You might not give it much consideration, but every time you open and close your garage doors, its parts are sustaining wear. While a high-quality and properly installed garage door will last you a long time, the reality is that elements can break over time – and lead to an injury risk for you or a family member. You can greatly reduce the likelihood of an issue by regularly keeping an eye on your garage door in several areas. Upon noticing an apparent problem, you can then call a garage door contractor in your community, have the problem fixed and feel better knowing that you and your family are safe. Here are three things to inspect regularly.
Cables
Your garage door cables play an integral role in the operation of the door and also helping it stay in the open position. Over time, it's possible for the cables to get frayed; the risk of fraying is that it can lead to a breakage, which could cause the door to fall onto whatever is below it. It's easy to inspect the cables; they're located on each side of the door and are in plain sight. Fraying is typically easy to spot because you'll see several thin strands of the cable sticking out. This is a sign that the cable could break soon, so avoid using the door and get a contractor to visit your home right away.
Sensors
When your garage door is motorized, you rely heavily upon the sensors to keep your family members safe. These elements are positioned slightly above the ground and are designed to detect when something – or someone – is positioned beneath the door when it's closing. If the sensors are broken, however, they won't do their job and the door could crush someone. Check the health of the sensors by holding a roll of paper towels between them when the door is closing. The door should reverse direction; if not, the sensors need to be repaired or replaced by your contractor.
Hardware
The hinges, brackets and other hardware elements that hold your garage door together are important to check regularly. The vibration of the door can loosen them over time, which can create a risk of one of the door's panels falling off and crushing something below it. You'll often be able to tell if some of the hardware is loose, as the door will vibrate and operate noisily. Your contractor will be able to tighten any loose hardware and ensure that nothing has become damaged from the vibration.
www.garagedoorjax.com Share23 February 2016
I thought the most difficult part of teaching my son how to drive would be out on the roads, but I didn't think about what he could do to my garage door before he even left the driveway. It took one small tap with the car to damage the garage door. Even though the garage door itself looked to be fine, the impact had caused some damage to the mechanical components, and we couldn't use the garage for a while. My blog explains what we had to do to make the repairs and will give you some tips for avoiding this type of accident around your home.
