Garage Door FAQs
While we suggest a certified professional undertake any major repairs, there are some steps you can take to maintain your door. They are:
- Periodically lubricate your garage or overhead door track. Call us to determine the best methods for lubricating your specific door.
- Clean the frame's weather stripping with vinyl cleaner and lubricate it once every other month with an appropriate product to keep the stripping pliable.
- Inspect the rollers every six months and replace any that are worn or broken, or call us and have us replace them.
- If you have painted door, periodically paint the exterior to help protect it from the elements.
A garage door opening is very large. Insulated doors will help reduce the transfer of heat or cold air into your garage. This is important for a number of reasons:
- If your garage is attached to your home, air in the garage can travel through the doorways to your living area.
- If you use your garage as a workshop, your comfort will be a top priority.
- If your garage is below another room in your home, air can travel through the ceiling of the garage into the floor of the room above. An insulated door will keep temperatures in the garage fairly stable to reduce the temperature fluctuation in the room above.
- An insulated door is generally quieter and has a more attractive interior than a non-insulated door.
Yes. Olympia Overhead Doors offers residential doors in widths between 6" and 20" in two inch increments and in heights between 6'6" and 14'. *
*Not all door models are available in this range of widths/heights.
Standard headroom applications require 12" to 18" of space between the bottom of the opening header and the unobstructed ceiling. However, there are a variety of special track options available that make it possible for many unusual garages to be fitted with doors. By using low-headroom track, it is possible to install a door in an area that has as little as 3-1/2" of headroom.
Other special track applications include:
- Vertical lift track, for use in situations where the ceiling is extremely high and the garage door has room to lift straight up.
- Follow-the-roofline track, which is used when the ceiling of the garage is pitched at the angle of the roof, making it desirable for the door to follow the same angle, thus providing additional overhead room.
- Hi-lift track, which is used when the ceiling is unusually high, but the door must still retract to a horizontal position.
Many manufacturers us R-values to show the energy efficiency of their product. This number is calculated based on the thickness of the insulation and its chemical properties. Therefore, most of the published R-value numbers reflect only the R-value of a section, not of the installed door. A door's insulating capabilities can be greatly affected by the door's construction.
If an electric garage door opener has been installed on your door, it may not be necessary to have a lock. Most electric openers function as the lock, making it improbable that an intruder would be able to lift your door from the outside.
DASMA, the trade association for the garage door industry, discourages homeowners from attaching a lock when an opener has been installed, because too frequently, a child or other family member will accidentally lock the door. If someone then tries to open the door using the electric opener, the opener will pull against the lock causing the door to be damaged. If no opener is installed on your garage door, a lock is highly recommended.
The two types of springs used on garage doors today are extension and torsion springs. Extension springs are attached on either side of the door and stretch along the horizontal track when the door is closed. Torsion springs are typically located just above the top section of the door and are mounted to the header. They are wound springs and do not expand or contract when the door is moved.
Some homeowners prefer torsion springs because these springs offer more safety and provide better balance to the door for smoother operation.