Category Archives: Garage Door Repair

Garage Door Repair: What You Can Do, and What You Shouldn’t
Posted on by

Every part of your home will need some type of maintenance sooner or later, and you will be faced with a garage door repair at some point. Just as with the rest of your home, there are some types of maintenance that you can perform yourself if you are the do-it yourself type. On the other hand, unless you have special training and experience, there are some kinds of repairs that you should not attempt to do.

You can perform minor maintenance and cleaning of your air conditioning system and major appliances, but without the proper knowledge and training, it would not be safe to attempt to repair a refrigeration problem or to get involved with electrical repairs. The same is true when it comes to garage door repair.

So, what kinds of garage door repair are safe for the average homeowner to do? Well, preparing for and applying a fresh coat of paint or replacing a broken pane of glass is easy enough. You can also check that the tracks are clean and lubricate the rollers (don’t lubricate nylon rollers). If you have detailed instructions, you can check the alignment of the tracks, verify the correct adjustment of the safety switches, and check the balance of the door. These last items are approaching the border between the “highly qualified do-it-yourself” homeowner, and the “it’s-time-to-call-a-professional” homeowner.

Keep in mind that your garage door weighs hundreds of pounds. If a safety switch is not set and operating properly, serious damage or injury could result. If the tracks are not aligned correctly, or the balance is incorrect, the door could jam or the door opener could be overloaded. One specific caution: never attempt to adjust or replace torsion springs. They are pre-tensioned to enormous pressure that could easily break a wrist or even be lethal. You definitely need to call a professional garage door repair technician for this.

Garage Door Repair Can Be Avoided With Proper Maintenance
Posted on by

Do you follow the fire department’s recommendation to replace the batteries in your smoke alarms when you adjust your clocks for daylight savings time? How often do you perform, or arrange for preventive maintenance to be done on your garage door?

Your garage door and the garage door opener have certain inspection, testing, and maintenance requirements that should be addressed a few times a year. This is required for safety and to reduce the chance of needing an expensive garage door repair.

Most of the moving parts such as rollers (except nylon rollers), hinges, springs, chains, and jack screws need lubrication. The alignment of the tracks should be checked, and the security of all nuts and bolts should be ensured.

The operation of the safety features should also be checked. The auto-reverse feature should cause the door to immediately stop and reverse direction if the bottom of the door comes into contact with anything during the closing cycle. The same thing should occur when anything passes across the path of the photo-electric eye .sensor beam. You will also want to be sure that the manual release mechanism will disconnect the door from the opener.

At first glance, garage doors seem to be a fairly simple mechanism, but in reality they are one of the more complex systems in a home. Because of this, and potential safety concerns, periodic maintenance inspections by a trained garage door repair technician is recommended. With proper maintenance, you can expect to get many years of trouble free service from your garage door.

DIY Garage Door Repairs – Why You Should Call a Garage Door Company
Posted on by

The first instinct of many when they are having garage door issues is to perform the garage door repairs by themselves. While you might think you’re saving money by not calling a garage door professional and the project – whether it be a new door or opener – might seem simple enough, you should never take the DIY approach to your garage door.

Premium Garage Door Service has been in operation for over 20 years, and we’ve become masters of our craft by keeping up to date on industry trends and new technologies. We know what NOT to do when it comes to garage door repairs.

So, why should you call a professional garage door company? The biggest reason is though the homeowner might think they know all there is, simple mistakes (which can turn into very costly repairs later) can still happen. These mistakes can include:

  • Improper leveling of the new garage door
  • Faulty parts or assembly of important components
  • Errors in laying the track for automatic garage doors
  • Mistakes in wiring the electric
  • Blunders in installing the joints and connections

Troubleshooting garage door issues is no simple task, and while your inner handyman might say, “Just take care of it yourself,” you will still have to spend time learning what (and what not) to do, and these are skills you may not use again.