DIY Garage Door Opener

A garage door opener is what makes your garage door a thing of convenience. Without it, you would still have to manually open and close the door every time you wanted to use it. It is perhaps an underappreciated staple of modern convenience. People can quickly realize how inconvenient this can be if their garage door opener isn’t working properly. But fear not. Any do-it-yourself types out there can do some things to make sure that their garage door stays working well, and even if it breaks, be able to fix it.

Cleaning

Similar to almost any working piece of technology with moving parts, keeping those parts clean can be one of the most crucial and simple ways to keep it working. A garage door opener is no exception. Dirt and grime that build up overtime due to the environment of a garage can cause issues for the opener. Regular cleaning of the opener components can help prevent damage and keep things working properly and smoothly. Focus on the tracks and rollers. Just get some concentrated household cleaner and clean both the tracks and all of the rollers thoroughly every once in a while.

Check bolts

There is a lot of hardware involved in the installation of a garage door opener. This would involve bolts. Overtime, just due to the nature of the garage door moving up and down so often and the weight involved, these bolts can sometimes come loose. Go along the track and make sure that all of these bolts aren’t loose. If they are, just grab a wrench and tighten them up.

Check the power

Sometimes the solution to the problem is incredibly simple. A garage door opener, most of the time, needs external power to run. (though some do have a secondary power supply) If the door isn’t working, check to make sure that the opener is receiving power. Perhaps the batteries are dead in the remote you are using? Perhaps the power cord isn’t plugged in all the way or is faulty? Again, this may seem obvious but it does happen.

Pull the red cord

If the door absolutely won’t open, and you can’t get to a major repair at the immediate moment and need access to the garage, there is a temporary solution. Almost every garage door has a red cord that hangs from it. This is not a pointless decoration. This red cord is more of a contingency plan. If you pull it, the door will open. The cord disconnects the door from the opener. However, be careful when putting the door back down because the door may be much heavier than expected and could come down quite quickly. But this is only a temporary solution until the major problem with the opener is addressed.

Wrap up

Sometimes the solution can be simple. Doing it yourself with some basic knowledge can save some headaches and more importantly, some money. But sometimes the problems aren’t that easy and if you aren’t comfortable tackling the problem, be sure to contact a professional for help. Garage door repair can be dangerous, so make sure to always be safe.