These days, garage doors are built to a higher standard, and people generally have little problems with them when it comes to maintenance. They are something of a one-time investment ordeal, in the best-case scenarios. However, everything breaks down over time, requiring repair and general maintenance.
Even the strongest steel doors require a little attention after a while. You must consider all the factors that affect these mechanisms and what they encounter to really analyze and dictate whether or not they need additional support. Most of the time, however, when garage doors begin to bow on their own, it becomes painfully evident that something is going on, as the door will cave in and start to look crushed and beat up.
This guide will explain why your garage door bows, so that you can get on top of things before it becomes a problem for your garage door one day.
Not Factory Defective
The first things that you might look for with any piece of hardware or equipment that you purchase is defects and incorrect parts. It helps to have a basic grasp of the main components of a garage door system. The second thing that you are likely to look for is the manufacturer and their contact information, but that isn’t always necessary. If you carefully inspect your device, you might notice things that are out of the scope of factory building, especially if you’ve had the equipment for a while before resourcing the manufacturer.
If you are careful enough about how and what you are looking into, then you might notice that it has little if nothing to do with the maker and build of the equipment. This means that you will need to look deeper and further into the situation to find the real root of the problem. However, if it is the maker, then you will need to keep their information on hand so that you can report it. In which case, most of the time, purchased equipment from notable businesses comes with a warranty of some kind that you can also resource. You might also want to seek out garage door repair in Ames, Iowa.
Sun Exposure
Depending on where your house is located and where the garage door is positioned with the sun will make a huge impact on how well it holds up and does its job. If the garage door on your home is facing east, for instance, you will have full sun exposure all day, as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If it is positioned southeast, you will see even more sun exposure, so these two are worth keeping note of and avoiding at all costs if you’re thinking about setting up a garage door in either of these cardinal directions.
If you do happen to have a garage door installed in either of these directions, you will need to keep a more vigilant eye on it compared to any other angle that you could potentially put a garage door on. You should also consider the color of your garage door. The darker the color, the more heat it will absorb, which could lead to excess sun exposure and imminent damage later.
Size Matters Most
It makes sense that having a smaller garage door means fewer complications, especially when it comes to an automated garage door. All of the internal parts have to hold up the door and keep it operating day after day, and with all of the excess weight of a larger door, this can add wear and tear to the machine after some time. With the smaller variety, there is less of a chance of this happening.
You also have to think about the distance between the tracks that the door is hooked up to and sits on. These rollers and tracks hold the most weight and can warp and even come off track over time, which will completely end any automated opening and closing unless you have it repaired.
Temperature Fluctuations
To better understand the sun exposure and how that affects the parts of your garage door, we have to look a little closer at the problem. So, you have this garage door that you just installed, and it gets quite a bit of heat throughout the day. However, it does a phenomenal job of keeping things cool from the inside.
What you are experiencing is either heat absorption or reflection. If your paint color is bright, then you run the chance of heat refection, which is what you want because it will help the door at doing its job. On the other hand, if it’s a darker hue, then this will add to the problem, and you will eventually see negative results.
From the interior, you have a cool climate that is being maintained day and night, and on the outside of the door, sunshine and heat. So now you have two different climates working against one another, which over time will cause your garage door to warp.
Door Opener
One of the most crucial parts of an automated garage door setup is the central part in all your automated garage door needs. This is where the chain and sprocket are set up to pull the load of the door, hold it in place, and lower the door when commanded to. However, this style of ingenuity isn’t always the best at holding up for the long haul.
As the elements expose themselves to the garage door system, the system will break down just like everything else and fail to pull, especially under the weight of a warped door, which makes it practically impossible. Over time, if this isn’t fixed, it will tax the motor, chain, and sprocket, thus requiring all parts to be replaced accordingly.
The Door and Fence store in Ames, Iowa, has expertise on this and many other common garage door issues. We hope this article has shed some light on garage doors and why they can be defective from time to time. Many people may not pay close enough attention to this issue and let their garage doors go for long periods of time without ever knowing what the problem is exactly. Let’s hope this clears things up a bit so that we understand why garage doors bow, as they tend to do from time to time.
If you’re looking for a professional to inspect and repair your garage door, contact us for service. Estimates are free, so call today!
