Your garage door is probably one of those components of your house you use every single day, but rarely give much thought to. You open it, you close it, you do what you have to do, and that’s that. However, when things start to go wrong with your door, this can cause huge problems in your daily life.
While your first instinct might be to call a professional, if you’re on a budget, or in a rush, then the chances are you won’t get the results you’re looking for quick enough. Fortunately, garage doors aren’t massively
complicated, and certain problems can be fixed yourself.
Today, we’re going to explore five of the most common reasons your garage door might not be working, and what you can do to fix it.
#1 – Dead Batteries
If you’re using an electronic garage door, such as one that works automatically as you arrive, or requires the push of a button, your door is inevitably going to stop working once the batteries run out, which means you’ll need to replace them.
Fortunately, this process is pretty simple as you can replace the batteries in your transmitter in any shop or watch repair shop, and it shouldn’t be too expensive. It can also be completed in a matter of minutes!
#2 – Door Isn’t Shutting Properly
Pre-1993, garage doors used to shut regardless of whether there was anything in the way or not. Obviously, this is a huge safety concern, so manufacturers introduced photo eyes which, if the beam is broken by something, stops the door from closing.
However, over time these eyes can become misaligned and therefore start causing problems with the door and can prevent it from closing. Simply adjust each eye to make sure they’re aligned to correct these problems.
#3 – Broken Springs
Like all things, certain components of your garage door can break over time and through extended use, which means sooner or later you’re going to have to spend the time to replace them. If you’ve checked most things, like your transmitter, and the door still won’t open, you might have a problem with your springs.
This should be pretty obvious by looking at them, and you’ll need to get a repairman quickly, or simply go to a shop and by them yourself but be very careful as a lot of tensions can cause the weight of the door to spring dangerously.
#4 – The Door Won’t Open
There are plenty of reasons why your door won’t open when you want it too, so make sure you’re looking around for the culprit. Most commonly, you might have simply locked your garage door manually which is preventing it from moving.
Simply look for a little digit on the handle on the inside which you should be able to flick backwards or forwards in order to fix it.
#5 – There’s Something in the Way
Hand in hand with what we said about the photo eyes of your garage above, the problem may not be the lines not being aligned, but rather there is actually something in the way. For this, you’ll want to simply check for any obstacles, anything overhanging, like a piece of string or rope, or even something small like dust on the sensor.
Summary
As you can see, there are plenty of things that might go wrong with your garage door but are easily fixed yourself. Simply be mindful of what the problem is and work backwards. If the repair looks dangerous, always use a professional repair service.
In the situation where your door needs to be replaced, it may be worth looking into industrial sheds for sale to see what replacements are out there, especially in a commercial situation.
