Garage doors and garage door openers live in their own little worlds, or at least some of us would like to think as much. When it comes to understanding them though it isn’t really so hard. Most of the time they need absolutely no thought or maintenance at all, but from time to time it can’t hurt to check up on them. That is the tricky part, when do you need to be worried, when do you need to take action, when do you need to call somebody to help you find the source of a problem and of course when can you just brush something off? To figure this all out it would help to be a garage door professional yourself of course, but we aren’t all that lucky. You might also be able to get the run down from your local garage door professional, but again we don’t all have that sort of luxury. If you don’t have all of those options then you can be thankful that you found this article. In this article we are going to go through the sights, sounds and even smells of a garage door and garage door opener. This will of course also touch on the garage door as a whole, but it will mainly focus on the garage door and garage door opener portions of the garage.
First up are the sights of your garage door and garage door opener. This is probably one of the easiest ways to figure out if you should be looking to get something replaced, cleaned or just fixed up when it comes to your garage door and garage door opener. Some visual investigations of your garage door and garage door opener should happen at least every few months just in case something easily avoidable can be just that, avoided. Of course though you need to know at least a little bit of what you are are looking for. To start, any obvious pieces of material that are in the way of your garage door or on the garage door track are going to be an immediate problem. Otherwise what you want to look for are smaller problems. Things like rust forming, bending and discoloration and that sort of thing can be spotted early and saved from causing serious damage.Paint chips or abnormal wear and tear should also be noted if you can find it. After taking care of this inspection it is best to call your garage door repair or service person and let them know what is going on if there are any potential problems. They may be able to assist you over the phone or come out and do a quick job for this sort of thing. Knowing the extent of the damage or oddity beforehand will mean that they will be able to do their job faster and will hopefully be able to prepare better for it. This means they are in and out more quickly and you hopefully don’t have to wait for things like new parts.
The sounds of a garage door are something else that can really help you diagnose your garage door or garage door opener. Knowing you have a problem before it becomes a big problem is a great way to save a bit of money on repairs and to avoid what can be an extremely inconveniently timed malfunctioning garage door. Again though you really need to know what sort of things to listen for when it comes to your garage door and garage door opener. Thuds, unusual grinding, clunking noises. These are all signs that you should at least take a look at your garage door. If you also just notice a change in the volume or something like that of the garage door when opening or closing it is best to take note of it. If it is a one off thing, try and pinpoint what might have been different about this opening or closing of the garage door. If the garage door is just a bit louder, then you may be able to simply lubricate some of the moving parts and things will be back to normal in no time. If none of these things are the case then it may be time to call a garage door service person. A garage service person may even be a blue to pinpoint the problem simply from your description of the sound as well.
Lastly is smell. The smell is probably going to be the toughest and least likely thing to tip you off about your garage door or garage door opener’s problems. There are however a few specific things that you may be able to figure out through smell. Pests will definitely cause a smell and will be a danger to your garage door and garage door opener. A rotting or otherwise animal smell will be a good tip off and you should be able to do something with traps or simply call an exterminator. Another smell to keep your nose open for is if you smell something burning or smoky when your garage door opener is running. This is a pretty bad sign and you should definitely call somebody as soon as possible if this occurs. Refrain from continuing to use your garage door opener until somebody is able to look at it.
These are just a few of the sights, sounds and smells that come with owning a garage door. Hopefully you won’t be exposed to all of these in your time as a garage door and garage door opener owner, but at least now you have some idea of what you should be looking, smelling and listening for. As a garage door and garage door opener owner and operator you should always be listening for changes to how your garage door opener is operating. You should also do your best to inspect your garage door every so often in the event that something is visibly going wrong. Smelling isn’t going to be the most noticeable thing unless it is a real problem, but it is still smart to make sure that any changes in smell are thought about. Use common sense and your senses to make note of any changes in operation and you should be able to see any big problems coming.