Garage doors provide home owners with an easily affordable way of building a home’s curb appeal as well as enhancing the security of the home. A top quality garage door not only sets your home apart from other homes but also provides you with a guarantee that there will be no security breach even when you are away. For these doors to be in tiptop conditions at all times, there is need to ensure that you undertake detailed garage door inspection from time to time. This inspection targets the main parts of the door such as the rollers, openers, and remote control unit among other parts.
Garage doors are used consistently to access the home/house and as such, parts such as the opener wear out easily and within no time. The opener is undoubtedly one of the most essential parts of the door and a malfunction in the opener can render the door completely out of order and non-performing. This is why it is important to inspect the opener by following these parts.
Plan for the inspection
The first thing you should do when you want to inspect the garage door opener in your door is plan on how you will undertake the inspection. For starters, it is worth noting that these doors are operated using electricity. As such, to avoid being electrocuted, it is important to inspect the cables supplying power to the opener. Are the cables exposed? Are there any breakages along the wires? Is the protective lining round the cables worn out? Because of the dangers associated with electricity, you should only proceed with the inspection once you are sure that power connections to the door are well in order.
Inspecting the openers
Modern garage doors come with openers with safety reverse features. This is so that the door automatically reverses its motion once it comes into contact with an obstacle along its path. There are two types of automatic reverse safety concepts used by these openers. Firstly, they come with a basic reverse mechanism that only reverses the doors upon contact with an obstacle. The second mechanism relies on photoelectric rays to detect any obstacle along the path of the door. It is important to ensure that both these mechanisms are working at all times. Any failure in either of the mechanisms (especially the basic mechanism) can lead to infliction of serious injuries or even death.
After checking the safety reverse features, you should open the door up and down and note the movement of the door as well as any unusual sounds produced by the door while opening or closing. Damaged tracks and missing hardware should be documented for purposes of repair by garage door repair experts. It is worth noting that you should never attempt to stop the door using your hands. Instead, you should place a board or piece of timber along the door’s path to act as an obstacle.
The best thing about routine garage door opener inspection is that it can help in preventing tragedies and other unpleasant outcomes. The safety and security of the door are your responsibility as the homeowner. Therefore, your residential garage door should always be efficient and reliable. Any breakdowns or malfunctions in the door system should be taken care of immediately.