When is it Time to Replace Your Garage Door?
“Clank, creeeak, whirrrr.”
Your 10-year-old dilapidated garage door finally grips the track and slowly crawls with a hitch creating a tunnel into your garage. Sitting there in your car in anticipation, you uncross your lifted fingers with an audible sigh of relief as your door opens on the first try without it reversing over and over again.
This may very well be the story of the majority of homeowners everywhere. Riding out that old ‘not-so-reliable’ friend of yours – the overhead garage door. What many wouldn’t realize is that it is actually very dangerous to keep riding out that old friend without considering a replacement. These seemingly minuscule issues might turn into big problems for you and the ones around you.
These are the signs that you should be aware of when checking if it is time to change your garage door:
Clicking again…and again…and again and the garage door still doesn’t go the distance. The garage door starting to only work intermittently becoming increasingly unreliable is a sure sign that it may be time for a new era of garage doors. This problem can pose serious risks when it doesn’t end up opening after the third click. Getting out of your car in the dark alone after work can be extremely unsettling while your vehicle sits out in the cold winter weather. This increases its chances of not starting in the morning in turn making your vehicle unreliable, and leaving your car outside also makes it more prone to theft. All of these problems could lead to very unsafe and uncertain situations.
A slow-moving garage door can be a huge sign of danger. The worst thing that could result from your garage door starting to defect is it detaching and free-falling from the ceiling. This free fall could happen at the worst possible moments: when you are pulling in or out with your vehicle, when your child is playing in the garage and outside on the driveway, or when your pet is going in and out of the area as well. Some of these situations are detrimental to your life - fix the problem before there is even a chance of these scenarios unfolding.
The noises that emanate from your system could be a bright red flag that your door is becoming unsafe. Typically, an electric motor becomes very loud when it is nearing the end of its life-cycle. Keeping an open ear to this seemingly small and annoying issue is very important.
A common problem that can happen with homeowners is the opening and sudden reversing of a garage door. While this problem must be double-checked to confirm if anything is tripping the sensor along the base of the opening of the garage - most people don’t recognize that this is a sure sign that replacing your unit is the next best step. Paying for repairs to your outdated garage door can be extremely costly for years and years to come.
Our garage doors; what might seem like an irrelevant item on a long list of home improvements are in fact one of the items that should be at the top of that list.
Don’t wait until it’s too late - kick the clunker to the curb and start anew with a safe and reliable new garage door.