Garage Doors Are A Good Investments

May 13, 2016 / doorsmt / Leave a comment

Garage doors are one of the best investments for which a homeowner can recoup a considerable sum—80 to 85% of their initial investment. In fact, it’s one of the best areas of the home to recoup any of the initial cost. But, putting just any new garage door in place of an older version isn’t always the best choice. Because much of the recouped costs of the initial investment stem from curb appeal, it’s important to choose a garage door that not only functions reliably and protects from the elements, but also fits the style of the home.

garage doors billings mt

C.H.I Overhead Garage Doors has numerous styles that will fit any homeowners needs. Most homeowners will choose the roll-up type of garage door, which is a garage door that, when opened, goes upward into a track, and, when closed, travels back down the same track. Other doors, such as carriage house-style garage doors open outward from the garage door opening. A carriage house-style garage door is a traditional door, and most carriage house doors have a truly traditional look. You can also purchase a roll-up style of garage door that has a traditional carriage house look, complete with the iconic hardware to the front of the garage door.

C.H.I Garage Doors also have numerous style choices for the front of the garage door. While these doors are made of steel, doors can be purchased with raised or inset panels. The door can be accessorized with traditional cast hinges or simple and plain—doors that are super-sleek and modern-looking. For the traditional look, or just a truly custom look, the doors can be built with arched windows—similar to the traditional carriage house-style look—as well as rectangular, crisp-lined modern looking windows. Also, you can purchase C.H.I in numerous colors. The door can have a painted, simple appearance that comes close to matching or contrasting—depending on your tastes—the exterior of your home. Or, the door can be finished in a look that has the appearance of traditional wood, although it’s still a steel garage door—safe, functional, and lasting.

Please visit Bailey Garage Doors for all of your garage doors needs!

Garage Door Springs Billings MT

April 10, 2016April 10, 2016 / doorsmt / 5 Comments

A Garage Door’s spring is a mechanical component to the garage door, and because of the pressures placed upon it to both raise and lower the door, the springs will eventually go bad. The problem with garage door springs is that it’s not the easiest component to fix. As we’ve talked about here before, because of the pressures behind those springs, for the amateur, or even professional for that matter, those springs can represent serious bodily pain, loss of limb or maybe even life. It’s best to call a professional if you don’t have either the knowledge or practice replacing these springs. Garage Door Springs Billings MT

When a spring does break, it could be at the worst possible time—when you are hoping to leave for work, school, etc. You will know a spring has broken when the garage door wont open or close—this could also be a sign of other problems such as a faulty garage door opener, etc., and the list of ways in which to troubleshoot a stuck garage door can be found in February’s blog post. If you’ve determined that the spring is at fault, call a professional technician at Bailey’s Garage Door. If you continue to try and engage the spring by continuing to try to open and close the garage door, it could do severe damage to the door.

So, how do you prevent this moment in time in which you’re stuck with a broken garage door, hoping that a Garage Door Technician is available soon! There may have been warning signs before the door became stuck, warning signs that you could have caught early, and avoided the stuck disaster. Unfortunately, however, garage door springs wont break in standard ways, but often it might provide clues as to its wear. Firstly, if your garage door is stopping as it’s opening or closing this could be a sign of a damaged spring. Check the springs when the door is fully closed, and look for any noticeable damage or wear to the spring. Another clue is how the door is situated in the opening. Is the door crooked? Does it seem to be off its track? These could be definite clues that point to a faulty spring. Also, there’s the standard practice of if it looks broke then fix it! If there’s noticeable wear, or if you’ve had a simple accident such as backing into the door, or clipping the door with your car as you passed underneath, this would be a definite time to have the springs checked, and, possibly, replaced. You don’t want to find yourself with your car stuck in or just outside the garage at a time of emergency.

For all of your garage doors needs, please contact Bailey Doors today!

Update Your Garage Door For Curb Appeal

March 8, 2016 / doorsmt / Leave a comment

Say it’s time to sell your home. Your looking through every room, making sure everything is in order. You look outside, check the landscape’s grade, water and trim the grass. While the inside of the home is important: it’s where potential buyers are looking to spend all of their time; consider the front or the face of the home: is it leaving an impression? Does it feel welcoming to potential buyers, lifting their spirits before they step inside? Curb-appeal is important. It’s not everything in a home sale, but it sets the tone. What shape is your garage door in?

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Today’s real estate market is steady: it’s rising—for now anyway—and potential sellers are faced with considerable inventory still backlogged from a time when people struggled to sell homes for bottom-barrel prices. So, it’s important that a potential home stand out from the rest. A quality garage door from Bailey Garage Doors, grinning bright and new like a bright-white smile, greeting potential buyers, would seem to go far in today’s market. And, it may also set a home apart on price.

Also, is the door opener functioning properly? Are the safety measures such as the safety sensors functioning properly? This is important to new buyers: most buyers don’t want to buy a home they’ll have to invest considerable extra money for repairs. Check the safety sensors. The lights on the sensors should be green. Place an object in the way of the sensors and try to close the door. If the sensors are in working condition, the door wont be able to close properly on the object. Make sure to keep your hand on the opener switch, however, if the sensors are out of alignment, and the door closes without activating its sensors. Also, make sure that the door both recedes back up into the track and descends back into a closed position smoothly. If there’s a mechanical issue with the door, give a professional a call. Many garage door parts like a broken spring are best fixed by someone with the knowledge to do so, because the components are under such pressures that if mishandled it could cause serious injury or even death. Call Bailey Doors today for all of your garage door needs! (406) 656-2905

Is Your Garage Door Sticking?

February 3, 2016February 3, 2016 / doorsmt / Leave a comment

A garage door can get stuck—up, down, halfway—and, when it’s stuck, do you know how to get it moving again? Of course, by the laws of nature, the garage door will stick at the worst time: when your late for work, with a car full of kids on a freezing day, or when you’re on your way to an important dinner. Even the most well-built garage door, cared for with regular maintenance, can get stuck. The first step is to diagnose the problem: is the door stuck a fault of the opener? Or is it with the door itself?

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If the garage door opener has caused the garage door to stick, the door will retreat when the emergency cord is pulled. The emergency cord disengages the electronic garage door opener. This is a safety precaution built into the garage door. Try to move the door by hand—a half open door should be handled with extreme caution, as a falling garage door can be a very serious, threatening thing—if the door moves easily in the track, it’s the opener. If, however, the door remains stuck in position, it’s the door itself.

It could be as simple as an obstruction in the door’s track. Check the track, the area near the rollers, etc. for any possible catches. Loose hardware, such as a screw, could have fallen between the roller and the track.

There are many things that can affect a garage door from opening properly. Weather changes, a broken spring or pulley, or even an obstruction can be culprits. Most times, when the door is stuck, it is best to call a garage door professional. The garage door professional can temper with a force-adjustment mechanism that applied to the door. If you are unsure of the proper tensioning of these adjustment mechanisms, you could cause the door to fail to stop when it should and this could cause injury or death.

Springs and Pulleys are best left to the pros. Springs are very dangerous to repair or replace if you don’t know what you are doing, because they are held up under great tension.

If you have any questions about how to handle a stuck garage door, it’s best to call a pro, but, with this simple checklist, you may be able to determine the cause much quicker.

Garage Door Safety

January 6, 2016January 6, 2016 / doorsmt / Leave a comment

The garage door can be responsible for protecting some of the most valuable or valued things in our home: woodworking workshops and other tools, motorcycles and half rebuilt cars, or maybe even just a place to store our memories, the garage is an important area of the home. Because most garage doors are so big and seem so solid, this is an area of the home that people often overlook to protect. Burglars can enter the garage just like they can any other part of the home. A few simple precautions will prohibit most burglaries to the garage from happening.

Garage doors are opened daily, and, unlike the rest of our home, when the garage door is opened anyone with a view from the street is aware of the things we keep in the garage. People often forget to close the garage door when they leave, or maybe they have a forgetful teenager to blame, either way, keeping that door closed is paramount to prevent any crimes of opportunity from taking place. Your garage door technician can install a timer that will close your garage door for you after a predetermined amount of time. This will not forgo the safety mechanism put in place on the garage door like the garage door safety sensors, which prevent any accidental closure on people or objects (assuming that the safety sensors are working correctly). The timer has an override option if you wish for the door to remain open while you work, clean, etc.

When you are going on vacation, you should unplug your garage door opener. And, with the opener unplugged, you can put a padlock on the latch or run a metal bolt through a hole in the track to ensure that the door will not be opened from the outside.

Another thing that many people forget about is the garage door opener on the visor of their vehicle. That opener is hidden behind just a pane of glass. Remember to take the opener in the house with you, especially removing it from the vehicle if you are on vacation and the vehicle is going to be parked outside of the home.

Common Garage Door Problems In The Winter

December 7, 2015 / doorsmt / Leave a comment

The cold weather of winter is here. The snow is on the ground, people are out shopping in stores that play jingle bells on continuous, others tether bright flashing lights from their rain gutters and plant a big light up Santa with Reindeer in the yard. The beginning of winter means the cheery holiday season, but it can also have far less cheery connotations for your home’s garage doors. Cold weather is a likely culprit for garage door failure. Cold temperatures—below 35 degrees—can cause the oil that lubricates the garage door motor to thicken and the motor could seize. Also, cold weather could cause the metal parts that make a garage door function—leaf springs, screws, tracks, and other metal components—seize up, because the cold air cause the metal parts to contract. Also, a Garage doors springs have a good likelihood of breaking during the cold months.

Another common issue in winter is the possible fogging of the Garage Door sensors (sensors that project a beam of light, that, when broken, stalls out the descent of the garage door to prevent accidental closure on a person or things). Make sure that the sensors are fog free and also that everything is out of the path of the sensors. Often, people have a tendency to keep items like the snow shovel near the front of the garage for easy access.

Also, when the weather is warmer during the day and the snow and ice melt, water can get under the garage door and refreeze as soon as the temperatures drop back down. This can freeze the garage door down onto the pavement. The door may still open when the opener is pressed, but the ice may tear away the seal at the bottom of the door. This component can be replaced and, or, if its undamaged, put back into place. Make sure before you open the door that the door is not frozen down. you wouldn’t want to be caught in the predicament of having to leave an open, damaged garage door. If you are experiencing garage door problems this winter, please contact Bailey Garage Doors today!

CHI Garage Doors

November 9, 2015December 7, 2015 / doorsmt / Leave a comment

Bailey Garage Doors sells and installs CHI Garage Doors. CHI has a plethora of design options for garage doors that range from dark, dramatic stained wood to the whimsical logo of your favorite baseball team. Needless to say, today’s homeowner has many, many stylistic options to increase curb appeal or possibly display his or her personality with prominence.

Wood garage doors are beautiful, although garage doors made entirely of wood do require upkeep, and are not as durable as doors built of steel. Wood Accent Garage doors, by CHI, provide the natural look of wood, giving your home that curbside look of sophistication and warmth, although the doors are not made entirely of wood. The Accents Wood Grain finishes make the door appear as if it is made of wood, but it is entirely built of steel. This allows the homeowner to have the best of both worlds, in a sense: the look of wood and the durability of steel. The Wood Accent Garage Door is available in the colors: Cedar, Mahogany, Light Oak, and Dark Oak. CHI also offers a wood plank look, which is available in the same four different color options as the Accents Wood Grain finished doors.

CHI Garage Doors also makes garage doors with a displayed image. These images allow the homeowner to display their true personality. The images are based on the following four categories: Destinations, Patriotic, Sportsman, and Patterns. In the category of the Sportsman, for instance, you will find an image of a golf scene: serene, bright green fairway with the putting green, pin, and hole shown far in the distance, or an image of dawn on a lake and two men (seen only as black outlines in the new morning light) are casting fishing poles from a boat out into the lake. The Patriotic images include American Flags, and bald eagles, while the Pattern option has unique designs and even camouflage. CHI can also place your favorite Major League Baseball team’s logo on the front of the garage door, so the rest of the neighborhood will have little doubt to which team you cheer for.

DIY Garage Workshops

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 / doorsmt / Leave a comment

The DIY (Do It Yourself) motto of home improvement and design is catching on in popularity. With the numerous television programs that demonstrate home renovation, to the classes being offered at the big box home improvement stores, and the vast amount of content online, in both written, and cinematic form – You tube has become one of the most popular choices for both the professionals and the not-so professionals to post how-to videos. But, all of that building equipment has to go somewhere, and for those of you not willing to keep the table saw in your kitchen, it is bound to end up in a space like the garage. Garages are the best storage option in most homes, and, because of the unfinished nature of the garage, homeowners don’t mind shutting the door on a dirty garage. When the garage needs to be cleaned, the concrete pad on the floor cleans easily.

Garage workshops can be as simple as two sawhorses and a crosscut hand saw to a full mechanical and electrical woodworking shop. Either way, the tools within that shop will need to be protected. An intensive home woodworking shop may have everything from expensive motor driven saws to air circulation and dust collection. The garage door is all that stands between all of that expensive equipment and the outside. If the garage door is broken, or if the garage door isn’t equipped with the necessary safety features, those tools could be at risk.

Modern Garage door openers have helped to prevent break-ins from thieves. In the past, thieves could drive down a street pressing the button on a garage door opener, and if they drove past someone with the same garage door opener as they had, the door would open. Now, garage door transmitters are built for the opener. When the button on the transmitter is pressed, a code is sent to the garage door opener. There are over a billion codes that relay between the transmitter and the opener, so it is a low risk that someone could easily determine what code to use to open the door.

Garage Door Springs

September 7, 2015 / doorsmt / Leave a comment

The spring on the garage door can break and, when it breaks, a professional garage door technician should be called to replace it. Garage doors use two different types of springs: tension and extension. When a garage door’s tension springs break, the process to fix the broken springs is difficult and can also be very dangerous for both the amateur and the professional. The reason the tension springs are dangerous to replace is because the springs are under constant tension. Because of the tension, if a mistake is made or if an incorrect tool is used to fix the springs, the person fixing the springs could face serious injury, possibly lose his limb or even his life.

The springs are still dangerous for a professional garage door technician to replace. When a technician replaces the broken springs, he has to assume that the tension springs will break when he unwinds them. He will need to wear a set of safety glasses and keep his clothes and body parts well away from the springs. A component of the garage door called the winding cone keeps the tension spring in place. These cones can slip or even explode into many pieces and great care should be taken to prevent possible injury.

Extension springs, are built differently then tension springs, because these springs are held into place by safety cables. These cables help to control the broken spring, but even though it is in place for a safety precaution, the springs are still held up under a tremendous amount of pressure and a professional technician should probably be called in the event that one breaks.

Diagnosing a garage door spring problem is simple: does the door open and close smoothly? If the door is not operating smoothly, it is likely the tension springs. If the door is making noise, turn off the garage door opener and try open the garage door manually. If the garage door still makes noise the problem is likely the springs. It is also possible that a noisy garage door may just need some lubricant to be applied to the springs. The average home can easily diagnose and fix these simple problems with a garage doors springs, but even the most seasoned DIY’er should probably allow a garage door technician to fix the garage door spring when it breaks..

Garage Door Opener Maintenance

August 16, 2015 / doorsmt / Leave a comment

Like any major appliance in the home the garage door and the garage door opener should be regularly maintained to prevent poor service or possible failure. To begin maintenance, tell everyone in the home your plan to work on the garage door or opener to prevent any possible injury. The first step to garage door maintenance is simple: stand inside the garage with the garage door closed; inspect the springs, rollers, pulleys and all of the mounting hardware for both the garage door and the opener. If there are any signs of damage or noticeable wear to these components, it may be time to call your garage door professional to replace the damaged or worn components (Remember garage doors are held up under a lot of tension, and a trained professional should be called to replace damaged hardware to prevent any possible injury to the homeowner).

The balance of the garage door should also be regularly checked to ensure the garage door is opening and closing with no resistance along its track. With the garage door closed, disconnect the automatic door opener, and, with the automatic door opener disconnected, lift the garage door manually into an open position. If the door moves smoothly and freely into the upward position, the door is in alignment. If, however, the door catches and drags on the rails, a trained garage door technician should properly service the door.

The garage door’s reversing mechanism – devices which have been added to all garage doors built after 1993 and are responsible for the prevention of the possible entrapment of a person under the garage door – should also be tested regularly. To test the door’s reversing mechanism, open the garage door and place a two by four on the garage floor directly in the path of the garage door. With the two by four in place, close the garage door onto it. When the garage door falls on the two by four and makes contact, the garage door should retreat back up on the track into the open position. If the door does not immediately retract, call your garage door service technician to fix the reversing mechanism.

On a final note, a small amount of lubrication can be added to all of the garage doors moving parts. Make sure that the garage door is either in a fully opened or closed position while working on the garage door, and stand clear of the garage door and all of the moving parts when the garage door is activated.

Garage Doors Billings MT

Bailey Garage Doors

Author: doorsmt