Do you have a Genie garage door system that needs to be repaired? If so, I am pleased to be able to share with you the Genie garage door opener troubleshooting guide. This guide is extremely useful as it shows you how to troubleshoot and perform your own Genie garage door opener repair.

The first thing to do when assessing your garage door system is to look at the system as a whole. What I mean by this is to examine and carry out a quick checklist on the system, looking for things such as the following. Are the springs in working order? Does the garage door opener turn on when you push the wall button? Does the garage door hang up when opening and closing? Does the chain have too much slack or is it too tight? These questions alone can often help you determine the underlying cause of your garage door system problem.

Many Genie garage door systems seem to have problems with their actual overhead motors. They are a bit temperamental at times because they have a safety cover that covers the light bulb. The thing is that when ever this cover is opened or loosened, the garage door opener has a safety mechanism which won’t allow it to run until this cover is closed. Most people sit for hours trying to figure out what is wrong with their garage door when most of the time it is this simple issue. The cover should stay tightly closed, but vibrations, wind in the garage, and other factors seem to pop this little cover loose and cause all sorts of problems for owners.

My best advise on these Genie overhead motor covers is to tape yours down well so it can’t pop loose. This is a very simple fix that works very well, so go grab the duct tape and fix it redneck style. Hopefully this brief article has helped you and will continue to help you with your garage door repairs. Follow this link for more general information about adjusting garage door springs.

Whether you have a flip-out or roller garage door, at some point you will have to repair or entirely replace the springs. Now you’ll have to decide whether you want to fix it yourself or have a licensed contractor do it for you. If you’re comfortable around tools, dangerous equipment, and can follow precise instructions, then it’s probably worth your time to repair the springs yourself and save a good amount of money. However, if you haven’t worked on your garage door or aren’t mechanically inclined, you’ll save yourself a huge headache by hiring a licensed contractor to do it for you.

You’ve probably never heard of garage door springs, or even cared about them, until right now. I know I didn’t have a clue what they were until my garage couldn’t open one morning. All you knew was that when you clicked your garage door remote, the garage opened for you and then closed for you.

You didn’t think about how two springs (or a set of two springs) could lift a 400 lb. plus door, day-in and day-out. Now imagine one of those springs being damaged, and suddenly releasing when they weren’t supposed to; that has “dangerous situation” written all over it. Never, ever try to repair your garage door springs when the door is closed. That is when the springs are stretched and can release a tremendous amount of energy if you attempt to fix them.

If you’ve had your garage for awhile, and have never maintained your garage springs, you’ll probably have to replace them entirely. Your springs are incredibly dangerous because pieces of the old springs can become shrapnel projectiles and can possibly kill anyone in the garage at that time. If this is a scary thought for you, then it’s a good idea to hire a professional. They’ll be able to guarantee the work and make sure the parts are cared for properly.

Adjusting Your Springs

If you’ve maintained your garage door over the years, the first thing you’ll have to do is either tighten or loosen the springs. It’s important that you make the adjustment to the door while it’s neutral so that it doesn’t fly up or drop down while you’re repairing it. Remember, if you don’t feel comfortable doing this yourself, it’s ok to hire a contractor to do it for you.

Installing New Springs

If adjusting your springs doesn’t do the trick, you’ll have to replace them entirely. When you install your new springs, you’ll have to slowly release the tension off of the old springs first. And remember to replace both springs. It will save you from having to this again in the near future when your other spring becomes worn out.

Once you’ve replaced or repaired your garage springs, it’s important that you perform regular maintenance at least twice a year. As with any type of mechanical device that you use regularly, it will eventually wear out. To ensure that it doesn’t wear out to the point of failure, it’s important to conduct regular maintenance checks. It’s also worth bearing these maintenance issues in mind before you next think about buying garage doors. Here also are some additional tips for trouble shooting and fixing Genie garage door systems.

They are also very often one of, if not the, most frequently used entrance doors into your home yet considering fitting a secure garage door somehow seems to be low on most people’s list of priorities (that is, until after they are unfortunate enough to suffer a break in, by which time it’s a bit late).

On a related theme and especially if you use your garage door as the primary entrance to your house you would be well advised to consider insulation in order to help maintain the desired temperature in the house. You can either opt to specify this up front as many garage doors provide the option to fit integral insulation or add it later using a generic garage door insulating kit.

Then there is the balance of cost and quality – if you don’t plan on staying in your property more than a few years and/or don’t use the garage doors much then cheaper or budget garage doors could easily fit the bill (in both senses). However, if your garage doors get a lot of use and you would rather not encounter “garage door repair hell” when the inevitable happens then go for the best you can afford.

So there are a number of things to balance against each other then, but essentially your start point before proceeding further is to decide what exactly you want from your garage and hence also its doors. Is this a temporary makeover or a long term investment? Do you need to consider security? Ability to withstand strong winds and/or extreme temperatures? Once you are clear about the answers to these questions then you will understand how to judge specific criteria.

So what should you look for when considering installing or replacing a garage door?

Garage Door Types

First there is the material type. This falls into three basic categories:

• Metal garage doors are far and away the most common these days accounting for some 80% of the market in America and Canada. They are invariably either steel or aluminium – steel doors being cheaper but heavier. Both should be painted with a specialist outdoor metal paint and are otherwise relatively low-maintenance apart from the inherent problem that flat metal doors tend to dent and buckle easily, which can affect both their look and operation. However, metal doors provide a good platform for adding optional features such as insulation and reinforcement.
• Vinyl and fibre-glass doors have the advantage of being both low in weight and sturdy. Again they can be painted (though some are pre-treated to a specific colour), tend to be more robust where dents and scrapes are concerned and will last for as long as the material holds out against break-down from ultra-violet light. These tend to be occupy the budget section of the market for those who have minimal requirements where their garage doors are concerned.
• Wooden garage doors go back as far as “garages” and have a classic, timeless quality. Wood is a naturally attractive, versatile and easy to maintain material which may be painted or stained to match existing timber features such as entrance doors or window. As with all wood products, the quality varies according to the specific type of wood and whether it is a composite construction (compressed fibres and laminates) or solid wood. Hence the price can also vary quite widely, but as with most things in life, you get what you pay for and most people recognise that wood garage doors are best.

Wood garage doors can be anything up to ten times more expensive than a standard steel door due to the inherent costs of the material, a more involved and precise manufacturing process to assure against warps and cracks, and the simple fact that the additional weight requires the installation of much stronger (and heavier) rails and beams to support the door. This last point also effectively rules out DIY installation where wooden doors are concerned – you absolutely must invest in paying for professional installation.

The types of wood mostly commonly used to make garage doors are conifers such as Redwood, Hemlock and Cedar since these contain a high concentration of oil and thus resist condensation and rot well. It is also not unusual to find Oak used as a material thanks to it high strength and durability (slightly interesting related fact – the English navy established by Henry 8th was built using Oak).

There is however more to consider when choosing a material for your garage doors than simply issues of cost or appearance. For most people the debate usually narrows down to a choice between steel versus wooden garage doors. Sometimes the deciding factor may be out of your hands anyway though, because although wooden doors undoubtedly project an image of quality, can be reinforced to provide a high level of security (discussed later) and have good natural insulation properties, if you happen to live in an area that experiences extremes of weather (wild fluctuations in temperature or very strong winds) then you may have little choice but to opt for a specially strengthened and/or heavily insulated steel door.

Buying A Garage Door

Second you should consider where to source your chosen type of door. As with many major household items, a quality original product installed by competent fitters will ensure years of trouble free enjoyment. Accordingly, you would be well advised to check for references of previous installations and evidence that your supplier has been around a while, has a reputation worth protecting, carries full insurance, employs properly trained/accredited staff and offers reasonable warranties and after-sales support in the event that anything should go awry.

Garage doors can be purchased from large DIY stores, door and window companies and garage door specialists. Bear in mind though that the long term durability and reliable performance of your garage doors will depend crucially on the quality of the installation process as much as the doors themselves. Specialists who fit garage doors day in day out are far more likely to deliver a result that looks good and lasts from day one for many years to come.

Another reason to consider using a garage door specialist is customisation – you can have exactly what you want, in the style and size you specifically want rather than have to compromise to fit in with a standard product.

Garage Door Maintenance

Third, as with any long term purchase you need to consider the likely useful lifespan of your new doors and any maintenance issues. This is not just down to caring for the surface finish on the doors, but also bearing in mind that the mechanism for the garage door opener will need to be kept in good order.

Many people forget that although the door panel itself is the most visible element it is only one part of the overall system – “part” being the operative word. Garage door opening mechanisms use quite a few parts (springs, rollers and so on) that need to all work smoothly together otherwise the door will cease to open and close as it should.

Like many things, a garage door is only as good as its weakest part and if even a quite trivial component should fail then the whole door is compromised. How long any given part will last is measured in “cycles” where one cycle is one opening and closing of the door. Cheaper parts are often rated for 5,000 cycles, which assuming an average of 3 uses of the door per day (or roughly 1,000 cycles per year) effectively limits their life span to about 5 years.

So roughly every 5 years you can expect to call out a garage door repair specialist – or more likely suffer a spate of call outs since it won’t just be one part that has reached the end of its working life. Be aware also that adjusting garage door springs and potentially repairing or replacing door mechanism parts can be both difficult and dangerous and you should check carefully that anyone who comes to repair your doors is properly covered by valid liability and workers compensation insurance.

In the event that anything goes wrong you need to be sure that insurance will cover both damage to property and personal injury, otherwise (it being your property) you could find yourself liable and facing ruinous costs. Also, asking for proof of insurance is a good way to weed out the cowboys since reputable companies will not hesitate to provide this information if asked.

On the other hand, you could insist on parts where testing was discontinued at 80,000 cycles since they just wouldn’t fail and then you can expect quite literally a lifetime of pretty much trouble free operation. Ask your supplier to provide (in writing) the manufacturers’ cycle ratings for the parts that will be installed with your door – this is little different really to asking a car dealer about mileage.

And talking of “lifetime” it is worth understanding what many so-called “Lifetime Warranties” really mean. For example almost all steel garage doors are sold with a “Lifetime” guarantee against rust-through which is where a door rusts so badly that you can actually see through it; but in practice most people cannot stand to look at a rusting door and will paint the door long before the rust totally eats through the metal with the result that no-one in fact ever claims for rust-through. It is a worthless warranty and in reality just a sales ploy to reassure the naive and unwary.

Finally, it might be obvious but do be sure to ask about all aspects of your new garage doors before you buy and if anything doesn’t feel right then look elsewhere till you find a supplier/installer you feel comfortable with. It’s your property and your money after all.

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It was also damaged as a consequence and what with needing a better garage door to prevent any recurrence I set about considering my options and found out more about garage doors than might be considered healthy.

Along the way I also realised something that many people never seem to consider (I was certainly no exception) which is that, security issues aside, garage doors are one of the most visible elements on a house and yet also one of the most neglected.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I ended up becoming a fan of traditional wooden garage doors and the perhaps unexpected benefits they bring to your home. My interest subsequently morphed into carports (specifically wooden ones) as a cheap and attractive alternative for parking cars. Needless to say, my garage is, like many other people’s, used for purposes other than parking a car.

I hope you find the material collected here at least a bit interesting and/or enlightening. Please feel free to get in touch or leave a comment on any of the articles.

Elaine.