Garage Door Maintenance Facts

Image via Wikipedia

Here are a few facts you may not already know about owning and maintaining garage doors.

Maintenance

Did you know that steel doors can be painted with any high quality exterior non-oil based paint? Wood doors must be painted/stained prior to installation. Most models are available primed from the factory. It is also recommended that wood doors be re-painted every 1 to 2 years and more frequent refinishing may be required in high moisture areas.

Money Savings

The Energy Improvement and Extension Act entitles eligible homeowners to tax credits, equal to the sum of 10% of all qualified energy saving improvements installed in an existing home from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2007 and January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. A large number of our steel garage doors qualify for the energy tax credit.

Safety Issues

A faulty or improperly adjusted reversing mechanism on your garage door opener could cause

Image via Wikipedia

damage to your car or even injure a child or pet that inadvertently gets caught in the way of the closing door. All garage door openers manufactured and installed after 1991 are required by law to have a reversing mechanism. Most openers can be installed by the do-it-yourselfer. It is recommended that you have your garage door opener be professionally installed, and that it be checked periodically to ensure that the reversing mechanism is in proper working order. Reversing mechanisms activated by contact can prevent most potential damage or injuries caused by a garage door closing automatically. Properly working “photo eyes” now offer an added safety guard, but if bumped or jarred in any way, photo eyes may be disabled. Required on all garage door openers manufactured and installed after 1993, photo eyes are connected to the bottom of the track and reverse the door when an infrared beam is broken. Safety is improved because nothing actually has to make contact with the door before it reverses.

Another safety concern is burglary. Many homes have been broken into and burglarized by thieves using universal controls that open the garage door by reading the access code in the opener. Rolling access code technology is one way to protect your home, family and belongings against thieves and intruders. Rolling access code technology changes the code of your automatic opener after every use, so the thieves’ universal controls are rendered useless.