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You should have your garage door serviced at least once a year if no other issues arise. Service technicians prolong the life of your garage door with preventative maintenance: lubricating areas of the door, tightening bolts and screws and adjusting spring tension. Although your door may work just fine without it, annual service will prevent issues in the future.
It’s also a good idea to conduct your own monthly check. Take these things into consideration when doing an overview of your garage door:
- Determine if the door can be opened manually from the outside without the opener
- Check for broken glass if your door has windows
- Listen for unusual noises, such as clicks or a whine when opening and closing the door
- Ensure that your door is able to completely close without issues
The information you provide to service technicians can help them diagnose and fix issues faster. Following are two tests that you can conduct yourself.
The photo eye is the mechanism in your garage door that keeps your children, pets and belongings safe if they are in the way of a closing garage door. It forces the door open to prevent accidents.
Check the eye’s effectiveness using a broom or other long object — not an arm or a leg –by placing it under the door close to the ground as it closes. The door should reverse and open back up. If it does not, keep people and pets away from the door and consult a garage door specialist.
Evaluate your door’s alignment by first disconnecting the opener. (Liftmaster provides a very helpful guide for disconnecting and reconnecting your opener, so do your research to know what you are doing beforehand).
The door should rise and lower manually. If opening it requires excessive force, or does not open relatively smoothly, there may be an issue that needs to be resolved. Next, raise the garage door halfway and let go. If it moves up or down, the door is out of balance and you should call a service technician.
If all goes well, you will be able to reconnect your opener after this test, and know that your garage door is good to go!