Garage Door Summer Maintenance

May is almost over which means summer is about to sneak up on us. And with the summer months comes summer maintenance on your home. There are important summer maintenance tasks to be done on garage doors that can be done without the aid of a professional. Heat and humidity can make a garage extremely uncomfortable and could be dangerous if combustible supplies are stored in a garage. Ventilation is a must to relieve the garage from summer heat.
The best way to increase the ventilation of a garage is to put an exhaust fan in the garage. One fan option is a freestanding exhaust fan. These fans must be positioned to send airflow out a door or window. Shutter fans are a good option for removing condensation from a garage and they run constantly to pull out moisture. The last option for exhaust fans are wall or ceiling mounted fans. These fans may require professional installation because the wall or ceiling where the fan will be mounted must be removed, insulation and all. Garage exhaust fans are the most effective if positioned opposite the door.
Another way to control the temperature inside a garage is with door insulation. Garage door insulation can help regulate temperatures of the garage in the summer and also during the winter. This will keep the environment of the garage comfortable and safe for combustible supplies like spray paint. Garage door insulation is available as injected foam insulation’s or polystyrene panels. Weather stripping the gap at the bottom of the garage door also helps further insulate the garage. Not only will insulation make a garage feel more comfortable, but it could also help reduce energy costs.
In addition to providing proper ventilation, washing and painting the garage door is ideal maintenance for the summer months. During the fall and winter, dirt, grime, snow, and salt build up on the door and could lead to rusting if ignored. Steel and aluminum doors can be washed rather easily with mild household detergents. Any garage windows should also be cleaned with a mild dishwashing solution. If rusting has already occurred, sand the rust off and repaint the area with a zinc-rich primer and exterior latex paint. Summer time is also a good opportunity to add a coat of paint to the garage door. Steel doors should be painted with 100% acrylic latex exterior paint, no oil based paint. Be sure to clean the door first so that it is free of dirt, oil, or mildew.
With these simple tips, the environment in the garage can become much improved and more comfortable for summer projects. Proper summer maintenance can also keep stored items protected from extreme temperature changes and lower energy costs. Taking these maintenance steps will help extend the life of your garage door and provide a comfortable area to work on other important household projects.

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How to Choose a Garage Door Repair Company?

Both as a car and a house owner, you must certainly be familiar with garage doors. When you put your vehicle inside the garage and you find that the garage door needs repair, immediately rush to a repair firm. This is important because, you cannot keep your car unprotected for long. Let us take a brief look at what are the most important components of a garage door.
The two main parts include:
1. The door
2. The opener
The doors of a garage basically run on a spring tension. Usually its mobility depends on special metal tracks and they derive the power from the spring. Some repair tips helpful for you include –
1. You need to regularly check the proper functioning of the brackets that are there in metal tracks. You can also check them if you find crimp, dents or any damages. In case you find damages, then you must replace them at the earliest.
2. Just like a safety officer will check the rail tracks positioning; in a similar way, you need to keep up the metal tracks in the garage. As a result it is important that the tracks stay clean.
3. You need to find out whether the plates are functioning properly. Screws do become loose and hence, you need to tighten it. Look into the servicing of the hinges too.
4. The door opener is another important gadget. In many cases, you need a professional company for installation purpose. It is wise, if you install Garage Doors at the center.
5. Your garage must always have a support. If it lacks to have such a structure, then you can make use of a mounting board.
Thus, the above are some of the basic steps that you can keep in mind while repairing a garage door yourself.
Nonetheless, in today’s world every contractor has become more or less indispensable. A qualified agent can help you with quick repairs which otherwise, might take a lot of time. The services that such firms offer differ a lot. As a means of a practical and cost-effective suggestion, you must try to choose that company, which will give you all round service. They must not only repair and replace but also install.
Effective garage door repair is not possible if a non-skilled person tries to handle it. Therefore, you must remember that, such tasks are not hassle-free. Protecting your vehicle is as important as appointing the rightful garage repair company.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8348946

Memorial Day Tribute

Memorial Day is a time to reflect on all our fallen veterans.
They served our Country let us pause this day to remember their service.
“The Fallen….But Not Forgotten.”

Evolution Of The Garage And Garage Doors

Garage doors have evolved since wooden barns were made. The garage can actually be traced back to farm homes where they would build undersized garages to store their carriages or buggy carts when they were not being used or hooked up to the horses. The doors back then where not you’re traditional tilt up or roll up garage door. These would be doors that actually swung open like the traditional French doors since they typically had two pieces that would swing open. However, the building and the entrance ways began to change as cars replaced horses. The arrival of the automobile now required more space in the garage than what was traditionally needed for small buggies.
Since structures have evolved to accommodate cars so has the location of the building, the style of the door and of course the material used to make this style of door. The basic structure consists of a roll up door or a flip up garage entrance way and is made from materials such as steel, wood and fiberglass and can weigh quite a bit depending if the garage is a single car or double car garage.. Although people have many reasons for selecting different materials for their door the fiberglass door is most likely the best type of door due to the maintenance and durability of the door throughout the lifetime of the door. If you decide to have a wood door installed you should take into consideration the maintenance of painting that should be done every couple of years to prevent the wood from rotting. With a steel door you still need to paint the object to prevent rusting of this fixture.
Since garages and garage doors have changed over the years so has the location of the building which are commonly detached to the home. In addition with the garage door sizes so has the method for opening garage doors changes. In the past people would pull up to the garage door and get out of the car to open the door pull their car in and get back out to close the garage door. However, since garages are often attached to the home, the doors are larger people are no electing to install automatic openers which allow you to click a button on the remote and wait for the opening to lift and clicking it again to close the door after you have pulled the car into the garage. This type of opener is common for people living in the north where people experience a lot of snow and cold weather.
Doors have definitely come a long way since the days of the detached garages that stored carriages to our current time frame when people make the garage a main part of the home from having work benches to adding a convenience of the automatic opener.

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The Advantages of a Sectional Garage Door

If you are considering buying a new garage door, but you want something with a smoother operation than a standard up-and-over door, a sectional garage door may be the solution.
The 5 main opening mechanism available for domestic garage doors are as follows:
Side hinged
Up and over
Sliding
Sectional
Roller
This article will look at the sectional door option which has an operation that stores the door directly above the garage’s entrance, but in a different manner to a roller door.
How it works
A typical sectional door is composed of between 4 and 6 horizontal sections (panels), each of which is hinged to its adjacent panels allowing the panels to move independently. These hinges enable the door to travel around the 90 degree angle at the junction between the door opening and the roof and store both above and behind the opening.
A sectional door differs from a roller door in that it travels on a track that forms a right angle and which sees the flat door supported horizontally above and parallel with the garage floor/base. It works in a similar way to a sliding door, but with the motion being vertical rather than horizontal.
The advantages of a sectional door
Sectional doors have a number of advantages over their more conventional up and over and side hinged door counterparts. They are also an alternative to roller and horizontal sliding doors. Their features include:
  1. A smooth “jerk free” operation with a mechanism that makes the door feel light and easy to open and close. This makes them easy to use for people of all ages whatever their state of health.
  2. Sectional doors store in what is usually an unused area of space above the door, this makes them “space effective”. However they will require a storage area within the roof space that is the size of the door.
  3. A sectional door can be opened or closed when a car or other obstruction is positioned directly in front of the garage door’s opening. i.e. the doors movement is not impeded as the door does not open outwards.
  4. The vertical sectional sliding door mechanism is ideal for conversion into a remote controlled motorised mechanism and most automation kits are comparatively cheap and simple to fit.
  5. Sectional doors are available in insulated form and they can also be specified in a number of different finishes, colors and textures ensuring that their appearance can match any property.
  6. A sectional door will usually fit behind the garage door’s opening with the tracks/rails requiring fitting to piers either side of the opening. This can place a restriction on the kinds of garages that will suit a sectional door, but it also makes the stability of the frame secure and robust.
Naturally there are some minor disadvantages to sectional garage doors and these mainly take the form of buying and fitting costs.
The alternatives that you should also consider along with a sectional garage door are “roller” and “sliding” garage doors, and you can obtain comparative information about all three types at [http://www.rollergaragedoor.net/sectional.html] You could also consider a “retractable” up and over garage door which does not see the door project beyond the front face of the garage when it is in its open position (unlike a “canopy” U & O door which does).

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2575665