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Garage door tune-up in Sarasota
Balance, reverse test and photo-eyes: the visit that catches the spring before it goes.
- $119 for one door
- A written condition report
- Nothing fitted without a yes
- Lay a 1½-inch board flat in the middle of the opening.
- Close the door onto it. It must touch and go straight back up.
Is this you?
Signs a door is due a tune-up
A year since anyone looked
Springs and cables wear quietly until the day they don’t.
Louder than it used to be
Dry bearings and tired rollers, caught before they chew the track.
It didn’t reverse on the board
Stop using the opener and call. That is the one to fix today.
Once a year
What a tune-up covers
The whole door, in the same order every time: balance by hand with the opener off, the spring checked for wear and its rating written down, both cables from drum to bracket, the drums, the tracks sighted for bends, rollers, hinges and bearings.
Then the opener: force and travel set to their correct values, never raised, the photo-eyes aligned, and the reverse test done twice with you watching.
How we do it
What happens on a tune-up
Balance, opener off
The two-minute test that tells us the most.
Spring, cables, drums, track
Each looked at and written down, whether or not it needs work.
Lubricate and adjust
Rollers, hinges, bearings and the spring coil. Force wound back if someone raised it.
Both safety tests, with you
The board and the beam. Then your written report.
Ours, before anything is estimated
The balance test
With the opener disconnected, a correctly balanced door stays where it is left at waist height. If it drops, the spring is weak or wrongly sized; if it runs up, it is over-wound.
- Stays put: balanced. This is the one you want.
- Drops: the spring is weak or wrongly sized.
- Runs up: the spring is over-wound.
Please do not do this test yourself, and don’t pull the red release cord. If a spring has gone, the door can drop. It is two minutes of our visit and it decides most of what happens next.
What it costs
What a tune-up costs
A tune-up is a fixed $119 for one door and $70 for a second on the same visit.
Full tune-up
$119.00, one door. Includes the balance test, both safety tests, lubrication of rollers, hinges, bearings and the spring coil, and all fixings checked.
Written condition report
Included. Everything found, whether or not you fix it, with the spring specification and cycle rating recorded for next time.
Parts found on the day
Estimated before anything is done. Nothing gets fitted on a tune-up without you agreeing to it first.
How often
Once a year is sensible for a household door. Twice for a door that is the main entrance to the house.
The details
For the people who want every step
What gets checked, in order
1. Balance, by hand
Opener disconnected at the trolley, door lifted by hand. It should feel like eight or ten pounds and it should hold at waist height. If it drops, the spring is weak or wrongly sized; if it climbs, it is over-wound. Everything else on this list is read in the light of that answer.
2. The spring
Looked at for a gap, for corrosion in the coil, and for the paint line that shows whether it has been re-wound. If the rating is on the ticket from a previous visit, we can tell you roughly how much life is left in it; if it is not, we can at least tell you what is up there and write it down for next time.
3. Cables, drums and the bottom brackets
Each cable followed from the drum to the bottom bracket, looking for a lifted strand or rust in the last eighteen inches near the floor. Both drums checked for the same wrap.
4. Rollers, hinges and track
Every roller spun by hand. Hinges checked for elongated pin holes and cracks at the end hinges. Track sighted for a bend, and every lag bolt into the jamb checked for tightness — loose fixings are why tracks drift.
5. The opener
Travel limits checked at both ends. Force checked and, where it has been set too high, wound back to where it belongs and the reason for the original complaint found instead. Chain or belt tension. The antenna wire, which should be hanging free.
6. The two safety tests
The board test and the beam test, both in front of you.
Why the force gets wound back
It is worth being explicit about this, because it is the one thing on a tune-up that can make a door seem worse afterwards.
If we find that somebody has increased the down-force so the door stops reversing, we will set it back to where it should be. The door may then start reversing again — and that is the correct behavior, because it was always reversing for a reason. We then find the reason, tell you what it is and what it costs, and you decide. What we will not do is hand you back a door that has been taught to push through obstructions.
This is exactly the situation behind the refused line on the ticket on our home page. It is not a rare scenario. It is one of the most common requests in the trade.
What you can do between visits
Once a month, two minutes:
- The board test. Flat 1½-inch board, or a roll of paper towels on its side, under the center of the opening. Close the door. It must reverse on contact.
- The beam test. Wave a broom handle through the photo-eye beam while the door is closing. It must reverse.
- Listen on the way up. A new noise is information. Grinding, a knock at a particular point, or a squeal at the bend all point somewhere specific.
- Look at the spring once a year. You are looking for a gap in the coil and for orange bloom. Look only; do not touch it.
If the board test fails, stop using the opener until somebody has found out why. That is not us being dramatic — it is what the failure means.
Questions
What people ask us about this
How often should the door be serviced?
Once a year for a household door, and twice for a door that is the main way into the house. Salt air near the keys is a reason to lean towards twice.
My door won’t close and the opener light is blinking.
That is nearly always the photo-eyes near the floor. Something is in the beam, one has been knocked out of line, a lens is dirty, or low sun is shining straight into one. Wipe both lenses and check each one points at the other. What we never do is disconnect the eyes to make the door close.
What is a cycle rating, and which spring should I get?
A torsion spring is rated in cycles, and one cycle is one open and one close. A standard spring is around 10,000 cycles; a high-cycle spring is 25,000 or more. A household that uses the door four times a day runs about 1,500 cycles a year, so that is roughly seven years against sixteen. We fit high-cycle by default, and a standard spring if you ask. The rating goes on your ticket either way.
Want somebody to look at it properly?
Tell us what the door is doing. The owner calls you back with the visit price, and nothing is fitted before you’ve agreed the figure.
Other work