How do you clean your Richmond garage door the right way?

Your standing in the kitchen looking into the backyard of your Richmond home when you notice, ‘Boy, that garage door is really dirty!’

When it was new, your garage door was the pride of the neighborhood. Well, maybe that’s going too far. At the very least, it wasn’t an embarrassment. Now, the white panels are dingy and there are streaks where water dripped through the dirt to create humiliating rivulets that seem to accentuate the cruddy lack of cleanliness.

This weekend, you’ll have to get out there and clean that baby

Have you ever cleaned your Richmond garage door before? Admittedly, it’s not on the level of rocket science. Still, it doesn’t hurt to prepare yourself so you can do the job right and, most importantly, not cause any damage.

The first point is that most garage doors are relatively solid. You don’t have to be afraid to use a little elbow grease, within reason. In other words, if you’ve been pumping iron for a few years, you may have the muscles that would be too much for the garage door.

Another thing to remember is that there are two sides to every story and there are two sides to your garage door. You many not worry about the inner side of the garage door. After all, your neighbors aren’t as likely to see that side. But, if you are a little more persnickety about things, you may also want to clean the inside of your garage door, too.

If you are going to clean the inside of the garage door, remember that some garage doors are insulated. In some cases, the inside of an insulated garage door is covered by a thin-plastic sheeting. This is where you really want to be careful not to apply too much pressure. Rip that cover, compress that insulation, and you’ll reduce the effectiveness of the insulation.

So, what should you use to clean the garage door? 

A garage door is best cleaned with a mild soap and a soft cloth. However, there are often some nooks and crannies that are hard to get at. In those cases, you may want to use a soft toothbrush. It’s recommended that, once you’ve used the toothbrush to clean the garage door that you don’t use it for brushing your teeth anymore (that’s just yucky).

Make sure you don’t scrub too hard. Even if you have some difficult to erase outlines of rivulets, too much pressure could take the paint off the garage door. If you do that, you’ll want to read our next blog about painting your Richmond garage door.

Time for some Springtime maintenance of your Gurnee garage door and garage door opener

It may not feel like it yet, but winter (not the official season but the actual season) in Gurnee is drawing to a close. With the advent of Springtime, you may feel inclined to start your Spring Cleaning – air things out and put them in order in preparation for the summer ahead. You may want to put garage door maintenance on your Spring Cleaning to-do list.

Winter can play havoc with your garage door and garage door opener. Snow is piled up and is pushed against the door. The cold frosts over moving and electrical parts, temperature changes cause parts to expand and contract. Winter can also cause parts to rust or corrode. The cold breaks down lubricants intended to reduce friction between parts and ease operation. All-in-all, winter is not a friend to your Gurnee garage door and garage door opener.

Garage doors can be surprisingly heavy. Thankfully, large springs are used to counter the weight and make a heavy garage door easy for a garage door opener to move up and down. If the spring breaks or loses its tension, the weight of that garage door falls heavy on the garage door opener. In other words, a bad garage door torsion spring will put a strain on a garage door opener that it is not designed to handle.

Maintenance of your Gurnee garage door and garage door opener starts with a visual inspection. Is anything broken, bent or otherwise damaged. The next step is to listen to your garage door and garage door opener. Run the garage door up and down a few times listening carefully.

In general, garage doors are quieter when they’re new. Has your garage door grown louder as it opens and closes? If so, why?

A need for lubrication is a common explanation as to why a garage door or garage door opener is louder. However, damage to any part of the garage door or garage door opener can also cause the garage door to make more noise while going up and down.

Next, watch the garage door. Does it roll up and down in its tracks smoothly? When first installed, if properly installed, a garage door will move up and down seamlessly, as though floating in its tracks. But, after a while, as it comes closer and closer to the need for maintenance, you’ll start to notice a jerky motion in the operation of your garage door.

Once the inspection of your garage door is complete, and any repairs are made, it’s time to lubricate appropriate parts. A qualified garage door technician will know best wish parts take lubrication, which don’t and what kinds of lubrication are best to use.

If you maintain your Gurnee garage door and garage door opener now, not only will it take care of you through the summer ahead, it will also last longer into the future.

Does your Ingleside garage door have a case of the jerks?

Remember when your Ingleside garage door used to ride up and down in its tracks when you pressed the button of your remote for the garage door opener. It was the pride of Ingleside.

No, your Ingleside neighbors probably never thought about your garage door one way or the other. And, in fact, you probably don’t remember your garage door going up and down in its tracks smoothly because you probably never gave it a second thought.

The only reason you’re thinking about it now is that your garage door is not going up and down smoothly in its tracks. It jerks its way up and jerks its way down. The garage door moves a little then stops before jerking back into motion. And, overall, the process takes longer than it would if your garage door was still going up and down smoothly.

So, why would your garage door suddenly change from smooth operation to this jerky nonsense?

First of all, it probably didn’t happen all that suddenly. In reality, your garage door probably became less-and-less smooth in its operation over time. It’s the old story of the frog that slowly boils. You didn’t realize the garage door was getting jerky until it was jerky enough that you couldn’t help but notice.

Until the garage door got bad enough, you were focused on other things: thinking about where you were going, things you had to do or the conversation on your cell phone. But, one day you realized. You asked yourself, “What’s wrong with the garage door.”

What’s wrong with the garage door? It could be a number of things:

• Something could be coming loose – hinges, bolts, the tracks, etc.
• Something is out of alignment or needs adjustment
• A lack of proper lubrication has finally taken its toll

In some cases, it may take years before you notice the problem – notice because the garage door goes up and down with a jerky motion. It could also happen in less time, for instance, if a bolt or a hinge breaks. Whatever the case, this jerkiness, and its cause, are usually causing additional wear, tear and strain on your garage door opener and garage door.

The solution when you notice your Ingleside garage door has gotten a case of the jerks is to call a qualified garage door technician (there is a spring loaded with considerable tension that could cause harm to someone who isn’t used to working on garage doors). Better yet, don’t wait until your garage door has the jerks; have a garage door technician come by once a year and do a little maintenance – check things out, tighten things up and apply some proper lubrication.

Do you want your Twin Lakes garage door to break and strand you in the garage?

You’re in a hurry. You need to run into Twin Lakes – to Bodi’s Bake Shop on Main Street to order a cake, to Trellis to give them an order for flowers and to Red Barn Catering & Events to reserve the hall for your event. You’d have a full day even if you didn’t have to make these stops. But, your event isn’t far in the future and all you want now is to start the car, open the garage door and get on the move.

With your arms full, your phone cradled between your shoulder and your ear, you fumble with the keys while climbing into the car and dumping your armful in the passenger seat. If things aren’t hectic enough, your sister is now telling you she won’t be able to make it. Mom and Dad’s 50th won’t come again and this isn’t acceptable. You start to argue with her as you start the car and push the button for the garage door opener to raise the garage door.

“I just can’t get away,” your sister says and then there’s a bang. You look around unsure of what caused the noise. Seeing nothing, the only thing you notice is that the garage door isn’t open yet. You hit the button again and continue trying to convince your sister she should make the trip down from Eau Claire.

“Twin Lakes isn’t that far,” you say while realizing the garage door is still closed. You push the button again and continue the discussion. After speaking another minute, you see that the garage door is still down, and you mutter, “What the heck” and your sister loses her temper thinking you’re talking to her.

You try to tell her that you were talking about the garage door but it’s too late; she’s already hung up in a huff. You can call her back but first, you need to figure out what’s wrong with the garage door. You push the button again and, this time, you can hear the garage door opener running. But, the garage door isn’t moving.

You get out and take a look. You don’t know much about garage doors but the way the cable along the one side is wrapped loosely around the drum up on top doesn’t look right. As your phone starts to ring, and you realize your sister is calling back, you mutter, “I don’t have time for this,” though it’s not clear if you mean your sister, the garage door or both.

You answer the call, cradling the phone on your shoulder again while trying to lift the garage door manually. It hardly budges as you hear your sister say, “What the heck are you doing?”

Having little time to explain, you tell her you have to go and, hanging up fairly sure she’s put out again, you ask Siri to find a garage door repair company. Siri thinks you said “garage floor” and isn’t a lot of help. Finally, exasperated, you do an online search and call the garage door repair company you find there.

The news isn’t good. First of all, it will take them a little while to get out there to fix the door – not long but you’re counting seconds, at this point. Then they tell you that, with that cable disconnected, you’ll probably need help lifting the garage door manually.

You’re asking yourself, ‘Why did this happen,’ only you said it out loud.

The garage door repair technician, thinking you’ve asked him, replies, “Well, usually, it happens when a garage door isn’t properly maintained.”

That makes sense but it doesn’t help you now; Twin Lakes is still several miles away and you have a lot to do with a diminishing amount of time to do it in.

My Fox Lake garage door is teasing me – it won’t go all the way down

The garage door goes up. The garage door goes down. Your hope is that your Fox Lake garage door goes up, and down, when you ask it to. But, what if it cheats; what if it doesn’t quite go all the way up or down?

No, your garage door isn’t actually teasing you, laughing over your head as you puzzle at its failure to complete the task you’ve asked of it. Your Fox Lake garage door may simply be out of adjustment.

There are knobs inside the garage door opener assembly, the box at the ceiling that responds to your signals and initiates the process of raising or lowering your garage door. Over time, those adjustments can change with the result that you’ll find your garage door isn’t quite open all the way or closed all the way. A simple adjustment should fix the problem.

You want the garage door to open all the way because you don’t want to risk hitting the garage door with the top of the car as you pull in or out of the garage. You want it to close all the way so that the  elements – including cold, heat, rain, snow and ice – can’t seep underneath the door.

When the garage door is down all the way, the weather strip at the bottom of the garage door should seal against the concrete floor of the garage. Anything short of a tight seal is an example of the garage door opener cheating and coming up short on the completion of the task you’ve given it.

If you have your garage door maintained periodically, a quality garage door technician will check to make sure that the travel of the garage door is complete going up and down. They’ll also lubricate the hinges and rollers while otherwise ensuring that your garage door, and garage door opener are operating properly and efficiently.

When your garage door opener is working properly, you don’t have to worry about this winter’s snow and cold sneaking under the garage door while the garage door opener snickers over your head.

Maintenance is the key to your Pell Lake garage door opener’s durability

How long should you expect your garage door opener to last at your Pell Lake home? As with other mechanical equipment, garage door openers won’t last forever. Eventually, they give up the ghost.

If you try to gauge the life expectancy of your garage door opener based on the warranty, you won’t find that information inspiring. Most garage door opener warranties are for about three years. Most of the folks in Pell Lake don’t want to run out to the store every three years to replace their garage door openers.

The good news is that garage door openers generally last substantially longer than their warranties. In fact, you can probably expect your garage door opener to last at least 15 years and, possibly, as long as 30 years. That’s far more comforting.

Fortunately, you’re not merely at the whim of chance when it comes to how long your garage door opener will last. In other words, there is something you can do about it.

What can you do about the durability of your garage door opener? Maintenance is the key. As Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Maintaining your garage door opener includes replacing the batteries and light bulbs periodically. You should also replace the batteries in your remote control (be sure to unplug the garage door opener before performing any maintenance). When replacing the bulbs in the garage door opener, it’s recommended that you use the factory recommended bulbs.

You should also check the tension of the chain or belt that the garage door opener uses to drive the garage door up and down, depending on which style of garage door opener you have.

Keeping the garage door opener clean is a good thing, too. That policy also works for the garage door mechanism in general. Cleaning the tracks, wheels and other parts of the garage door opener can pay dividends in terms of allowing your garage door opener to last to its maximum potential lifespan.

Lubrication is also imperative if you want your garage door opener to last longer. Look at it this way; if you don’t maintain, clean and lubricate your garage door opener and garage door mechanism regularly, your garage door opener will have to work harder to raise and lower the garage door. The more it has to strain, the earlier you’ll find you need a new garage door opener on your Pell Lake garage.

What to do if your Antioch garage door opener is possessed

Some of us are old enough to remember 1982 when the movie “Poltergeist” was playing at the Antioch Theater. Or, maybe you’re younger and you went to see “The Conjuring” in 2013. Whichever haunted movie you prefer, you probably shrieked with delight when the movie’s specters began moving things mysteriously through the air. It’s not as much fun, however, when apparitions apparently take control at your house, such as when your garage door opener seems to have a mind of its own.

Yes, it’s possible that your Antioch garage door opener is possessed. It goes up even though you haven’t pressed the button and asked it to. You find it open in the morning knowing full well it was shut the night before. Or, as you begin driving into the garage, the garage door opener suddenly decides to close. It gives every indication that phantom spirits are in control. But, whether you believe in ghosts or not, there are other possible explanations.

What, other than a ghost, could cause your garage door opener to act irrationally? Here are some considerations:

• You could have a problem with your garage door opener’s wiring. Rather then poltergeist, this could be the result of other entities living in your garage, such as mice. Mice can chew through the wires, or partially chew through the wires. Whether mice are the cause of your garage door opener’s wiring issues, this problem can cause ghostly self-operation of the garage door.
• You can also have a problem with the circuit board in your garage door opener. As with almost everything else electronic these days, garage door openers have circuit boards to assist with operation. But, if there’s a problem with the circuit board, odd things can happen with your garage door.
• Your controller can also have issues, whether you have a more traditional controller or if you’re using your cell phone to operate your garage door.
• The sensors at the floor could be out of alignment causing erratic behavior with your garage door opener.
• Your neighbors could have their wireless controller set to the same code as your garage door opener.
• You could have a practical joker afoot. 

Whatever the problem with the garage door opener in your Antioch garage, you may want to call a qualified garage door technician to take a look at it. If that doesn’t work, well, you can always call a paranormal investigator or exorcist.