As sturdy as your house may be, there are some things,
unfortunately, that you cannot foresee happening, or can stop from
happening. A flooded basement, termites, or burst pipes can all be a
hassle, to put it mildly. These are all potential catastrophes that can
also be very costly. Luckily, there are few necessary projects that you
can pull off on your own. One of these includes the undertaking of your
own garage door repair. With a few careful steps, there is no need to
spend hard earned money. Fix your garage door yourself!
Diagnose the Problem
Typically, a problem with your garage door is easy to fix
because these problems are simple to diagnose. There are two essential
components to your garage door, for example. One is the door itself, and
the other is the garage door opener. Once you understand what the problem
is and from what part of the garage door it is coming from, garage door repair
is really quite simple!
Potential Issues
Regardless to whether you garage door swings open like a
restaurant door or rolls up in sections, all garage doors depend on their
spring tension. This means that your garage door, held up on metal
tracks, is powered by at least one spring (usually several, depending on the
size of your garage door). Once you understand this, you can then check
your tracks to determine if something is wrong that is preventing the springs
from providing power to your garage door. Damage to your metal tracks is
commonly the issue with garage door malfunction and can be typically fixed
easily. Check for dents on your tracks, loose hardware, or proper alignment of
your tracks. Although each issue is handled in its own way (hammering out dents
with a rubber mallet is something you can easily do yourself if your issue is a
simple dent, for example), in order for you to pull off your own garage door
repair, it is imperative that you understand what the problem with your garage
door is. Be certainly careful not to injure yourself as well. No need to use a search engine to find someone to fix your leg on a Sunday afternoon.
Although usually issues pertaining to garage door repair
stem from problems with your garage door, some problems can be traced to your
garage door opener. These garage openers are complex gadgets that can
drive a carriage along a rail and is attached to a drawbar to move the door
from their opened to closed positions and vice versa. Any number of issues can
affect whether or not the opener is working properly and thus, whether or not
your garage door is working. Some examples of issues with your garage
door opener include problems with the motor and radio receiver or the locations
of the bolts that allow the chains that drive the door to work. If any
issues arise from the garage door opener, you may have to simply re install the
radio receiver and motor using Do It Yourself guides that can be found at any
hardware store.
With all of this work, I sometimes wonder why I don't hire my neighbor for the job, and give him a gift card from here for his hard work, with an unspecified amount of cash on the card. ;)
These are some elementary steps in helping you pull off your
own repair of your garage door. If the damages to your garage door are extensive,
however, it may be time to replace it.
