Invitation to the wrong sort – Woodstock garage door stuck halfway open

It’s not convenient when your Woodstock garage door stops halfway up. In fact, it’s down-right inconvenient.

You’re in a hurry – places to go and things to do. You rush out to the garage and climb into the car while your mind runs through your to-do list for the 500th time. You hit the button for the remote garage door opener and you hear that familiar sound of the door going up. You start the car and, with your foot on the brake, you put the car in reverse. You’re ready to back out of the garage and … wait a minute. Something is wrong?

What’s wrong is that your garage door has stopped halfway up. If you back out now you’ll rip the garage door of the track and break the door panel into pieces, not to mention the damage to the springs and other parts of the garage door and garage door opener.

Woodstock is a great place to live – The Square, nice neighbors, not too far from work and things to see and do. But, you still wouldn’t want to leave your doors wide open. From time to time, someone may drive, or stroll, down your street who is not that nice. And if your garage door is stuck halfway open, that’s an invitation to the occasional nefarious character who might happen by.

If the garage door is stuck halfway open, you might try to fix it yourself. However, this will require working from a ladder and knowing how to identify the limit switch adjustment, for a start. Adjusting the ‘down’ adjustment may solve the problem. Then again, it may not.

You may have to go up and down the ladder several times to find the sweet spot where the garage door works again. In the process, you may overheat the motor in the garage door opener. This isn’t necessarily catastrophic – if you leave it alone for 15 minutes, or so, it should work again.

You can also lubricate the hinges and the bearings in the track. This is part of the standard process of garage door maintenance, but there’s no guarantee this will work either.

You can also look for debris that is blocking the door’s safety eyes. But, what you don’t want to do is walk away with your Woodstock garage door stuck halfway open.

Did Grayslake flooding damage your garage door?

Photo Courtesy of Kim Kreml with Planification Group

These flood waters filled the streets in Grayslake recently and
you can bet they damaged some of the garages and garage doors
in town, as well as other Grayslake property.

The flooding in Grayslake recently has created havoc, inconvenience and expense for many home and business owners in the area. Basements were flooded and, often, the water didn’t stop there. The clean up is a painful and, in many cases, the pain hasn’t stopped. Unfortunately, you may have more pain to face; you may discover that the flooding damaged your garage door, too.

If your garage door is made of wood, the wood panels may have soaked up the water and now they’re soft and enlarged. You may notice the panels separating. Sometimes, you’ll notice unpainted areas around the inner panels. This is a sign that the panels are coming apart. If this is the case, chances are, you’ll have to replace the damaged panels.

If your garage doors are made of vinyl, or some other water impervious material, you may not have to worry about having to replace panels. However, these panels are often insulated and the Grayslake flooding may have ruined the insulation in your garage door panels.

Another problem is the havoc the flood waters may have created with the garage door hinges and roller bearings. These are parts that should pivot or roll with ease. This is why garage door maintenance includes lubricating the hinges and roller bearings. But, following the flooding, you may find that your hinges and roller bearings are rusting.

Instead of pivoting or rolling with ease, the rust makes them hang up and fight against normal usage. As a result, your garage door may put substantial additional strain on the garage door opener motor, chain and springs. Though your garage door may open and close, in spite of rust in the hinges or roller bearings, with the motor and other parts working harder, those parts may experience excessive wear and could breakdown sooner.

The flood waters may also have damaged the sensors by the floor affecting the operation of your garage door (before you jump to this conclusion, however, make sure that the sensors and clean and properly adjusted).

The floods that hit Grayslake may have damaged your garage door. The flood waters may have damaged the insulation and walls of your garage, too. Whatever the case, while you’re determining how much damage the floods have done at your home or office, don’t neglect to look at the garage, too.

The amazing garage door opener – as much as you use your Wildwood garage door opener, you bet it needs maintenance

Have you ever stopped to think about how many times your Wildwood garage door will go up and down? If you park your car in the garage, which is one of the primary uses for a garage, you probably use the garage door opener at least twice each day. That’s up twice and down twice. But, on weekends, when you’re busy running to and from stores, taking the children to soccer and football practice, and to ballet lessons, you’ll use it more than that. Then, in the evening, up and down it goes, a couple more times, while you finally relax with dinner and a show.

If you and your spouse both use the garage, the normal up-and-down usage can easily double. Let’s say that, on average, you operate your garage door three times each day, taking into account weekends and everything. This is probably a modest number. Also, by operating the garage door, we mean one trip up and one trip down equals one full operation.

Using this, admittedly arbitrary formula, you’ll operate your garage door 1,095 times in a year. That’s 1,095 trips up and 1,095 trips down or 2,190 trips altogether.

Your garage door runs on wheels and bearings that fit inside tracks on either side of the door. A pulley and cable, torsion spring, hinges and a curved door arm are essential parts of your garage door and garage door opener. And the entire assembly is suspended from the ceiling and front wall of your garage.

Some garage door openers have direct-drive mechanisms. Others have belts. But, whatever the case, the operation of your garage door and garage door opener puts wear and strain on the system. To imagine that it doesn’t require maintenance runs counter to logic, the way a single leaf might fight its way into a gale-force wind.

In spite of this obvious common sense, some of your neighbors may allow their garage doors and garage door openers to go for years without any maintenance. These people might tell say: “Maintenance? What maintenance? My garage door and garage door opener don’t need no stinkin’ maintenance.”

OK. But, the next time you’re in their Wildwood garage, take a look at their garage doors and garage door openers. Look at the tracks, the roller bearings, the hinges. In fact, give the entire garage door and garage door opener a thorough overview. Now, compare it to your well-maintained garage door and garage door opener.

After comparing the two, which garage door and garage door opener do you think will fail first? And, who is more likely to need the services of a garage door repair service?

Tips for not hitting the garage with your car

It’s late and you’re in a hurry. You jump in the car and start backing out. Suddenly, you hear a scrapping noise and realize you’ve rubbed the car against the garage door opening. You pull forward again and, with your heart in your throat, jump out to survey the damage.

There it is – a big scrape along the side of the car. Just when you’re thinking how bad this is – how much it will cost to fix your car – you notice that the you’ve also damaged the opening around the garage door.

Of course, this has happened many, many times before. Drivers have hit the side of the garage door opening, they’ve hit the garage door before it was all the way up, whether pulling in or out, they’ve hit objects in the garage and they’ve pulled too far forward running the car into the back wall of the garage. But, what can you do to avoid these kinds of problems?

Avoid pulling into the garage door. The best defense to avoid hitting the garage door before it is opened is patience. Of course, when you’re in a hurry, it’s sometimes difficult to remember to be patient. When leaving the garage, you can make a habit of waiting until the garage door is all the way up before you start the car.

You can also mount a small bump on the ground outside of the garage so you know when the front or back of the car is approaching the point where either bumper intersects with the path of the garage door. Park the car one way and hold a level upright at the point closest to the garage door but short of the path of the garage door. Mark that spot on the ground. Then turn the car around and do the same thing. Glue or mount the bump on the pavement at the furthest of these two points from the door.

To avoid scrapping the side of the door while coming in or out, you can mount a piece of pipe-insulation foam so that it extends into the garage from both sides. Mount a short piece of pipe off the wall beside the garage door opening perpendicular to the floor and facing the garage door opening but keep it back further than the opening. Then, pull the car into the garage door opening so that it is as close to centered as possible. Measure from both sides and attach a piece of foam insulation on the pipe on both sides so they just touch the car. You might even wrap some reflective tape on the insulation so you’ll see them easier in the dark.

To keep from hitting the back wall of the garage, pull the car in to the distance you usually park. On a piece of string, hang a tennis ball so that it just touches the windshield. You should then notice hitting the ball when pulling into the garage and know that it’s time to stop.

Another simple tip is to use your headlights when you’re in the garage or pulling into the garage. The better you can see around you the less chance you’ll hit something.

Why won’t your Spring Grove garage door opener open the garage door?

That garage door opener in your Spring Grove garage is a wonderful convenience. It’s pouring rain. No problem. You press the button, pull into the garage and stay perfectly dry. It’s freezing cold, the wind is blowing and, once again, a press of the button and you’re out of the garage. Another press of the button and the garage door closes behind you. But, if the garage door opener fails to work, a convenience becomes an aggravation.

Good garage door maintenance is the best way to ensure that your Spring Grove garage door opener continues to operate properly. But, even with good maintenance, your garage door opener can break down leaving the garage door stuck – leaving you climbing in and out of your car to operate the garage door manually, no matter the weather.

When your garage door opener stops working there are a number of potential problems that could be responsible. Here is a list of several problems you should consider as the potential culprit behind the problem of a garage door opener that won’t open the garage door:

• Your remote control isn’t operating correctly.
• Something is in the way and blocking the garage door.
• The garage door opener isn’t receiving electricity to operate.
• The garage door opener photo eye is blocked. 
• You have a snapped or loose cable.
• Some of the garage door opener settings need adjustment.
• The manual disconnect hasn’t re-engaged.
• The garage door has come off its track.
• The torsion spring is broken.
• The garage door is locked.

With a little effort, you may be able to remedy some of these problems. For instance, if the door is locked, or if something is blocking the garage door, the problem with your garage door opener is easily solved. However, some of these other problems require and garage door professional’s expertise to effect a proper repair of your garage door opener. In fact, if you aren’t a trained professional, it’s even potentially dangerous to try to repair your own garage door.

On the one hand, performing unfamiliar work from a ladder can put you in harms way. But, the real problem is that garage doors rely on high-tension springs to operate effectively. If that tension is unloosed, you can lose a finger or worse. There is the possibility that you could be grievously injured, even killed, trying to fix a garage door and garage door opener if you’re not trained to do so.

This is why it’s a good idea to call in a professional if your Spring Grove garage door opener won’t open your garage door. Take a look and make sure the problem isn’t something simple, such as something blocking the garage door, but take care before going too far trying to fix your garage door opener yourself.

Women and elderly need to take extra care before trusting garage door repairman

Finding a garage door repair company that will treat you right is not something you can take for granted. It’s the same with other companies that provide home construction and repair services for homeowners. It’s all the more troublesome if the homeowner(s) is elderly and/or a woman.

There are people in the business world who see women and elderly as easy pickings for overcharging for their services, or for providing services that aren’t really needed. For unscrupulous garage door repair companies, the elderly and women are opportunities they won’t resist.

Of course, not all elderly and women are as easily taken advantage of. In some cases, they are as knowledgeable about home repairs and the mechanics of their garage door as any other average homeowner. But, the nefarious garage door repair contractor may bring their preconceived notions to the door when they come to call.

On the other hand, many homeowners are less than fully informed about the operation of their garage door, and garage door opener. Many don’t realize that a garage door and garage door opener require periodic maintenance and service; they don’t realize that timely service can extend the life and efficient operation of their garage door and garage door opener.

The point is that, for women and the elderly, extra scrutiny to choose a reputable garage door repair company is essential. If you are a woman or elderly, or if you know someone who is, here are some questions to ask before you, or they, hire a garage door repair company:

• How long has the company been in business?
• What is their reputation? Don’t just assume – do some research. Look online and see what other people say about the company. Find out if they belong to the Better Business Bureau (though this is not an ironclad guarantee you can trust them). Ask around and talk to people who have used them in the past.
• Ask someone at your city or village’s building department if they have any experience with this company and if they’re safe to work with.
• Get it in writing. Demand that they give you written documentation about what services they’ll provide and what it will cost. Also, get a copy of the warranty they offer. Be careful that they don’t hit you with unexpected up-charges. Have them show you what is needed.
• Check out their Website. Are they a real business with a Website and their logo on their trucks and the shirts worn by their garage door technicians? In other words, have they invested in their company?
• Write down all pertinent contact information. Take their picture with your cell phone and write down their vehicle’s license plate number. Keep in mind that someone with a nefarious garage door repair company is looking to collect your money and then disappear. Make it as hard as possible for them to do so.

Tracks are critical for trains and Fox Lake garage doors

Trains run on tracks (and they’re real hard to steer when they come off the tracks). Garage doors, such as the garage door on your Fox Lake garage, come off the tracks, too. And they’re impossible to steer when they come off the tracks.

On each side of a garage door is a channel – a track – that guides the garage door up and down when you want to open or close the garage door. The tracks not only guide the garage door, they keep it from falling out of the opening in the front of your garage.

While trains running through Fox Lake run on steel train wheels that rest on the tracks with lips that fit into the tracks, garage doors run on steel wheels that fit inside of the channel-shaped tracks. The wheels have bearings that allow them to spin as the garage door moves up and down. That’s essential since, without the bearings, the wheels would fight to turn and the garage door would drag up and down.

Instead of the 1/2hp motor on your garage door opener, you might need a 20hp motor to drag the garage up and down all the time. In other words, the track and wheels, with bearings, are designed to make it easy to raise and lower your garage door and to keep the garage door moving up and down easily.

Those bearings will last a long time. They’re designed to last a long time. But, even with superior design, they won’t remain in pristine condition forever. The wear and tear of raising and lowering the garage door again and again will take its toll.

Eventually, the bearings in the wheels that guide your garage door up and down will become so loose that the wheel will wobble uselessly or lockup so that the wheel no longer turns. In either case, this puts more strain on your garage door opener and all the parts that work together to raise and lower your garage door.

Is there anything you can do to extend the life of your garage door? Of course, there is. For starters, it pays to keep the tracks clear of debris.

Grass clippings, leaves, dirt, sand, gravel and other detritus can build up in the tracks. They limit the capacity of the wheels and tracks to smoothly and efficiently raise and lower the garage door. Using a broom to carefully brush the debris from the tracks will go a long way to keeping your Fox Lake garage door going up and down smoothly for the long haul.