Here is a look at what causes a garage door to come off its track.

Reason #1: Car Hitting the Door

Garage doors are big and tough. It takes a lot to get them off their hinges. So it makes sense that, in most cases, a car has hit the door. And it’s easier to do than you might think.

Have you ever been later for an appointment and in a hurry? You can pull out of the garage, or perhaps enter it, going too fast. If the door isn’t totally up, a crash is inevitable. Or you can forget to click the remote to open the door.

Reason #2: Improper Alignment or Weak Tracks

If the horizontal tracks on the garage door system aren’t sturdy enough, they can bend under the weight of the door. This happens when they are poorly made, using weak steel.

If the tracks are improperly aligned, they can also bend. Bolts in the brackets get loose, causing wobbling and finally breaking.

Reason #3: Worn Out Rollers

The rollers for your garage door can wear out and break, causing structural stress. Some fittings don’t have enough or the right type of ball bearings.

Reason #4: Broken Lift Cable

Older doors have parts that are worn out, especially around the lift cables. Old parts can cause of series of problems with various pieces of the door system. The end result is a garage door off its tracks.

The Importance of Garage Door Inspections

A garage door off its tracks is expensive to repair. It makes sense to get regular inspections of the components and system as a whole. Expert technicians can spot problems early, preventing damage and even injury.

Contact Bailey Garage Doors for all of your garage door needs!

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Extra Ceiling Space

Make your garage more of a fully three-dimensional storage space by installing ledges on the ceiling that can hold storage boxes. The ledges look like I-beams, and can hold more room than you would’ve thought possible; this really declutters a house when done correctly.

Erect a Do It Yourself Work Bench on the Wall

This can be embedded right in the wall, so that you never need search for your tools again, more or less. This idea of making use of the preexisting wall can be extended to a place for all of your garden tools, as well. You’ve got at least three walls to work with, after all. Turn one entire wall into a storage space by nailing ledges to it.

Turn It Into an Extra Work Room

If you don’t need to park your vehicles in the garage, then it’s large enough to convert into an ample-sized office. Put in carpeting and build desks and cabinets into the wall. Just in case you already have an adequate office in the main house, then your garage can make a very nice home gym.

Change the Lights

Most garages have fluorescent lighting; but if you are upgrading it into an office or work room, then you should replace these with LEDs. they last a lot longer and are more efficient; plus, the right colors simulate natural light much better.

These are some of the top upgrades you’ll find in most garages; there are others, but they depend on specific uses you might have for in your particular case.

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You Don’t Have a Safety Reversal Feature

Since 1993, all garage door openers are required to have a safety reversal feature. This mechanism relies on a beam between two sensors located about six inches above the floor on either side of the door. If anything breaks this beam while the garage door is lowering, the door immediately reverses. If your garage door opener doesn’t have this feature, consider buying a new model.

Your Garage Door Opener is Too Loud

Any device with moving parts is bound to make at least a little noise, but modern garage door openers are designed to be as quiet as possible. If your current garage door opener is making too much noise when it works, invest in a screw drive or belt drive model as these will be a lot quieter than the older chain drive models.

You Don’t Have a Rolling Code for Your Garage Door Opener

The remote controls of older garage door openers functioned with fixed codes that could be cracked by savvy thieves, making them major security risks. Newer models utilize a rolling code that changes every time your remote control is used. Since they’re so much harder to duplicate, they’re much safer than older models.

You Don’t Have a Battery Backup

Older garage door openers were all but impossible to use if there was a power outage. Homeowners were completely blocked from using their garages when they didn’t have power, but modern garage door openers have a battery backup system that will let you at least open your garage door and drive somewhere else if you lost power.

Contact Bailey Garage Doors today for all of your garage door opener and garage door needs.

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Like any major appliance in the home the garage door and the garage door opener should be regularly maintained to prevent poor service or possible failure. To begin maintenance, tell everyone in the home your plan to work on the garage door or opener to prevent any possible injury. The first step to garage door maintenance is simple: stand inside the garage with the garage door closed; inspect the springs, rollers, pulleys and all of the mounting hardware for both the garage door and the opener. If there are any signs of damage or noticeable wear to these components, it may be time to call your garage door professional to replace the damaged or worn components (Remember garage doors are held up under a lot of tension, and a trained professional should be called to replace damaged hardware to prevent any possible injury to the homeowner).

The balance of the garage door should also be regularly checked to ensure the garage door is opening and closing with no resistance along its track. With the garage door closed, disconnect the automatic door opener, and, with the automatic door opener disconnected, lift the garage door manually into an open position. If the door moves smoothly and freely into the upward position, the door is in alignment. If, however, the door catches and drags on the rails, a trained garage door technician should properly service the door.

The garage door’s reversing mechanism – devices which have been added to all garage doors built after 1993 and are responsible for the prevention of the possible entrapment of a person under the garage door – should also be tested regularly. To test the door’s reversing mechanism, open the garage door and place a two by four on the garage floor directly in the path of the garage door. With the two by four in place, close the garage door onto it. When the garage door falls on the two by four and makes contact, the garage door should retreat back up on the track into the open position. If the door does not immediately retract, call your garage door service technician to fix the reversing mechanism.

On a final note, a small amount of lubrication can be added to all of the garage doors moving parts. Make sure that the garage door is either in a fully opened or closed position while working on the garage door, and stand clear of the garage door and all of the moving parts when the garage door is activated.

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Garage doors are opened daily, and, unlike the rest of our home, when the garage door is opened anyone with a view from the street is aware of the things we keep in the garage. People often forget to close the garage door when they leave, or maybe they have a forgetful teenager to blame, either way, keeping that door closed is paramount to prevent any crimes of opportunity from taking place. Your garage door technician can install a timer that will close your garage door for you after a predetermined amount of time. This will not forgo the safety mechanism put in place on the garage door like the garage door safety sensors, which prevent any accidental closure on people or objects (assuming that the safety sensors are working correctly). The timer has an override option if you wish for the door to remain open while you work, clean, etc.

When you are going on vacation, you should unplug your garage door opener. And, with the opener unplugged, you can put a padlock on the latch or run a metal bolt through a hole in the track to ensure that the door will not be opened from the outside.

Another thing that many people forget about is the garage door opener on the visor of their vehicle. That opener is hidden behind just a pane of glass. Remember to take the opener in the house with you, especially removing it from the vehicle if you are on vacation and the vehicle is going to be parked outside of the home.

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It’s common for garage doors to need regular maintenance, but even with a consistent maintenance schedule, the hardware on the garage door can become loose or begin to wear out.  Usually you will know the hardware is damaged or loose, because the garage door will shudder in its track, or it may even get stuck halfway up (a stuck garage door is also a symptom for other door problems).  Think of it as a garage door tune-up, and here are a few ways to do it.

First, with the garage door in the closed position (if someone might accidentally turn on the garage door while you are working on it, it may be wise to disconnect the garage door opener) tighten down all of the hardware.  Usually the hardware that causes the most trouble will be near the track, where the continual jarring of the door moving up and down may loosen it.  A socket set and a wrench should be the right tools for the job.  However, be sure, when you are tightening down the hardware, that you don’t over tighten any of the screws or bolts, because this could strip the threads.

If the door is especially noisy near the track, it may be time to replace the rollers and the hinges.  For most people this will be a job for professionals, and the garage door technicians at Bailey Garage Door can certainly handle this job.  If you choose to do this yourself, you can contact Bailey Garage Doors for the necessary hardware for the job.  Use caution if you are replacing the rollers, and only replace one roller at a time.  If your door has tension springs at the header, a job like this can be dangerous, and you should refer to a professional to do the job.  Mishandling tension springs could cost you serious injury.

Garage Doors like the kind found at Bailey’s can last for years if kept up with regular maintenance.  If you think that your garage door is having problems, and you have been unable to diagnose the problem yourself, call Bailey Garage Doors, and rely on the experience of their garage door technicians.

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First, consider the children in your home.  Don’t allow the children to play with the functions on a garage door.  Remember that the safety mechanisms built into a garage door, like its safety sensors—which prevent the door from closing on a person—can be disabled if the opener is held down.

Keep the garage door opener button out of a child’s reach at all times, and don’t allow children to play unsupervised around the garage door.  Explain the inherent dangers to your children.

Remember, a child will be more likely to experiment with something that they don’t understand, even if you’ve told them to stay away from it.  Hopefully a thorough explanation of the dangers of playing with a garage door will fizzle out any curiosities they once had.

Your garage door most likely has safety equipment built into it, and you should test some of this equipment periodically to ensure that it’s working properly.  One of the easiest tests is to place a two by four in the path of the light on the safety sensors, and try and close the garage door.  If the garage door continues in a downward track even with the obstacle, the safety sensors are not working properly.  Also, visually inspect the garage door monthly, looking for any obvious signs of damage or wear to the garage door or to its hardware and accessories.

Also, remember that a garage door is a route into your home.  It’s so common for someone to leave a garage door opener on the visor of their vehicle, which they’ve left in the driveway, and to go on vacation.

That garage door opener is a key into your home.  Leaving it on the visor of your car is akin to leaving the keys to your house in the lock of the door handle.  Also, while you are away on vacation, consider disengaging the garage door opener, and adding a vacation lock to the garage door, so it’s unable to move freely in its track.

Contact Bailey Doors for all of your garage door needs.

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There are many obvious choices as to why a commercial garage door is needed: shops and other places where bigger vehicles are constantly pulled into and out of the garage, loading and unloading areas, etc.

If you own a business or have a home shop you probably already have a commercial garage door in place, so, why would you need a new one?  Newer commercial garage doors are well-insulated.

Models today can be built with polyurethane foams and thermal breaks, which, just like the insulation in the walls of the shop, business, home, etc., help to reduce energy costs. For those of you running a business you know that every penny counts, so putting in a new garage door—even though there may be some upfront cost for the door and opener—that door will save you money, and help your business to become environmentally friendly.

Commercial garage door openers are built for repetitive use: consider the mechanic who opens and closes the garage door periodically throughout the day; he is going to need a garage door opener that is built to withstand the repetitive abuse.

We carry three types of commercial openers: Jackshaft (J) Style Operator (optimal for industrial applications), Trolley (T) Style Operator (Optimal for general industrial applications for doors built in sections), and Hoist (H) Style Operator (optimal for industrial applications, with the added accessory of a chain that can be used to manually operate the garage door in the event of a power outage).

For Commercial Garage Doors, we carries three types: Thermally-Broken insulated steel sandwich door, Sandwich construction polystyrene models, and Ribbed steel models.  If you are unsure which model will best suit your needs, call the garage door professionals at Bailey Garage Doors.

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Today’s real estate market is steady: it’s rising—for now anyway—and potential sellers are faced with considerable inventory still backlogged from a time when people struggled to sell homes for bottom-barrel prices. So, it’s important that a potential home stand out from the rest. A quality garage door from Bailey Garage Doors, grinning bright and new like a bright-white smile, greeting potential buyers, would seem to go far in today’s market. And, it may also set a home apart on price.

Also, is the door opener functioning properly? Are the safety measures such as the safety sensors functioning properly? This is important to new buyers: most buyers don’t want to buy a home they’ll have to invest considerable extra money for repairs. Check the safety sensors. The lights on the sensors should be green. Place an object in the way of the sensors and try to close the door. If the sensors are in working condition, the door wont be able to close properly on the object. Make sure to keep your hand on the opener switch, however, if the sensors are out of alignment, and the door closes without activating its sensors. Also, make sure that the door both recedes back up into the track and descends back into a closed position smoothly. If there’s a mechanical issue with the door, give a professional a call. Many garage door parts like a broken spring are best fixed by someone with the knowledge to do so, because the components are under such pressures that if mishandled it could cause serious injury or even death.  Call Bailey Doors today for all of your garage door needs! (406) 656-2905

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