The electric garage door is one of those technical innovations that make life even better. You have had it for so much time, that you developed a reflex movement. You know how long it takes for the door to open and calculate the exact place from where you should push the button for the garage door to fully open when you reached the driveway. This is why, when you push the button and nothing happens you experience a sort of panic. But take a deep breath and start investigating the problem. If there are minor problems you can fix, we will teach you how. If there are more complex problems, will tell you why they happened so that you will avoid them in the future. For these latter issues, we recommend searching for a garage door repair company in Bergen County that will fix problems fast, cheap and safely.
Basic electric garage door repairs which can be done by the owner
Even though you are not into DIY garage door repair, there are few steps that you can do in order to lift that door and make it work, at least until you have professionals coming to assess the broken door.
- Manually open/close the garage door
If you wanted to open/close the door, then you probably need that door to function as soon as possible. Every garage door comes with a rope (usually a red rope so you can easily spot it) to manually open and close the door. Push it to get that door up, but be prepared to put some effort into it. Before closing the garage door, make sure that nothing stands on its trajectory as it may go down faster than expected (thank gravity for that!) and smash everything on its way, including the car, cat or your toes.
- Elementary checks
Since you have the car safe inside the garage, you can start inspecting the garage door, the transmitter, the door opener and generally, every part of the system. Start with the power outlet, continue with the batteries and if everything is ok, move on to transmitters. If the wall transmitter functions, but the mobile one doesn’t, you can purchase a universal garage door remote control. If there are objects in front of the opener’s sensors, remove them as they are interpreted as hazardous and so the opener will not open/close the door.
- Battery replacement
Batteries have a limited life span, so check them first, before rushing to purchase a new transmitter for the garage door. Buy a double set for both transmitters, especially if they have been changed at the same time, because they may get exhausted at the same time.
- Minor electrical issues
Things like replacing or cleaning the sensors, replacing the transmitters and checking the external wire to see if it is in good conditions can be done even by inexperienced persons. Simply unplug the garage door opener, remove the targeted part according to instructions in the user’s manual and replace it with a new one. In the most complex cases, you may need to unscrew the lid to get to the part which needs maintenance or replacement. It is a waste of time and money to ask the repairs company to come simply because the garage door remote’s not working!
- Minor mechanical issues
Checking the alignment of your garage door is one of those small mechanical issues you can tackle. Replacing the hinges or the garage door rollers are also relatively easy tasks for a beginner. However, these minor fixes can help the door function properly and increase your comfort. So, roll up those sleeves and get dirty for an hour or so! It will worth the effort and save you some money on the garage door repair.
- Grease and maintenance routine
In order for the door to work properly for a longer period of time, you may need to grease the metallic parts which form the mechanical side of your electric garage door. Also, make sure that the gear inside the garage opener receives a serious grease once in a while to prolong its life span.
Electric garage door repairs which need to be tackled by professionals
Electric garage door repairs are not highly complicated when you constantly work around the house, crafting and repairing objects. However, when you are a beginner, or worse, you have never kept a screwdriver in your hand, it is best to let the garage door repair company in Bergen County take care of your garage door-related problems.
- Wiring problems
Wires get damaged because of time or because of high temperatures inside the garage door opener. If you have never opened an electrical device before, it may be hard to figure out what the problem is. In this case, the trial and error procedure is not recommended, as one wire positioned badly may break the entire opener system. Why spend a lot of money on a new opener when you can have it fixed with a fraction of the price.
- Spring replacement
Whether your garage door has torsion springs or extension springs, it is advisable to leave the professionals replace them. If you are not familiar with how to fix a garage door spring, there are great chances of injury. There is no need to find out the hard way the order of operations when fixing a broken garage door spring. You can assist the pros first and learn some tips and tricks before venturing to change that spring on your own.
Some garage door repairs can and should be done by the person using the garage door. But there are a variety of major fixes which need professional tools and skills. From garage door installation to parts replacement, we do it all. Give us a call whenever you need the best garage door repair services in Bergen County.