insulating the garage door will help to keep the sun’s rays from turning the inside of your garage door into an oven. But what about protecting the garage door itself?

You can protect your garage door by painting it with a paint or varnish that is resistant to the UV rays, such as a Valspar or similar product. You can also apply a protective film on the garage door.

You may also want to wash your garage door once or twice a year to protect it from corrosive materials.

If you’re choosing a new garage door, you want to choose a door with the aesthetic appeal you’re looking for, but you also want one that is easy to maintain. You can ask your garage door technician for tips about which garage door will work best for you in your area and considering the exposure of your garage door – whether it’s facing South, North, East or West.

The sun will beat down on your Lake Villa garage door and there isn’t much you can do about that. But if you know what it’s UV rays are doing to your garage door, you can take steps to protect the door.

Are your Lindenhurst garage door springs getting tired?

Spring just ended last week and though most of us here in Lindenhurst are happy to have the summer stretching out ahead of us, few of us are actually tired of spring. After all, spring is not a season to tire of. Unlike winter, which many of us are happy to put behind us, we generally enjoy spring.

While you’re not tired of spring, you may want to consider if your springs are tired. Which springs? The springs on your Lindenhurst garage door.

Garage door springs do get tired over time. They probably don’t care too much for winter either, since the winter brings extremes of cold that have a peculiar relationship with the metal of your garage door springs.

The cold makes metal contract. Think about when you get cold and draw back into your winter coat to huddle against the frigid temps. Your body is rigid. The same is true of your garage door springs. Winter makes them stiff.

Fortunately, as we all appreciatively know, winter has passed. In fact, spring has also passed. Those garage door springs have warmed up and relaxed, most likely, again. Most likely because the winter of 2021-22 was probably not their first winter.

How many winters have your garage door springs survived? How many times have they contracted with the winter cold and then warmed up again in the spring? These kinds of things strain metal parts, particularly metal parts that are designed to flex, like springs.

It’s reasonable to think of garage door springs as boosters. They take up most of the weight of a garage door. When you open the garage door by hand, you’ve probably noticed that it takes some effort to do so. Imagine what it would be like without those garage door springs.

If you had no garage door springs, you’d have to lift all that weight yourself. It would really take some effort. You’d get a workout lifting your garage door.

If it takes that much energy for you to lift the garage door by hand, think about that little box in the ceiling of your garage. Inside that box is a small motor. Many garage door openers have half or quarter horsepower motors. And yet they lift and lower your garage door day after day, again and again, winter, spring, summer, fall and back to winter again.

Imagine if you garage door assembly didn’t have springs to lift that garage door. What is certain is that you would need a much bigger motor in the garage door opener. And you’d need a much bigger box to put it in.

In the meantime, while that spring takes a lot of the load off your garage door opener, as your garage door springs get tired, more and more of that load is passed off to your garage door opener. This is why you want to consider the idea that your garage door springs may be getting tired.

In the meantime, enjoy the Lindenhurst summer ahead while you let a garage door technician check out your garage door springs.

Fishing is a great way to spend your time in Antioch but it’s also a technique thieves use to break into garages

It’s June and odds are pretty good the fish are biting in one of the lakes in and around Antioch. Why not get your pole and tackle, buy some bait and load ‘em in the boat and head to Blarney Island, Chain O’Lakes Boat Rental or another boat launch? 

While you’re out angling for some of that Lunker in Channel Lake, hopefully, no on is back at your Antioch home doing some fishing of another sort.

Why kind of fishing would they do at your house? Well, they might be fishing to get into your garage.

Fishing is the name of a technic some thieves will use to get into a garage. How does it work?

It’s really quite simple. The thief pushes on the top panel of your garage door and, if it gives way so there’s a gap between the top of the garage door and the garage door frame, the reach in with a wire or coat hanger and hook the emergency release cord on the garage. With a simple tug they are then able to manually raise the garage door.

Fortunately, there is a way to stop those thieves in their tracks; have your garage door adjusted properly.

When the garage door is properly adjusted the thieves find that they can’t push the top panel back to make room to hook the release cable. Adjusting the garage door properly, so thieves can’t go fishing to get into your garage, is a fairly simple procedure for a garage door technician.

Think about all the stuff you have in your garage: tools, toys (big boys and the kids’), access to the house. Fortunately, while you’re out fishing, they can’t get at the boat and your fishing tackle. But the potential losses are significant. 

Fishing, the kind you enjoy is a wonderful pastime. It’s relaxing and rewarding. You’re out in nature, breathing the fresh are and enjoying the peace and quiet out there on the lake. But thieves find their kind of fishing rewarding, too. Well, unless you have your garage door adjusted so they can’t land a prize in your Antioch home and at your expense.

Were your Antioch garage door sensors knocked out of alignment?

Quiet as mice, the sensors stand sentry on either side of your Antioch garage door. They’re ready to leap into action whenever called upon. They’re there to protect you, your loved ones, your dog and your possessions.

Garage door sensors quietly project laser beams across the opening to your garage door so that the garage door won’t come down on an unsuspecting child, pet or your car. When the laser is broken, while the garage door is in motion, it instantly stops the garage door in its tracks.

You don’t see the laser. You probably don’t even notice the sensors. But they’re still there doing their job, well, unless …

To perform their duty, garage door sensors need to cooperate effectively. This means that the laser beam has to be precisely aimed to complete the circuit between the two sensors. The sensors are mounted near the floor on either side of your Antioch garage door. They are wired to the garage door opener so that, when the laser beam is broken, they tell the garage door opener to stop.

What if the sensors are not properly adjusted? No doubt, when they were installed, they were adjusted so the laser beam communicated between the two sensors. But since then, well, things can happen.

Suppose you’re rearraigning things in the garage. You don’t even realize it when a box your moving pushes against another box that is up against one of the sensors. With no idea that it has happened, you’ve knocked one of the sensors out of alignment. The beam will no longer complete its circuit between the two sensors. The safety measure is no longer working.

Maybe you were sweeping leaves out of the garage in the fall or shoveling snow in the winter and bumped the sensor. The sensor are fairly solidly mounted by you can still knock them out of whack. Maybe you simply kicked one of the sensors by accident one day.

Whatever happened, if the sensors are no longer precisely aligned, you’ll have trouble with your garage door.

Sensors also can get dirty, which can also affect their operation. If you decide to clean the lenses on the sensors, be sure to do so gently so that, while cleaning them, you don’t move them. But you may want to call in a professional to check that the sensors are properly aligned and operating at peak performance. 

If you call a garage door technician out to perform annual maintenance on your Antioch garage door, one of the tasks they’ll perform is checking the sensors.

Did you garage door survive this Salem winter okay or do you need a new garage door

Your garage door has survived how many Salem winters? What’s one more? But did your garage door truly survive the recently passed winter?

How does your garage door look? If there are stains on the garage door from dirty, salt-filled snow, you can wash that off. But you may find that winter has done more than that to the garage door at your Salem home.

For starters, there’s a good chance that winter has dried out the weather stripping around and at the bottom of your garage door. Fortunately, you can replace that without having to replace the entire garage door.

How did the rollers, springs and tracks make out with this most recent winter? If you’ve had annual maintenance performed on your garage door and garage door opener, the answer may be ‘Not too bad.’ But if you seldom maintain your garage door, you may not enjoy the answer to that question.

If your garage door and garage door opener are okay following this recently passed winter, that’s great. Now is a good time to do some maintenance to refresh, adjust and lubricate your garage door from the effects of winter and prepare it for the summer ahead. But what if the damage is more than maintenance can reasonably address?

How do the garage door panels look? Just as winter will dry out the rubber of the weather stripping around your garage, winter will also dry out the panels of your garage door, particularly, but not exclusively, if you have a wooden garage door.

If the panels aren’t bad, you may want to consider going beyond cleaning the garage door. You may want to paint, stain and/or seal the panels of your garage door. Of course, that depends on whether they are worth saving.

If the panels have taken too much of a beating from too many winters, you may need to replace a panel or two, if that’s reasonable. Of course, if the garage door is that bad, you may find it’s time to replace the entire garage door.

How about the mechanics of the garage door – the rollers, hinges, tracks and springs? Are they in reasonably good shape? If not, can they be brought back up to par? 

Then there’s the garage door opener. Does it need some adjustment and lubrication or is it just getting a bit tired after a few too many winters?

It’s a good idea to call a professional out to do some post-winter maintenance on your Salem garage door. While they’re there, they can give your garage door and garage door opener the once over to let you know what kind of shape it’s in. Just make sure it’s someone you can trust and not someone who’s a little too happy to sell you a new garage door.

As Lake Villa winter passes, time for some garage door maintenance

Winter was tough on your Lake Villa garage door and garage door opener. It’s a given. It’s simply a factor of dealing with winter in these parts, even a comparatively mild winter.

The kind of cold we experience in Lake Villa makes parts of the garage door and garage door opener brittle. Parts wear differently when they’re hardened by the cold. They’re more prone to break in this condition.

There’s also the effects of snow, ice and moisture on parts of the garage door and garage door opener. The moisture that gets into bearings and the tracks that guide the garage door displaces lubricants and cause rust. Moisture can also get into the wiring of the garage door opener.

This is the reality. And after experiencing winters year after year, the wear and tear on garage doors and garage door openers is cumulative.

It wouldn’t be so bad if people maintained their garage doors and garage door openers properly. But, overwhelmingly, that’s not the case. Many people never provide appropriate maintenance for their garage doors and openers.

Some garage doors have never had a drop of new lubrication added to their rollers, hinges, bearings and drive chains. They’ve operated for years with nothing going for them except good luck.

Garage door maintenance can go a long way toward extending the life of a garage door and garage door opener. It can reduce the likelihood of parts breaking. But it does more than that.

Garage door maintenance will keep your garage door running smoothly, efficiently and quietly. Efficiently can include a garage door that goes up and down at the speed that it did when it was new. Without that maintenance, the way a pot slowly boils, you may not notice that the garage door is going up and down slower (and louder) than it used to.

It’s not a bad idea to perform maintenance on your garage door and garage door opener before winter, ensuring that everything is adjusted properly and adequately lubricated. But it’s also a good idea to maintain them after winter passes. Before winter, it’s to prepare them for the rigors of the winter to come. After winter, it’s to help them recover from the effects of the winter that has just passed.

Lake Villa is a great place to live. But there’s no denying that winters are rough. And your garage door and garage door opener can testify to that. A little maintenance will go a long way to helping them endure the worst that winter can throw at them.

Is your Twin Lakes garage door possessed?

You push the button and your Twin Lakes garage door rises to let you in or out. You push the button again and it lowers after you’ve entered or left. Well, hopefully, that’s the case. But what if that’s not what happens?

Does your Twin Lakes garage door act as though it’s possessed?

One possibility is that your neighbor is a practical joker and has hacked into your garage door remote and is peaking out from behind the curtain snickering while you scratch your head at the trouble your garage door is having. Thankfully, most neighbors don’t have time for these kinds of shenanigans. 

A more likely answer is that there is a problem with your garage door and/or garage door opener. When your garage door is acting erratically, that’s the most likely explanation. Possession is unlikely. Of course, if it is a matter of possession, you may want to call someone from the clergy who has the expertise to provide an exorcism. 

Let’s assume that your Twin Lakes garage door and garage door opener is not possessed. What, therefore, is the specific problem with your garage door and garage door opener? There are numerous potential explanations, including:

• If the garage door opens but won’t close: You may have a problem with the garage door opener remote. Or you garage door may require limit adjustments. When it touches the floor it thinks it’s hitting someone from the family or the family dog.
• If the garage door comes off the tracks: it’s probable that your rollers are sticking. Since rollers don’t always stick evenly, the drag sticking rollers create pulls the garage door out of whack and out of the track.
• If the main spring is broken: This problem is liable to announce itself loudly. It’s extremely important that you call in a professional to deal with a broken garage door spring as replacement requires experience to avoid the possibility of serious injury.
• If you have a broken cable: you’ll probably notice that one side of the garage door is sagging.
• If the garage door won’t close: you may have dirty sensors or there is something blocking the sensors.
• If you can hear the garage door opener running but the garage door doesn’t move: a likely explanation is that the cord to disconnect the garage door opener has been pulled and you need to give it a couple tugs to reset it.
• If the garage door stops in mid travel: It’s possible that the garage door isn’t level and requires an adjustment. It’s also possible that it requires lubrication. There are different types of lubricants to use with different parts of the garage door and garage door opener. Be sure to call on a qualified garage door technician.
• If the remote doesn’t work: have you checked the batteries? If that’s not the problem, it’s likely that the remote opener needs to be synched to the garage door opener again.
• If nothing happens: First thing to check is the circuit breaker. If the circuit breaker keeps blowing, you should call in a professional. If it’s not the circuit breaker, you should also call in the pros. 

Regular garage door maintenance should keep your Twin Lakes garage door and garage door opener operating properly. But, if you do have a problem with your garage door or garage door opener, if you need help, a qualified garage door technician can put your garage door and garage door opener back in business quickly.

How can you protect your Antioch garage door from high winds?

How much wind can your garage door withstand when the winds blow hard in Antioch? That’s a good question, particularly as we are in the month of March when winds are known to blow harder. An answer, of sorts, found broadly on various blogs, is winds of 20 mph. It’s not clear where that number comes from as those using it generally fail to provide the origin of the number. The truth is that it depends on the local codes and there, it’s not measured in mph of wind speed but in psf – pounds per square foot of force.

In any case, that 20-mph figure seems ridiculously low, and is probably confused with psf, since we all know that storms will frequently bring winds of greater velocity than that. In Antioch, over the course of 2020 and 2021, the average wind per month blew no higher than 6 mph. But, in every single of those 24 months, the high wind speed, not to mention wind gusts, were higher than 20 mph. In some cases, winds and gusts were significantly higher (see chart).

Six mph is comfortably 14-mph comfortably the 20-mph maximum for most garage doors. But, in November of 2020, for instance, Antioch experienced a high wind of 51 mph with guts as high as 79 mph. Amazingly, this did not result in garage doors blown out all over town.

This does not mean that garage doors are not damaged by high winds. For instance, garage doors can suffer from wind damage, or damage from objects blown by the wind, without the garage door suffering catastrophic failure. And garage doors are ripped from their frames in some extreme weather conditions, such as with tornadoes, microbursts and hurricanes.

Of course, here in Antioch, we don’t have to worry about hurricanes too often. And tornadoes and microbursts are generally isolated enough in their impact that the odds of losing a garage door to a funnel cloud is not a widespread problem.

What we really need to know is what to do about your garage door when there are high winds.

The Doors & Access Systems Manufacturers Association International has some specific suggestions:

1. And it is not suggested that you do so when winds represent a clear and present danger, but you should keep the garage door closed in high-wind situations.
2. DO NOT back your car up to the inside of the garage door to bolster the door against high winds – winds may be as likely to yank the door out of the frame as to blow it in and could cause additional damage to your vehicle.
3. DASMAI does not recommend operation of the garage door during high winds.
4. The garage door should be kept closed when there are high winds.
5. It’s also highly recommended that you don’t add weight to the garage door unless it’s part of an integrated system to reinforce the garage door.

Qualified garage door repair and installation companies will generally install better quality garage doors that are less susceptible to high winds. For instance, Beau Bristol, the owner of Garage Doors and More, installs 2-inch-thick garage doors that are more solid in general and better able to withstand high winds. The garage doors he’s had to replace over the years from wind damage were, almost inevitably, of the 1-3/8-inch variety.

Fortunately, we live in an area where wind-rated doors are not required, such as in certain coastal regions where hurricanes are possible. Still, even in Antioch, we can see high winds and it’s good to know what to do, and what precautions to take to protect your garage door from high winds.

Have you considered putting a kennel in your garage?

Your Crystal Lake garage has the potential to serve as a multi-purpose structure. You can create a woodworking workshop in your garage. You can create a craft workshop in your garage. Or you can simply use your garage for storage, with or without enough room for the car. But there are other potential uses for your garage.

Have you considered the potential of your Crystal Lake garage as a kennel for your dog or dogs? There are considerations you should entertain before making such a move; it’s really not as simple as moving the dog crate out to the garage and then putting the dog in the crate.

One consideration is environmental. You need to consider the temperature in your garage. Is your garage heated? Do you have AC for the summer months?

A dog is probably not as susceptible to mild temperature changes. But, in the McHenry area, winters can produce dangerously cold temperatures. In the summer, the heat can threaten heatstroke for people, and dogs, if exposed to high temps for too long.

If the garage is not heated or airconditioned, you need to be conscious of that fact. Don’t leave the dog out in the garage when the temperature falls below freezing or rises above 85 degrees, for instance. You may want to check with your vet about what temperatures are best for your dog.

Another consideration is the air quality in your garage. Do you keep paints, cleaners and solvents in the garage? Even if you don’t have dogs in the garage, you want these chemical agents sealed properly so they don’t foul the air.

You also need to remember that your car produces toxic gasses that are unhealthy for your dog. You don’t want to leave the car running in the garage where those fumes will build up to the extent that they cause health concerns. Long before they might prove fatal, those gasses will cause headaches and other issues.

It’s probably not a bad idea to put a ventilation system in the garage if you’re going to put a kennel in the garage.

As long as you’re considering going here, it doesn’t hurt to look at the idea from the dog’s perspective. A crate if confining. Building a pen, or pens, in the garage offers an opportunity to provide your dog with some comfort and more.

You can give them an area that allows room to stretch their legs. You can put some bedding in there with them. You might even put a few toys in the pen that they like.

If you want to get really snazzy, if you have a pen just outside the garage, you can put doggie doors between the inside pen and the outside pen. This is ideal since it allows the dog to go outside when it wants, stay inside when the weather is inclement, and to go outside to do his or her business.

Finally, you want to make sure your Crystal Lake garage door seals properly to keep out drafts and to ensure that the garage door opener works reliably. 

Will battery backup keep your garage door working when the weather howls?

The problem with the power going out is that it has a tendency to do so during storms. Therefore, when considering a power outage that incapacitates your garage door opener, if you have to get out of the car and wrestle the garage door open, you’re liable to do that in stormy conditions. These are the times you most want a battery backup for your garage door opener.

A garage door opener is seldom more appreciated than when it’s pouring rain, the wind is howling, or sleet and snow are lashing the outdoors and everything in it. It’s not that your garage door opener has conspired with the weather to force you into adverse conditions; it’s just that storms are the common culprit when the power goes out.

Battery Backup Garage Door Opener can Weather the storm

Imagine that you’re coming home from a formal event one night. As you turn onto your street, you notice that the street lights. Closer inspection shows that none of the lights are on in the homes of your neighbors. You suddenly realize that the power is out.

As you consider how you’ll light some candles when you get into the house, it hasn’t really occurred to you that the power outage will cause a bit of inconvenience before you get there.

You push the button on your garage door opener remote control and watch expectantly as the headlights reflect off the garage door in front of you. “Any time now,” you say to the garage door as though it can hear you. Then it dawns on you; the garage door opener isn’t going to work.

Now you find yourself, in your best clothes, your hair styled. You’re comfortable, dry and warm and had no idea that would change. But you realize that, if you’re going to get the car into the garage, you can’t count on the garage door opener anymore. The power is out. It’s not going to work.

It’s not going to work unless you have a backup, such as a backup battery.

There are backup batteries for sump pumps; why not a battery backup for your garage door opener. It’s the difference between counting on your garage door opener with or without the storm.

The cost of a battery backup system is reasonably low. It’s low enough that you might consider it worth the cost to install a battery backup system with your garage door opener. On those, cold, rainy, windy days, you’ll stay dry and warm in the car all the way into the garage.

Factors to consider when heating your Antioch garage this winter

Need to work on the car? Have a project you’re trying to complete? Just want a place to sit down with a beer or a cup of coffee and relax? The garage can work extremely well for these activities. But the garage isn’t nearly as hospitable when the Antioch winter temperatures drop to and below the freezing mark.

Of course, if you’re garage is heated, that’s an entirely different story. On the other hand, if you want to put some heat in your Antioch garage, you can create that hospitable environment where the garage is an extension of the house.

There are several questions to consider when heating your garage, including:

• What type of heater you’ll use?
• Insulating your garage?
• Ensuring that the garage door and garage door opener operate properly?

When it comes to the type of heater, considerations include:

• Gas?
• Electric?
• Portable?
• Suspended?
• In-wall or Roof-top installation?

An essential factor to consider with the type of heater is safety. This could move the idea of a portable heater down several notches on your list. But, even if you’re installing a more permanent heater, you want to ensure that it’s installed properly so that there is nothing that would make its operation unsafe.

You may also want to consider a cooling aspect with the unit you install. In other words, do you want to provide air conditioning in your garage to keep it cool during the next Antioch summer and summers to come.

When installing a heating unit in your garage, as well as with a unit that has a cooling capacity, efficiency is dramatically affected by the amount and quality of insulation you have in the garage. You’ll want to insulate the walls and the roof or ceiling. But, do a proper job of insulating so that you don’t have problems with condensation. 

Think about your garage door, in terms of insulation, too. An insulated garage door will make a world of difference. And, whether the garage door is insulated or not, you’ll want to have a proper seal around your garage door – top, bottom and on the sides.

Finally, if your garage door doesn’t open efficiently, how much of that heat will you let out while it creeps up or down. For that matter, if your garage door gets stuck, there’s nothing to stop the cold of this Antioch winter from stealing your cozy garage away from you.

Kid’s toy challenges garage door security?

Last thing at bedtime, you check the doors of your Crystal Lake home. Once you’re certain all the doors are locked – from front door to back including the garage door, and confident that you and the family are safe – you turn off the lights and head to bed. But are those doors as secure as you assume?

Imagine, just for something outlandish, that a child’s toy could open your garage door? Of course, that’s ridiculous. No child’s toy can override the security built into your garage door opener. It’s simply absurd.

That kid’s toy CAN open garage doors 

As demonstrated in an online podcast, a kid’s toy can, in fact, be modified to open many garage doors – to activate the garage door openers.

The toy used in the demonstration is the IM-ME device from Mattel. With a little knowledge of data codes, some relatively tech savvy individuals can open many of the electric garage door openers around the world, including those in your Crystal Lake neighborhood.

Some hackers discovered that the IM-ME will do the work to determine the codes for garage door openers. And it doesn’t take long.

Many garage door openers use 8-bit codes. With an 8-bit code, there are 256 variations of possible code combinations. It takes about 32 milliseconds to send one variant of the code. That means that it would take about 8 seconds for the toy to send all 256 variations. If your garage door has an 8-bit code, and no other lines of defense, that toy is going to open your garage door.

Fortunately, today, many garage door openers have 12-digit codes. That’ll slow ‘em down a little. 

With a 12-digit code, there are 4,096 variations of codes. That should mean that it will take 128 seconds. In other words, someone will have to work for just over two minutes to get in through your garage. But, it turns out, neither is the case.

It turns out that the codes are read in an overlapping fashion. This means that, if you have a string of all variations of the code, the garage door opener starts at the beginning. When that code fails, it drops the first digit and tries again. Then the next digit and so on. This condenses the codes dramatically. 

Instead of 8 seconds, it takes about 1 second for the toy to crack the code to your garage door, if you have an 8-digit code. If you have a 12-digit code, it might slow them down to 16 seconds. 

This is bad news for those counting on garage door openers to provide security from the garage. The good news is that the manufacturers of garage door openers have caught on to these ‘little loopholes’ in the security they provide. 

New garage doors are built to block the hackers, whether they use a toy or something more sophisticated. 

‘Resolve’ to maintain your garage door and garage door opener in 2022

2022 is here; have you made your New Year’s Resolutions? If you’re searching your brain for ideas of what Resolutions to make, have you considered your garage door and garage door opener?

SAY WHAT?!!!

Yes, resolve to maintain your garage door and garage door opener in 2022. If you’re like most people, it’s not something you did a real good job of in 2021. And it’s something you might want to do a better job of this year.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “I have enough to do already,” that’s understandable. But, fortunately, you don’t have to overburden yourself with maintaining your garage door and garage door opener. That’s especially true if you call in a professional to do the job for you.

Calling in a professional is a great idea when it comes to maintaining your garage door and garage door opener. They know all about garage doors and garage door openers. Most of us don’t know so much about garage doors and openers. And that’s okay. That’s not a level of knowledge that is probably worth our time attaining. But quality garage door technicians have spent the time learning all about the equipment they repair, maintain and replace.

The good news is that garage door technicians don’t have to replace garage doors and garage door openers as often when they are properly maintained.

Maintenance of a garage door and garage door opener is really an annual event that takes about an hour. The technician will check the alignment and condition of the garage door and opener. Keep in mind that, if there is one part that is having trouble it may cause strain on other parts of your garage door system.

The garage door technician will also lubricate where lubrication is required. Since they don’t use the same lubricant in all areas of your garage door system, it’s important to know which lubricants to use and where.

In the long run, garage door and garage door maintenance are money savers. It doesn’t cost much to do but can save a lot of money in the long run. In the meantime, maintenance of your garage door system will ensure that it runs smoother and quieter throughout the year.

Maintaining your garage door and garage door opener offers another benefit that makes it well worth a New Year’s Resolution; it will give you peace of mind this year that you don’t have to worry about your garage door or garage door opener in 2022.