How to Identify Problems With Garage Entry Doors

Experiencing problems with garage entry doors can be very frustrating.  There are many reasons why garage doors can malfunction including normal wear and tear or remote failure.  Fortunately, there are a few easy steps you can take to troubleshoot your garage entry doors, and find the source of the problem.

• Check for a possible obstruction.  The first thing you should do is double check the area around your garage entry door to make sure that nothing is preventing it from working properly.  Common items that people store in their garages such as toys or gardening supplies can get in the way of garage doors, so it’s important to keep the space around yours clean and organized.  If you live in a cold climate, make sure that snow is not piled up against your garage doors as it can also prevent them from moving.

• Try using the wall button to determine whether the source of the problem is in the remote or the garage door mechanism.  Since most people use remotes to open their garage doors, they rarely check the wall button to see if it works properly.  The problem might actually be with the remote and not the garage doors.  If your remote is having signal problems, you’ll have to replace it with a new one.

• Examine your garage doors.  If pulleys are frayed, you might need to replace them.  Make sure rollers are not rusted or bent out of shape.  Garage doors rollers and pulleys must be replaced every once in a while due to normal wear and tear.  In addition to looking at them for signs of damage, you can tell whether rollers and pulleys are worn out by watching how your garage door moves.  When it stops moving smoothly, it’s probably time to replace them.  Besides inspecting the condition of rollers and pulleys, check other parts for rust including springs and cables that control the movement of your garage doors.