A garage door dilemma – should I fix it or do I need a new door?

House with garage doors

Quite a few reasons may cause your garage door not to operate smoothly or even straight out stop working. To help you recognize your situation and make the decision to repair or replace part of or the whole door, here is a clear guide.

Are abnormal sounds coming from your garage door? Has it stopped working like it used to? Maybe tomorrow or even later in the season would be best to see about fixing or replacing a defective part… However, you could be risking your safety!

When to REPAIR your garage door

In almost all cases, if a component can be repaired, it will turn out to be more economical than replacing it. Moreover, the sooner you detect and correct a problem, the better. A minor issue one week can become a serious and more important situation if you delay.

  • The door closes a few inches, then opens suddenly

    A large number of service calls directed to garage door specialists are related to electric door openers. In the above case, it is due to misalignment of the photo eyes of the safety reversing system. One of the photo eye units has been moved. However, if the wire connecting the two units is severed, a garage door technician needs to be contacted.

  • The door opens and closes slower than it used to

    The most often cause is that the spring system has lost tension or has broken. The door opener is working harder than normal and the gear system is making thumping noises. To be sure, pull the emergency release cord and open the door manually. If the door seems heavy to you, that’s a sign that a spring, whether torsion or extension, is broken or has lost all its tension. Correcting this situation should only be tackled by an experienced garage door technician.

  • When opening, the door is jerky or vibrates strongly

    This is a sign that one of the lifting cables is broken or very frayed. Confirm this by looking at the vertical tracks on each side. Another cause could be that one of the rollers is broken or has come off its track. In either case, this is important and you shouldn’t delay in calling a garage door technician right away.

  • There is a brief, loud noise

    Most garage door manufacturers provide very strong steel tracks, as well as commercial grade tracks for larger size doors. Often enough, this issue arises when one of the vertical tracks is bent or twisted or when it has become damaged from being hit by a car or other heavy object. Once again, this situation should be rectified immediately.

In all of the above cases, it is very risky to try to repair what is broken or damaged yourself. When your safety and that of your loved ones is at stake, contact a garage door professional.

When to REPLACE your garage door?

The age of a door is not necessarily a reason to replace it. There are garage doors installed even 25 years ago, that still operate well. Very often, the owner has taken very good care of the whole system and hasn’t hesitated to have it repaired when necessary. Moreover, all the moving parts have been properly lubricated at least twice a year. However, here are varied reasons that could lead you to replace not just your garage door but the whole garage door system as well.

  • The door system has been used under harsh conditions

    Your garage is unheated and uninsulated. It is also very humid. Unless you’ve had heavy duty hardware, the rough environment has taken a toll on all the metal components of your garage door, leading to rust.

  • One of door sections is heavily damaged

    Trying to pull in or out of the garage too fast, you hit and really dented the bottom door section. Or instead, you misjudged the distance and backed into an object inside the garage, pushing it into the door. Yes, it does depend on the extent of the damage, but using a garage door with one or more broken or badly damaged sections may cause other negative results that can’t be predicted. This includes rust that can quickly take hold when the metal is scratched or dented, accelerating the door’s deterioration.

  • It’s about appearance… to sell your home faster

    As any real estate broker will tell you, changing your worn and faded garage door for a new, coordinated one will help you sell your home more rapidly and possibly get the price you want.

What should you take away from all this?

It is crucial to make an informed decision when choosing to repair or replace your garage door. In all cases, your safety must come first. For this, we are an invaluable advisor, so contact us now at 1-866-319-8173.

We can send you a detailed quotation by email for either repairs or a new door. Additionally, we can easily come to your home and explain our whole range of garage doors. We will also give you advice on the best choice to make. If indeed, you are thinking about changing your garage door and would like to see what it could look like, use our Design Centre or get inspiration from our image gallery.

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