Lack of maintenance on your garage door will lessen its life span. It is recommended to inspect and maintain your garage door and its parts from time to time. You won’t be surprised by unexpected problems that arise. Here are some simple inspections you can do yourself from time to time. We recommend doing these tests monthly.
Contact Detection
Garage doors are supposed to detect when it hits something. To check if your garage door’s contact detection is working right, open the garage door completely. Then take a flat piece of wood and lay it where the garage door will close, between the door and the ground. Try to close it, if the garage door does not reverse or stop when it hits the wood then the garage door needs to be looked at by a professional technician.
Sensors
Garage door sensors detect if something passes by and is in the way of the door when it is in the process of closing. If you have garage door sensors, you should make sure they are working properly. Open the garage door completely, then try closing it. While it’s closing, wave something to interrupt the sensors. If the garage door does not reverse or stop its movement, then your sensors need to be looked at.
Balance
All garage doors are supposed to be perfectly balanced. A balanced garage door has its heavy weight counterbalanced so it’s able to be lifted easily even though it’s actually heavy. To test your garage door’s balance, try leaving your garage door opened halfway and turn off the opener so you can manually move your door. If it feels easy to lift and lower and it does not drift in any direction, then your door is balanced. If not, call to get it inspected.