garage door – Locksmith Security Services

What To Look For When Your Garage Door Won’t Budge

Posted by Paul Murphy on Sep 30, 2016 in Garage Door Services |

A garage door is absolutely essential to keep your cars safe from the elements. While a high quality door system can last years if maintained properly, even the best-maintained doors can get stuck and refuse to budge at times. A broken garage door can not only be a serious safety hazard to children, but can also increase your heating bill substantially, especially if you happen to live in a colder region.

There are a number of reasons why your garage door might get stuck and not work properly. Let us take a look some of the most common issues with garage door systems and what you can do to resolve them. If you want to learn more, check out Garage Door At Chandler’s Website.

Check Your Batteries

It is always a good idea to start with the obvious. More often than not, people fail to see what is staring right at them and instead look for something that is not there. If you have a remote control for your garage door, check if the batteries are dead or placed the wrong way. If the transmitter on your wall runs on batteries, you should check those batteries as well. While you are at it, make sure the power cord is plugged in properly.

Check the Electric Eyes

Electronic garage doors usually have two photosensitive electric eyes to ensure operational safety. These eyes are located on both ends of the door, facing each other. They are designed to shoot out an invisible beam along the path of the door opening to detect any obstructions. If the beam gets obstructed, the door will not open or close fully. This mechanism ensures the door does not accidentally close on an object or a person.

Check if there is anything blocking the sensor beam. If there is, simply move it out of the way. If not, check if the photo eyes are dirty. Their proximity to the ground makes the photo eyes susceptible to the accumulation of dirt and debris over time and could affect their function eventually. So, clean the eyes gently with a cloth and see if the door works properly.

Check the Door’s Track

Examine the door’s track closely. Sometime, small objects can fall into the door’s track and prevent the door from opening and closing fully. The door might also not function properly if the track is rusty or dirty. So, clean it and apply a liberal dose of lubricant along the track to see if the door starts working again.

If you have tried all these tricks and the door is still stuck, it could be an indication of a bigger problem. These include

Breakage of Torsion Springs

Torsion springs are the backbone of your garage door. The whole weight of the door is supported by these springs and if they fail, the door is usually immobilized.

Broken Cables

Cables can often snap under the pressure, especially if the one or more torsion springs are broken. In fact, these two problems often go hand in hand. So, if there is a problem with your springs, your cable is likely to break.

Track Out of Alignment

If the track is not aligned properly, the door may make a lot of noise when you try to open or close it. Eventually, it may stop working. It could be anything – a gap between the rollers and rails, bent rails in the track, or anything that could affect the alignment of the track.

In such cases, a DIY approach is not usually advisable. Whether it is a broken spring, snapped cable, or an unaligned track, you need a certain level of expertise and the right kind of tools to fix the issue. If you do not possess the necessary skill set and the exact tools required, it is a good idea to seek the help of a professional. A seasoned locksmith or repairman can inspect your garage door, find out what the problem is, and fix it right away.

At any cost, do not try to force the door. It is not only counterproductive, as it could further damage an already problematic door, but also dangerous. Once you get the door repaired, make sure you maintain it properly. It will not only prevent such issues in the future, but also make sure your door lasts longer.

Is Your Garage Secure From Intruders?

Posted by Paul Murphy on May 5, 2016 in Locksmith |

Is your garage secure enough? Can you be sure that your car is still in its place when you are going to the garage in the morning? Your car, and other property you are keeping there, is hidden from the eyes of strangers. This, however, does not mean that thieves are not gasping for those things. Burglars are not stupid – if breaking the door seems difficult, they choose some weaker spots in the garage.

Therefore, you should pay attention to the entire garage. Focusing on the lock is not enough.

AZGaragePros.com recommends that you concentrate on creating an elaborated security level. Investments are not high, but the benefits will continue for decades.

1. Strengthen wall constructions

If your garage is more than 20 years old, you should definitely look over garage wall constructions.

Buildings from this era have generally single brick walls, and the mixture between the bricks may have lost its effectiveness.

Whenever possible, that kind of walls should be secured from the outside. Cover your garage external walls with steel corrugated sheet or façade board. This may not be the most secure solution, but it keeps the walls together and makes penetration more difficult.

2. Secure the front door

In general, old door frames are loosely attached to the wall constructions. In earlier times, wooden door frames were attached to wooden tiles, which in turn were draped between the bricks. For today, such kinds of tiles are loose, and do not keep the door frame firmly in place.

You will surely have a question about how to strengthen the door frame then. We recommend you to make some reinforcements made of angle iron in the corners of the doorpost. You weld some long iron bars across the angle iron, so that one of the ends is around the corner of the pole, and the other is firmly attached to the door frame. In this way you move the door frames fastener around the corner. Now pulling the door is almost impossible.

3. Strengthen the hinge side of the door

Secure door lock is an essential aspect of security, but it is also important that a burglar has no other options for entering the building.

In particular, old doors have hinges, which are attached to the door surface. The worst option is that they are simply attached with screws that are easy to remove. A way better version is that hinges are bolted through the door. You should take care that nuts of door hinge bolts are on the inside and inaccessible.

Other crucial aspect of the garage doors security is that a burglar cannot lift it off the hinges while being locked. If the door can move upwards, you should install a wooden beam on the top edge of the doorframe.

4. Locks and latches

Garage doors are usually two-sided. One of the sides is active and other is passive one. Nevertheless, both sides are equally important. You should examine the latches of the passive side of the door, and if necessary, strengthen the assurances. Look over the part of striking places, also. These may need some strengthening as well. Locking place of the latches is rather often worn-out, or the striking plate is not good enough. Keep in mind that burglars do not care, which side of the door is weaker.

5. Scare burglars

Burglars intend to accomplish a theft quietly and inconspicuously. You can always organize a surprise. If the burglars hear a loud alarm, they will immediately think of leaving. Firstly, the audio signal itself is disturbing, and secondly, it attracts attention.

In your garage, you should use any simple signalization. A motion sensor or a door sensor is sufficient to fix the invasion and activate the alarm. Install the alarm so that the thief is not able to cut the wires. GSM security system will not make any noise. It calls quietly to your mobile which you can answer, and decide whether it is necessary to call the police before you reach the place yourself. Thanks to the built-in microphone, you can hear what is happening in your garage.

6. When the garage door surprises

While you enter or exit the car to the garage, the doors should remain in the open position. You can use some barriers, like rocks or a broomstick, but is it fixed enough?

A convenient solution is to use a door stop. Once it is installed, you do not have to worry about the wind hitting the garage door against your car. If you do not want to spend a lot of money, you can use the door stop, which has a rubber band that holds itself on the ground. While being on a resting position, it keeps itself up against the door. That kind of door stop prevents usual movement of the door. However, with a strong wind, it may remain weak.