Garage Door Off Track Services Wheaton, Illinois.
Common Reasons That Your Garage Door Is Off Track
Your garage door is one of the components of your home that you are likely to set and forget. This mindset is bound to occur with anything that becomes a daily routine, such as using a garage door.
What this means is that you may forget that it has various elements that can stop functioning as intended. Naturally, this can create a problematic situation if it should occur. One of these problems occurs when a garage door comes off its tracks.
Several reasons may cause such a phenomenon to occur and each requires adequate attention.
1. You Hit Your Door with Your Car
A harsh impact is very likely to cause your garage door to go off track. There is an endless number of potential situations that can lead to damage to your garage door because of your vehicle.
Alternatively, you may try to drive in or out of the garage too quickly. The result of this is that you end up hitting the door because it has not opened fully. When a vehicle hits the door this way, the impact tends to be with the lower section.
Even a vehicle that is slowly moving can cause such a problem once it hits the door. Typically, after a vehicle impact, the garage door rollers can come off tracks. Even if this problem should occur with a couple of rollers, the garage door is going to start hanging from its lift garage door cables.
You should never attempt to repair this issue on your own. You may end up just making everything worse or injuring yourself. The best course of action that you can take is to contact a professional garage door repair specialist.
2. Your Tracks Aren’t Aligned Properly
Many cases of garage doors going off track are due to track misalignment. Bolts hold your garage door’s horizontal tracks. Remember that the components that make up the door’s arrangement can lose their integrity over time due to wear and tear.
The horizontal tracks are no exception, and so the bolts can loosen progressively. This occurrence negatively affects how firm the brackets are. Therefore, any abnormal door vibrations can shake it.
Additionally, many horizontal tracks can become bent from any slight impact, which can create a very unsafe situation. Tracks that are in that kind of condition can cause the whole door to fall. However, it is essential to mention that this is an issue that is more common with tracks that are of inferior quality.
3. Your Rollers Wore Out or Broke
Your garage door rollers are responsible for attaching the door to its tracks. Therefore, the gliding motion that allows your garage door to smoothly open and close happens as it should. There are two main roller designs, which are:
Builder-grade garage door rollers: You can identify builder-grade garage door rollers because they have no ball bearings, and they are usually comprised of steel are hard plastic. The lack of bearings means that the wear that happens is both quick and intense.
Upgraded garage door rollers: Upgraded rollers are also identifiable, since they do have ball bearings, and they’re typically made from nylon. The bearings may have a sealed design or an open design. If your rollers do have an open layout, then lubricating them every three to four months is the best way to protect them and limit wear.
4. Your Cables Broke
The final likely thing that may cause you to see a garage door off track is a broken lift cable. Note that this is the least likely of all the reasons discussed on this list. However, it is not impossible. The probability becomes even more likely if the garage door is old or it hasn’t been used in some time.
The final likely thing that may cause you to see a garage door off track is a broken lift cable. Note that this is the least likely of all the reasons discussed on this list. However, it is not impossible. The probability becomes even more likely if the garage door is old or it hasn’t been used in some time. This puts a severe amount of pressure on the cables, which can then lead to unexpected breakage. While you may not see the cable break, the problem reveals itself when the garage doors weight shifts to one side.
Therefore, in closing your garage door, the side with the cable intact closes, but the other one stays partially open. Inspect your garage door cables to ensure that they maintain their alignment in the drum and that they are not under pressure.
Conclusion
While a garage door may seem like something that you don’t need to pay much attention to, it does have components that can be negatively affected by various occurrences. When this happens, you are likely to end up with your garage door off track. There are four main reasons that a garage door ends up in such a state, and these are:
1. The impact of a vehicle
2. Misaligned tracks
3. Worn or broken rollers
4. Broken lift cables
You can inspect the components to see where you stand. If you should determine that the integrity of the garage door is compromised or you are unsure of how to complete a thorough inspection, call a garage door professional to take care of the situation. Doing so ensures that you can confidently return to having a fully functional garage door.
