The best way for Chicago garage door owners to ensure that their garage door operate as well as possible, for as long as possible, is to perform regular maintenance on their garage doors. In this blog entry, the professional Chicago garage door maintenance team here at Garage Door Repair Chicago will describe three simple garage door maintenance tasks that anyone can perform on their own.
Monthly Garage Door Balance
This is best performed on garage doors that have automatic garage door openers in place. On a monthly basis, begin with closing the garage door, and disconnecting its automatic opener. Try to lift the door manually. If it smoothly lifts up with zero resistance, the door is properly balanced. If it’s hard to manually lift the door, it indicates that the door is likely out of balance. In the event that this occurs, contact Garage Door Repair Chicago for expert assistance.
Monthly Reverse Mechanism Test
All garage doors made over the last ten years are federally mandated by the law to be built with a photo eye or photo edge sensor, and have reverse mechanisms in place. This functions as a safety measure to prevent objects, animals, or people from getting trapped in the garage door. Try doing a reverse mechanism test once a month by laying a solid piece of wood on the floor where the garage door touches the floor. With the garage door fully open, try pushing the garage door wall button to close the garage door. The garage door should automatically reverse after hitting the wood on the floor. If it does not automatically reverse, the garage door should be serviced by a professional garage door repair team like those here at Garage Door Repair Chicago.
Monthly Force Setting Test
If your garage door has an automatic opener system, test once a month by starting with an open garage door – and then pressing the wall mounted button to close the garage door. As the garage door is closing, try putting your hands at the bottom of the door and applying upwards pressure to try to keep it open. If the door keeps closing without reversing directions, quickly remove your hand and contact a professional Chicago garage door repair team.
