Author: Mark Rothwell

What is angle iron and why is it important to your garage door?

Angle iron is used to connect your track and garage door opener to your ceiling. Using the right gauge is important; too light of a gauge and the iron can bend, then your garage door and opener can fall on your car or you!

Pictured above is an opener with angle iron hanging from the ceiling. I used this picture to show where the angle iron is located. However, in this picture the opener is clearly hung wrong. The safety sensors should not be hanging next to the opener! We fixed this opener at one of our service calls.

Do you know that a severe thunderstorm can cause problems with your garage door?

How you ask?

The garage door opener is generally plugged directly into a plug and not a surge protector. The lightning strikes and the electrical current travels. If the garage door opener is not on a surge protector, it can take an electrical surge from a lightning strike and the surge will destroy the board on the inside of the garage door opener.

We recommend having your garage door plugged into a surge protector to keep this from happening. There are some small surge protectors out there that can prevent a surge to your opener.

Another problem with thunderstorms and garage doors is the hail producing storms. The hail can cause damage to the garage door if it takes a direct hit. We have some inexpensive garage doors we can install if your garage door suffers from any hail damage over the next few days. Today, April 8, 2015 there are storms coming into the Columbus, Ohio area that are expected to produce some hail.

Photo credit: Wikipedia.org

Garage door openers can fail for many reasons. The picture above shows three openers, the one on the left is 15 years old, and the two on the right are both 9 years old.

Some things that make and opener fail:
-The garage door is out of adjustment
-Poor quality opener
-Constant use of the garage door

Regardless as to why they fail, they are a maintenance item that needs to be maintained for them to last 12-15 years of use.

We offer a service call to maintain items such as the garage door, opener, springs, rollers, and all integral parts of the garage door. Our service call is fairly inexpensive at just $79.00! Garage door maintenance is key to a long lasting garage door like any other component in your home!

Do you call around for pricing to different garage door companies?

Do they give you an estimate over the phone?

When they come to repair your door is the price different than the estimate?

Do you know what is included in a service call?

I can speak for Grove City Garage Door Inc., our service calls start at $79.00.

What does our service call cover? The service call covers us getting to your home, oil and adjusting your garage door, and we will look over the functioning of your garage door. When we are there we can estimate other repairs if necessary, we will fix the problem, and we will give you the exact amount you are expected to pay at the time of service.

Does the $79.00 get absorbed if there is another issue? Yes it does, we will not charge you for a service call and a spring replacement separately. If we come to your house on a service call and figure out it’s a bad spring, we will only charge you $140.00 to replace one spring or $220.00 to replace two springs.

If you have one bad spring we will always recommend to have both replaced at the same time. Why? Well when we unwind the one bad spring, we have to unwind both springs. When you unwind the springs and rewind them, there is a chance the good spring left there will break soon and we don’t want to come back out in a few weeks to fix the second spring. So we always recommend to replace both at the same time!

Did you recently purchase a garage door opener and want it installed? We offer this service for $125.00 for our labor.

If you didn’t purchase a garage door opener and need to purchase one, we can recommend a garage door opener that will fit your budget and your needs. There is a wide variety of garage door openers available. We carry the LiftMaster and Chamberlain brands of garage door openers.

Spring is in the air! We found this nest on top of an opener last week. When you are checking the opener, always unplug the opener before handling. You never know what you might find on top of the opener. We have found nests, mice, cats, and plenty of spiders in openers.

Spring is also the perfect time to replace your garage door! Did your snow plow guy hit your door accidentally this winter? Pictured above is a long panel door with grilles inserts in the windows. We have many doors in stock, just give us a quick call to find out what we have in stock!

and also like this:

Pictures above is the inner workings of a LiftMaster Commercial garage door opener. I know this may be boring to some people, but think about how important this opener is. We have put many of these commercial openers at many different locations such as Police Departments, Fire Stations, Prisons, City of Grove City, City of Columbus, Southwestern City Schools, and many more. These openers operate smoothly and for a number of years. On a Fire Station the first opener to stop working is the medic door because that is the most often used door on a Fire Station.

Pictured above is our commercial lift, we use this lift on all commercial jobs that are higher than a standard ladder can reach. We have invested in all of the equipment to do the job right the first time, we don’t need to rent or borrow tools. Having the right tools is an important aspect of getting a job done. What would you think of our expertise if we came to your home and asked to borrow your tools to fix your garage door? That should be a bright RED flag that a person is not a knowledgeable repair person. You cannot fix anything without the right tools!

Does the average consumer know what multi-branding is?

Multi-branding is when a corporation gains market space by making multiple brands of the same product. The largest advantage of multi-branding is gaining shelf space at a store. Another advantage of multi-branding is to satisfy the consumer that likes to try different brands. There are consumers out there that swear to a specific brand and will not switch. Do those consumers know that they have possibly purchased from the same organization under a different brand name?

The Chamberlain Group Inc. practices multi-branding by producing Chamberlain, LiftMaster, Craftsman, and True Value garage door openers. You can find Chamberlain brands in most major retail stores along side their other brands. Chamberlain brands are manufactured in the United States, and their largest competitor is Genie.

The Chamberlain brand garage door was established for the do-it-yourself consumer that wants to install their own garage door opener. The LiftMaster brand was established as a commercial brand you can only get from a garage door distributor. All of the Chamberlain brands are internally created equal, so you are getting the same quality from each opener you purchase.

Did you run into your garage door during the snow and ice this winter? Don’t want to replace it until the spring? We don’t blame you!

Check out our clearance garage doors, we can offer a low price for a new door: Clearance Garage Doors

Check out the different varieties of garage doors at Clopay: Clopay Garage Doors
       -An order could take up to 2 weeks to get a door made

We just had a new shipment of Mid-America garage doors arrive: Mid-America Garage Doors
       -Ask what we have in stock for immediate install

We are scheduling some spring garage door installs, check out our varieties of garage doors, we have some discounts for some new doors, just ask what they are!

Cats and garage doors do not mix well…….

The cats are cute, they need a dry place to stay, but what can they do to your garage?

Cats are naturally climbers, they can and will climb up into your rafters in your garage. The garage door opener is hanging from those rafters in the garage, so what do you think a cat can do to your opener? Mark has found instances of the cats peeing on openers, shorting the wires, and wreaking havoc on a garage door opener. The insides of the garage door opener doesn’t consist of much but the motor, the power board, and the light bulbs. There are also wires running from the opener to the safety sensors, and wall buttons if your wall button is not wireless. Cats will sometimes chew on those wires. So your garage door could stop working or work intermittently.

What happens to a cat if the safety sensor are not aligned right or you have an opener made before 1998?

There is a good chance the cat will get crushed under the garage door if your safety sensor are not aligned correctly, are too high off of the ground, or if you have an old garage door opener. The older garage door openers did not have safety sensor on them, and this is one reason why safety sensor were invented. Small animals and children can be harmed by a garage door opener without safety sensors. I don’t want to see any small animals or children get hurt from a garage door opener, so I suggest keeping your small animals indoors, having your old garage door opener replaced, and making sure your safety sensors are aligned correctly! Keep those garage kitties safe!