Garage Door Repair: Don't Forget Your Access Doors!

17 October 2017
 Categories: , Blog

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In the midst of having a garage door repaired, you should not forget about your access door(s). These are side or back doors to your garage that allow you to get in and out without having to open the main garage door. Your access door needs almost as much attention as your main garage door. Here is what you need to do to make sure this door is still in good working order.

Have the Technician Check the Hinges

As with your main garage door, the hinges on your access door should be checked and oiled. This keeps the hinges loose, easy to move, and less squeaky or rusty-sounding. If you have old-fashioned pin hinges, you may want the garage door repair technician replace these for safety reasons.

Fix the Lock and the Door Jamb 

There should be a fully functioning lock on all garage doors. If there is not, ask the technician to install those so that everything in the garage is protected against burglars and theft. If there are locks, but they do not seem to be working, have them replaced.

Finally, the door locks may not be working properly because of the door jambs. These are the surfaces where the doors meet the frames or the catches for the metal plates. If the frames are even a little bit off or lopsided, the jambs will not meet with the locking components. Fix the frames and the jambs should work just fine.

Handles

Garage doors that lock all have handles. The one on the main door is probably a cantilever style, while the one on your access door can be any manner of handle. If the handles are not working, neither are the locks. You could get locked out of the garage with your car and everything else inside. Then you would need a locksmith and not a garage door repair technician. It is just better to have the technician examine the handles and locks and make sure that everything is working properly while you have the technician there for the main door.

Another possible service is to have the handles replaced. If you recently renovated your garage, maybe you want handles on the doors to match. (Some homeowners do.) Your garage door technician can replace a mismatched handle on the access door so that it looks like a similar handle on the main door. You could even replace the access door handle with a key-coded cantilever handle, which would not only match the main door handle but provide more security via a keyless entry. For more information, contact companies like Velting Overhead Door.