A garage is a wonderful addition to modern homes. They provide extra storage space, a secure area for your vehicle, or may even serve as your workshop! And like most beneficial items in life, your garage must be properly used and maintained with care. Especially the garage door! After all, your safety comes first.

1. Educate Children & Keep Opener Out of Their Reach

Not only should children be aware that garage doors and their opener should not be played with, they should also be shown how to operate the garage door safely. That being said, keeping the door opener out of reach of children is one of the most important garage door safety tips there is.

2. Be Prepared, Be Cautious

Avoid stepping, walking, running, or any other form of movement while the garage door is opening or closing. You should also be prepared for emergencies. Familiarize yourself with your garage door in the event you need to use the emergency release feature.

3. Keep Up With Maintenance & Inspections

Every month, you should spend some time inspecting the springs, cables, rollers, and pulleys of your garage door. This will ensure you catch any potential problems early. You should also periodically check that the auto-reverse feature is working properly. You can test this by placing a roll of paper towels in the door’s pathway.

4. Watch Your Fingers!

This may happen more than you think! Be mindful of placing fingers between door sections. If anything, select a garage door with pinch resistant design.

5. Remember Security

Your garage door acts as another layer of entry to your home. This is why you should ensure it’s security! This means leaving the door fully shut if you are not nearby. A partially open door not only runs the risk of falling, but an intruder could easily enter your home. If you will be out of town, you may even consider unplugging the garage opener so that it is unusable. You should also change your code often, using either a rolling code or changing it every month or so.

Did you notice any issues during your monthly inspection? Trust our seasoned technicians to solve your garage door problems today.. Contact us at info@adamsdoorsystems.com!

Garage door openers can last for years without needing to be replaced or fixed. This is especially true with the proper care. However, like every object that undergoes wear and tear on a daily basis, garage door openers will eventually need replacing. Luckily replacing your garage door opener can provide improved safety, efficiency, and noise levels. Wondering if it might be time to replace yours? Read on for 5 signs your garage door opener needs to be replaced!

1. The Door Won’t Open or Shut on Command

This tends to be the most obvious sign that your garage door opener is malfunctioning. First, ensure the problem isn’t being caused by an object blocking the sensor or the door. Once you establish it isn’t an object, the problem either lies with the remote batteries or the track. Try replacing the batteries first. If the problem persists, then it’s time to call in the professionals!

2. The Garage Door Reverses

If your garage door begins to reverse while it’s opening, or suddenly reverses after closing, it may be time to replace or repair your garage door opener. First check that there isn’t an issue with the sensor. If the sensors are aligned and nothing is blocking their path, then the garage door opener will need replacing.

3. Inconsistent Functioning

If your garage door opener experiences intermittent and random functionality, it likely has an issue with the wiring. This random opening and closing creates a safety hazard, so be sure to get a professional’s opinion as soon as possible.

4. Noisy Garage Door Opener

While a little bit of noise is to be expected, grinding, scraping, screeching, and rattling are signs of an issue. Get your opener inspected to avoid any problems or long term damage to the garage door.

5. Garage Door Gets Stuck When Opening or Closing

Is your garage door stalling or, even worse, getting stuck? This could indicate a malfunctioning door opener. Get the door looked at as soon as you can by a qualified, trusted professional. 

Overall, if your garage door is not opening smoothly and soundly in a timely manner, then there may be an underlying problem. Luckily, this malfunction gives you the opportunity to invest in a smarter and safer garage door opener. We hope these tips help! When in doubt, contact a professional at Info@adamsdoorsystems.com.

Why should you seal your garage door? On top of assisting with energy efficiency, gaps between your garage door and it’s surroundings can allow water, dust, and even pests into your home. This can cause damage to stored items, water build-up, and more. Luckily, sealing your garage door is a pretty simple process that involves replacing the bottom door seal and the weather-stripping along the sides and top of the door. If you are looking for an extremely airtight seal, you can even weather-strip between the individual door panels! Ready to learn the process? Keep reading.

Sealing the Door Sweep 

The door sweep, also known as the bottom seal, is a long strip that attaches to the bottom edge of the garage door. The flexible material compresses when the door closes, effectively sealing the gap and keeping out weather, critters, and water. How do you know if it’s time to replace the bottom seal? You will be able to see daylight peaking through the cracks! Installing the rubber or vinyl seal is pretty easy. There is an aluminum channel on the bottom of the door that holds a U-Shaped Rubber Gasket. The gasket easily slides into two small tracks on the channel and voila! These gaskets can even be adapted to wooden garage doors for simple installation.

The Threshold Seal

The threshold seal is very similar to the bottom seal of a garage door. The only difference is the seal attaches to the floor rather than the door. Typically, thresholds are more durable than door seals and are installed with an adhesive that sticks to the ground. However, it is important to note that thresholds block water from exiting the garage just as much as they block water from entering, and make it a bit more difficult to sweep debris out.

Garage Door Weather-stripping

The sides around the door are susceptible to wind and rain. To prevent this from occurring, a rubber or vinyl weather-stripping can be installed along the stop molding that is attached to the door jamb. Weather-stripping comes in rolls which are easily cut to the length you need, and further installed with galvanized nails or screws. Make sure the flange of the weather-stripping presses against the door for a good seal.

Looking for more DIY tips and knowledge? Contact our team at Info@adamsdoorsystems.com today!

You probably haven’t thought much about your garage door springs…until one breaks. You can call a professional, or try to replace the garage door yourself. Just know that this DIY project comes with hazards, especially if you are not that experienced with tasks like this. To help you tackle this problem, our team has compiled the following helpful tips. Read on to learn how to replace your garage door springs yourself!

Understand The Types of Garage Door Springs

Residential garage doors have one or two types of springs – torsion or extension. Heavy-duty torsion springs are mounted around a metal rod that runs parallel to the door. Extension springs are the long, lighter weight springs that run perpendicular to the door above the tracks. Be sure to purchase the right style spring, with the same length and diameter as the old springs.

Replacing Extension Springs

1. Remove all spring tension by opening the garage door and clamp it in place. Once in place, disconnect the garage door opener.
2. Mark the current placement of the pulley with tape so that it can be reinstalled at the same place.
3. Disconnect the spring from the track bracket and the spring pulley. A safety cable is threaded through the spring to hold it in place. Disconnect the safety cable from the bracket and remove the old spring.
4. Thread the safety cable through the new spring, attaching the spring to the track bracket.
5. Reattach the safety cable and the pulley. Make sure the wire from the pulley is kept away from the safety cable. Use the piece of tape that you attached before removing the pulley to make sure that the pulley is in the correct location.
6. Remove the clamps and connect the garage door opener.
7. Test the garage door to be sure that the replacement worked. If it doesn’t close all the way, or closes too quickly, inspect the location of the pulley and the extension spring hardware, adjusting as necessary.

Replacing Torsion Springs

1. Unplug the opener and clamp the garage door to the track so that the door cannot open when the tension is released on the springs.
2. Using a sturdy ladder, climb beside the winding cone at the end of the spring. Insert a winding bar (available on Amazon) into the winding cone to hold the spring in place. Test the force that you will be working with by pushing the winding bar up one quarter turn and then bringing it back down. Once satisfied with the grip on the winding bar, loosen the screw set. Keep one bar in the cone at all times to prevent it from rapidly unwinding and potentially injuring you.
3. Lower the winding bar to the top of the garage door, then insert a second winding bar. Remove the first winding bar and lower the second bar to the top of the garage door, then insert the first winding bar into the next hole. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until the spring is completely unwound.
4. Loosen and remove the torsion hardware that secures the center stationary torsion cones to the spring bracket.
5. Remove the springs, cables, and cable drums.
6. For torsion springs, measure the wire size, inside diameter of the spring (most springs have a 2-inch inside diameter), spring length, and determine the winding orientation (whether the spring is left-wound or right-wound).
7. Slide the new left spring onto the torsion tube with the stationary cone facing the center bracket, then reinstall the cable drum.
8. Install the center bearing and the new right spring and then secure the cones.
9. Thread the cables and tighten the drums. Make sure that the tension is equal on both sides to prevent the door from opening unevenly.
10. Using the winding bars, begin winding the spring in the opposite direction as it was unwound. Ensure that at least one winding bar is in the winding cone at all times. Wind the spring as many turns as is recommended by the supplier.
11. Using a hammer, tap the winding bar to stretch the spring out ¼-inch.
12. Tighten the set screws on the winding cone.
13. Lubricate the spring with garage door lubricant, then remove the clamp from the garage door.
14. Test the spring by lifting the door about 3 feet. If the door remains in place, the replacement was a success. If the door falls, you’ll need to tighten the spring by a quarter turn until it stays open on its own. If the door opens, you’ll need to loosen the spring by a quarter turn until it remains in place.

We hope these tips help! When in doubt, contact a professional at Info@adamsdoorsystems.com!

(Source: Bob Vila)