Off Track Garage Door Repairs & In Vancouver, WA & Clackamas, OR
Garage door issues can surprise us at the least convenient times.
The biggest emergency issue that can happen out of the blue, is when your garage door suddenly go off its tracks. Just imagine waking up one morning to experience the worst case scenario with your garage door. You grab your things ready to leave, but when you press the button to open the garage door, one side goes up while the other part just remains. Besides the scary look of situations like this and the frustration, serious property damage and injuries can accrue.
It is some what common for garage doors to go off their tracks from different reasons. Surprisingly, the most common one is when homeowners try to repair the garage door spring or cable on their own without the needed knowledge. We strongly advise not to pull a jammed door down using force, as it can bend the vertical tracks and pop out the rollers, leading to significant damage.
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Here are a few quick fixes that can help you secure the garage by lowering the door safely and securely -
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The first thing you will want to do is to disconnect the opener from the door system. This will allow you to operate the door manually so you have the full control of its movements and operation. All you need to do is to pull the manual curd, you will hear a loud click so you would know it disconnected.
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The second step before addressing the issue will be to lift the door up manually. This part wont be an option if one of the springs broke, as the door will be very very heavy and we do not recommend to DIY in this scenario.
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The next step will be to locate the jammed part. This can be one of the rollers/wheels that came of the track or misplaced. If you cant find the source of the issue, we recommend to stop here and contact a professional technician.
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After the jammed roller is located, you will need to clip the door the the tracks so you will be able to leave it and address the misplaced roller.
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Once you are 100% sure the tracks and door are secured, you can pull the outer edge of the track which will allow you to reposition the wheel and push it back to his place.
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Now that the roller is back in track, you can push the track to its right position using a rubber mallet.
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This is the time to check how well you handled the situation, by testing the garage door manually and making sure it is balanced, so for this one you will have to take off the lock pillars and move the door up and down. the door should be moving smoothly.
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Once you are done testing the doors operation you can try using the opener (motor). open and close the door twice to complete a full cycle.
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If any grinding noise starts, or if the door crooked or jerking, you will still need to contact a garage door technician to check what is still wrong with the operation of the door.
Stop using the door and contact your professional garage door company immediately, so we help you before things are too tough.