There are two basic parts to a garage door. One is the electric opener, the other is the door mechanism that includes the door and its' panels, the tracks that the door follows up and down and the wheels that are in the track and attach to the door.
The garage door is basically the largest single moving object in your home. In many homes the garage door gets used more often than the front door. If it isn't properly maintained it can also be a very big problem.
There are a lot of different things that must work together to make your door work. If you need a garage door repair it is usually a process of elimination. You start with the obvious things and work down the list until you find the thing that is making your door work wrong.
One of the tricky things is that often times there are more than one thing that is going wrong with them all contributing to the failure. Some problems are mechanical and some are the result of installing the wrong size motor for the size of your door or other problems with installation.
The Door Opener
There are a number of different things that can go wrong with the opener. If it's just not working it's always best to start with the easiest checks. Make sure that your opener is getting power and the breaker hasn't been thrown. Check to see that it is fully plugged into the outlet. Look to see if any wires have worked loose.
If the opener looks okay but the door won't open with the remote, check the remotes' battery. Remotes are like any other tool in that in can break. Your remote in the car is subjected to extremes in temperature so it is not an uncommon problem to have one fail.
If the opener works with another remote, you might need to replace the broken one. Many of the companies that manufacture garage door openers also make the remote units and offer them for sale separately. If they don't a lot of times there are generic units that can be used.
If you check the back of the packages many of these generic remotes list what units it will work with. Older units may not have remotes that can replaced and you will end up needing to replace the whole unit.
The Door Mechanism
If your door is sticking or hesitating as it is raised or lowered you should check the mechanisms that make it work. One obvious garage door repair is the tracks that the door roll up and down on become clogged with dirt. Use a cleaner to clean the tracks then use something like WD-40 to oil the wheels to make sure they are rolling easy.
Look for dents or blockage in the tracks and any areas of the track that are loose. The track is connected to the door trim and ceiling with brackets. Over time these brackets can be loosened by the strain of the door raising and lowering.
Another problem area can be where the wheels attach to the door itself. If it is a wood door the strain on the screws can force them to wiggle and become loose. To fix it you might need to use a larger screw or fill the holes and start again.
Make sure to be careful about working on or around the spring on the door. These can be very dangerous if you don't know what you are doing and have the correct tools. Leave the springs to the experts.
Bottom Line
Make sure that you know what you can do and what you need someone else who is more experienced to complete. Don't take a chance on creating more problems by doing repairs that you don't know how to do because you might do them wrong and cause an even bigger garage door repair problem.
