It is a fact that maintaining exterior doors such as those in the garage and their mechanisms is very important. It is not only the actual garage doors that should be taken good care of, other parts, especially the door opener, have to be maintained as well. This mechanism plays an essential role in the swift operation of the door, especially with the automatic one. You are assured that security is in place if this part functions well.
Here are the steps on how you can maintain and check your door openers.
- Open the garage door fully through the door opener. From a distance, check the placement of the door opener as it is hanging from the ceiling of the garage. It must be straight and pointing to the correct direction. The position of the opener is very important especially if you have a new one that has photoelectric or infrared beams installed.
- Check all of the cables and brackets that are connected to the door opener. As you are inspecting them, see if there are some missing elements or metal parts that are bent. List down all of those parts that need to be replaced or those bent items that should be straightened out. Go to the store and purchase those items as soon as possible. You must not continue to operate the door when parts are broken or missing.
- Lubricate the drive that is used in your garage door.
- Grab a chunk of wood that is approximately 2 feet by 4 feet in size and place it directly in the entrance of the garage where the door will close. Turn on the garage door opener and use the remote to close the door. Newer versions of openers that use photoelectric beams and infrared lights will not close if there is an obstruction. Older models will still close but will automatically reverse once the wood is hit.
- If the door will not reverse, contact a professional to adjust the opener. It is also important to wipe the sensors of the door opener to get rid of dust and dirt.