Certain commercial garage-door repairs require professional expertise. If a mistake is made when removing a tension spring, for example, the spring can release unexpectedly and fly toward property or people. There are also some simple fixes that you can do yourself. Before calling a commercial garage-door repair service to come and look at a malfunctioning commercial garage door, make sure one of these simple things isn't keeping the door from working properly.
Someone May Have Manually Locked Your Commercial Garage Door
If your company's commercial garage door is closed and won't open, the first thing to check is the manual lock on the door. Even if your company doesn't normally use the garage door's manual lock, a new employee who didn't know to not use the manual lock may have locked it.
When a commercial garage door is manually locked, the garage door opener's motor will usually run for a few minutes and then shut off. The door may jerk slightly when the motor kicks on, but the door won't actually open.
On most garage doors, the manual lock's control is located on the inside portion of the garage door, in the middle of the door and toward the bottom of it. The control is usually a handle that twists to extend bars on either side of the door. There's also usually a button that will release the lock. Check to see whether the handle of your garage door has been turned to the locked position, and release the lock if it has been.
An Object May Be Preventing Your Commercial Garage Door from Closing
Automatic commercial garage doors have a safety feature that prevents them from crushing any objects (or people) that are in their path. If a door senses resistance from something in its path while it's closing, the door will stop closing and reverse direction.
If your commercial garage door starts to close but then stops and begins to open, there is probably something in its path. This is especially likely if the door repeatedly stops and reverses direction at the same point.
When checking for objects that might be blocking a door's path, don't just look for big things like boxes and products that were delivered or are staged for shipping. Also check for small items. Rocks, tools, and trash that employees and delivery drivers drop can all trigger this safety feature.
Something Might Be Blocking Your Commercial Garage Door's Eyes
Similarly, commercial garage doors often also have any "eye" that watches for obstructions. The eye is a laser that goes across the opening of the door. If the laser beam is broken while the door is closing, the same safety feature will be activated, and the door will reopen.
If your commercial garage door is closing and reopening, but you can't find any obstructions, check the door's eye. The eye is usually located along one of the door's tracks and near the floor. Tape from a package, mud from someone's shoes, or even dust could be partially covering the eye, making the garage door think there's an obstruction.
If this is the issue, you can carefully wipe anything covering the eye off with a clean cloth. Just be careful not to change the eye's position, as this can cause it to become misaligned and not function properly.
A Controller May Be Pressed Down
If your garage door is continually not functioning properly, one of its controllers might be pressed down. If you're trying to open a door with one controller, and another controller's closing button is pressed, the door may neither open nor close, or it might oscillate between opening and closing. Make sure no other controllers are pressed down while you're opening or closing the door.
Talk to a company such as J & R Garage Door Company Inc. for more information.
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