For many years, garage doors have been the most universal means of protecting a garage from external influences. They protect the owner and his car from weather disasters and attempts to open, and also have an aesthetic beauty that is relevant for the facade of the building. Maintaining them in working order and garage doors repairing in Alexandria VA are recommendations from industry experts.

Demand leaders

Recently, the trend in the high demand for sectional and roller shutter types has been established in the garage door market. They are fundamentally different, but have a number of identical positive characteristics. To choose the option that is right for you, consider how to maintain these structures in order to avoid early breakdowns.

Features of using sectional doors

Since the gates are designed primarily to protect the car and the premises from external influences, their main operational problems are associated with incomplete opening or closing. Even if the entire technological process of assembly and installation is observed, malfunctions in the functioning of the garage door may occur over time due to wear of parts, subsidence of the soil or malfunctions in the automatic system.

Some of them can be fixed by yourself with a simple tool. Other malfunctions require the intervention of specialists from repair companies (for example, STI Garage Door) — to accurately determine the problem and qualitatively eliminate it.

• Works but does not rise

A common problem when using sectional doors is when the drive motor is running (this is clear from the characteristic sound), but the door itself does not fully rise. As a rule, the mechanism is blocked by a foreign object. You need to check all the moving mechanisms and guiding systems and see what exactly is blocking it.

Another reason may be a malfunction of the spring — with the help of traction force, the motor transmits an impact to it, but its effectiveness in this case is greatly reduced.

• All mechanisms do not work

In such a situation, first of all, you need to check the presence of current in the network and the serviceability of the control panel — perhaps this will end the difficulties. If not, then you will have to manually open it and figure out which system is failing — automatic or mechanical.

Very often, the cause is a large discrepancy between the spring — up to 7 cm. It is enough to replace the part by returning the gate to the closed position.

• Gates open by themselves

This can happen with inaccurate drive settings or a failure when fixing with photocells. It is worth making sure that no foreign objects interfere with the operation of the sensors. If this is in order, it is necessary to contact a specialist in setting up automatic systems, since incompetent intervention can only exacerbate the problem.

• The gate is frozen

Naturally, this occurs in the cold season and is solved simply – the lower part of the garage door must be doused with hot water, but not boiling water, which can damage the paintwork of the outer part.

• Gate rattling

The reason for this common phenomenon should be sought in the loosening of fasteners — bolts and nuts. You need to tighten them up to loosen them up.

• Spring breakage

In case of critical deformation or rupture of the torsion spring, it must be replaced – there is no way.

• Other

Other types of breakdowns are also possible, for example, smoke in the power plant due to a broken capacitor.

If replacing parts or adjusting the automatic system causes problems for the owner of the garage door, you need to contact the experts.

The main malfunctions of garage shutters

Roller garage doors are also a reliable and ingenious design, which is convenient to use. But even it can fail over time, even if the initial settings are made correctly. This leads to incorrect operation or wear of the main parts. In this case, the method of repair directly depends on the nature of the breakdown.

• Jamming when opening and closing. The reason is the lack or insufficient amount of lubricant in the guide elements. To eliminate, it is necessary to treat the surfaces with a lubricating spray, which is sold in hardware stores. Backlashes should not be eliminated when opening or closing by physical force — this can lead to irreparable mechanical damage.
• Curvature of the guide elements. With a slight deformation, it can be eliminated manually with improvised tools. In case of significant distortion or breakage, these parts must be replaced.
• Violation of the main functions of the gate through the ingress of debris or precipitation. It happens that foreign objects, accumulated snow or icing interfere with the proper operation of rolling garage doors. Removal requires the care of the owner and minimal handy tools.

The correct initial installation of roller shutters and their careful operation will delay the repair impact for a long time.

What do the experts suggest?

Each specific case of garage door repair is unique, but most cases are reduced to a common group, the composition of which is repeated for specialists from call to call. The difference lies in the frequency, not the nature of the breakdowns: commercial gates are used much more intensively than domestic ones, so they require repairs more often.

The list of services provided by specialists is not very different. The question is only in the cost and quality of their provision. The general list looks something like this:

• repair or replacement of bearings
• electric drive system setting
• debugging springs and replacing the cable part
• lubrication and tightening of fasteners
• troubleshooting photocells and controls

If you decide not to repair the garage door yourself, but to call specially trained people, explore the service market. The best representatives of this area must have websites (STI Garage Door definitely has). It is also not superfluous to read customer reviews and check whether the contractor meets the following requirements:

• prompt execution
• availability of tools and spare parts
• transparent prices and honesty

If you notice even the slightest malfunction of the garage door, do not put off fixing it for a long time, it can cost more.