Posts Tagged ‘preventative garage door maintenance’

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How to Check Your Garage Door and Opener for Wear

Smokings Garage Door Opener

One of the biggest headaches you can experience is when your garage door or opener stops working! You get sound, but no action. You need out of your garage. You’re late. You roll your eyes, throw up your arms. What went wrong?

Let us help you be a little proactive and be ahead of the problem.  We recommend giving your garage door opener and garage door a check over every 5-6 months.  Doing this can prevent routine problems, and postpone major repairs.

Preventative Maintenance

What do you look for? Here are a few recommendations:

  • Clean and lubricate your opener where needed, especially on chain drive openers. Be careful to not over-lubricate.
  • Open the cover of the motor and check the gear inside for wear and tear. If you notice the “teeth” are worn, it’s time to replace it.  Being plastic, the gear is usually the first thing to break in your unit. (This is where you get the sound, but no action.)
  • Check the force and limit settings on the opener and adjust where and if needed (if you know what you’re doing)
  • On your door, check hardware and tighten where needed.
  • Check the rollers and tracks for wear and tear. Is it time to replace any?
  • Look for signs of corrosion, rust, or general wear and tear
  • Listen for unusual sounds- Does something sound like it’s struggling?

If you’re hesitant on performing any routine maintenance please contact us to schedule an appointment for one of our professionals to service your opener/door.  We offer same-day appointments; our full service tune-ups for both your opener and garage door come with a full one-year labor warranty!   972-422-1695

 

 

By Nick McGregor, General Manager of Plano Overhead Garage Door

How Does Texas Weather Affect Garage Doors?

 

Texas Weather

Native Texan’s understand our weather completely; however, those of you who “got here as soon as you could” may require a little help.  Our weather changes, as we like to say, every 5 minutes!  Just from this year alone, we’ve had one of the most wet winter/spring seasons ever. One week it was wet, the next week it was dry…and HOT!


 

 

Snow on Flowers

We’ve even had snow on top of our blooming flowers this year!  As a result, there have been more than normal amounts of broken springs, doors coming off the tracks, doors making loud noises as they open and the list goes on.


 

 

Texas Sun

Dry weather and direct sunlight put an extreme amount of stress on anything that comes in contact with it.  Without maintenance, anything that is exposed to the sun can end up looking a lot like the house above.


 

 

old rollers

Snow, heat, cold, rain; they all affect your home, but the bottom line….rust is the main enemy!  Without proper care and maintenance, parts become rusted and brittle. Things get out of alignment, and continue to get worse over time until a major problem occurs.  Springs break, roller wheels and bearings freeze up and cable lines snap.


 

 

Dry Soil

Another culprit is the foundation – or the soil underneath it.  It’s never happy: either wet clay or dry, cracked clay. The result? Foundation shifts.  This can possibly shift your garage and driveway easily, causing doors to come off track or tilt and hang uneven.  During wet weather expansion occurs and the opposite occurs in dry weather.

 


Preventative Maintenance

Proper care and maintenance is the solution. Giving your garage door (and opener) a “physical” can extend the life and operation.

Plano Overhead Garage Door offers a Full Service/Tune up on both garage doors and garage door openers. This service includes checking the rollers, ensure all hinges and brackets are tight, overall lubrication, adjusting any settings, balancing the door, adjust springs tension and providing you with an honest overall evaluation.


 

By Nick McGregor, General Manager of Plano Overhead Garage Door

972-422-1695

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Plano, Texas 75074

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