Your automatic garage door allows you to easily get in and out of your garage without having to worry about lifting a heavy door. If you have a garage door, you should be checking it for certain things each month to ensure that your garage door is operating properly and safely. 

Visual Inspection

The first thing that you should be doing each month is visually inspecting your garage door. A visual inspection will help you detect any broken or damaged parts that are in need of immediate repair. You should be in your garage with the door close and then inspect the garage door's cables, rollers, pulley, springs and hinges. Check these for signs of damage, such as cables fraying, loose springs, or loose connecting hardware. If you do detect any visual damage, you should call in a garage door service right away. 

Balance Test

To carry out the balance test, you need to first disengage your automatic garage door opener when the garage door is shut. Once it has been disengaged, manually open your garage door. When you open the door, it should easily and smooth lift up. If it is hard to open and doesn't smoothly open up, this is a sign that your door is out of balanced and will need to be rebalanced by a professional. 

Reversing Mechanism

All newer garage doors are required by law to have a reversing mechanism installed. To test yours out, place an object below the garage door censors so your garage door doesn't sense an object there and then close your door. The door should close, hit the object and then immediately start to reverse again. If it does not, you need to have it repaired in order to prevent any possible damage.

Sensor Test

Just like the reversing mechanism, garage doors are required by law to have sensors installed that detect when a person or object is in the path of the door. To test your censor, simply close the door and distrust the censor as the door is closing. You can do this by waving a long object in front of the censor. Your garage door should immediately reverse once the sensor has been tripped.

If your garage door fails any of the above tests, it's time to contact a garage door repair professional. Your garage door repair professional will be able to assess why your garage door is not working properly, and then easily and quickly fix it so that it is.