So you’re all set to go to work, and find that your garage door won’t open. Or maybe some severe weather is moving in and you find that you’re unable to close the door and protect your valuables. In these situations, is it better to call a garage door repair company or try to repair things on your own?
Assuming you’re handy with a hammer and a wrench, the temptation might be to try to do the repair job yourself. After all, that’s almost always a good way to save money, and you won’t have to wait for a service team to be dispatched and show up at your home.
That kind of thinking leads dozens of homeowners to attempt their own garage door repair every year. The end result usually being that they are wishing they had called professionals to come do the job.
Why is that? Let us give you three very good reasons not to attempt to repair your own garage door:
#1: Garage Door Repair Can be Dangerous
This is something most homeowners never consider — but garage doors are heavy, and are operated by powerful motors. What’s more, they can move loosely and unexpectedly along their rails, causing them to come up or slide down at high speeds. Additionally, doors that have become jammed can become un-stuck and pose a threat to limbs and fingers that were left in the way.
Many people each year are harmed, and even killed, by attempting to install or repair garage doors without the right training and equipment. We strongly encourage you to make your own safety a high priority and let us handle this kind of maintenance for you. We know how to make sure our team stay safe, and to install or repair garage doors in a way that ensures you’ll be safe after we’ve left.
#2: A Reputable Garage Door Company Will Give You a Warranty
One of the most frustrating parts of any do-it-yourself project is finding that you’ve made a mistake and have to go back to the same job again (and possibly again a few times after that). What looks like a simple repair can take hours and hours, plus time locating the right parts and components, even if it’s done correctly. More often than not, you’ll find yourself tinkering with the garage door again sometime soon. A lot of time and effort can be saved by utilizing professionals so you can focus on the more important things in life.
A good repair company can take away your fears by providing a warranty for all work performed. That way, you don’t just know that the job was done correctly by professionals, but also that they will return to perform any additional maintenance or service as needed if your garage door stops working the way you expected it to.
#3: You May Actually Save Money
Hard as it might be to believe, you may actually save money on your garage door repair by working with professionals instead of doing things yourself. There are two good reasons for this. The first is that we have access to tools, suppliers, and wholesale discounts that you don’t. So while you might be forced to pay retail for a new motor or component, we can probably get the same part at a discounted rate.
What’s more common, however, is that homeowners will attempt to replace an entire garage door or motor system unnecessarily because they don’t have the experience to properly diagnose a problem. In other words, they may find themselves spending hundreds on expensive motors and openers when a simple adjustment to a track is all that’s needed to make a door work again.
#4: Making the Problem a Wee Bit Worse
Even a mechanically gifted homeowner may tend to ‘over-fix’ a problem. In an effort to be helpful, homeowners may disassemble, loosen, misalign and ‘fix’ things were working just fine. And when our technician finally does arrive on site, he may have to spend some time ‘putting back together’ mechanical systems that were not a problem to begin with.
If you have any questions or concerns on diagnosing your garage door, don’t hesitate to ask a professional for help.
