How to Fix Stuck or Broken Garage Doors
Your garage is supposed to prevent trouble by keeping your car safe from the elements (and from thieves), but sometimes garages have problems of their own. Garage doors won't open, refuse to lock or age and warp. Here's how to solve garage door dilemmas.
ON A ROLL:
The power to your garage is out with the door shut, and you need to get your car out or you'll have to take a bus.
THE QUICK FIX
You'll notice a cord--usually with a red handle--dangling down from the guide track that the opener uses to open and close the door. This is the manual override. Once pulled, it allows you to open and close the door with your own power in the form a little elbow grease.
FROZEN OUT:
Cold weather has stiffened the mechanism of your garage door opener and caused it to lose power.
THE QUICK FIX
Most garage door openers made in the past 15 years have pressure adjustments for both raising and lowering. Check and adjust these settings seasonally to keep things running smoothly.
ROLLUP DILEMMA:
That sagging garage door is getting harder and harder to open.
THE QUICK FIX
Garage doors, especially older, wooden models, are as susceptible to the ravages of time and gravity as the rest of us. If your aging doors are a little saggy, square them up with the tension rods positioned on the back of the door. The rods are placed diagonally from top to bottom corners and can be tightened at a turnbuckle to straighten out the door--do a little at time to allow the door to adjust to the change. If your door isn't already equipped with tension rods, you can buy them at home centers.
DOOR LINES:
Your dream car is parked in out of the elements, but it's not secure because the garage door won't lock.
THE QUICK FIX
Most garage doors have two horizontal bars that move out from the center of the door into slots along the side of the door in the door track, effectively locking the door in place. Over time, these bars can shift slightly out of position so that they are no longer correctly aligned with the locking slots. To realign the bars, unscrew the guide brackets on the edges of the door so that they are loose enough to move, and then reposition them so that they smoothly guide the locking bars into the locking slots. Lubricate the lock mechanism with machine oil and you're done.
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