Garage door tune-up and safety check
A tune-up is $119 and takes about an hour. We balance the door, tighten and check the hardware, lubricate the moving parts, and run the safety reversal and photo-eye tests. On a door older than about fifteen years it's the cheapest way to find out what's coming before it strands you.
The balance test, and how to do it yourself
Pull the release cord to disconnect the opener, then lift the door by hand to about waist height and let go. A balanced door stays where you put it. One that slides down or springs up is out of balance, and the opener has been carrying the difference.
That's the thing that quietly kills openers. The motor is sized to guide a balanced door, not to lift an unbalanced one, and the drive gear is what gives out first.
What we check
Spring tension and visible condition. Cable condition, particularly the bottom few inches. Rollers and hinges. Track alignment and the fixings holding it. Bolts, which back out over years of vibration. The bottom seal and the bottom section.
Then the safety side: both photo eyes aligned and reading, and the reversal test with an obstruction under the door. A door that doesn't reverse on an obstruction is the one genuinely urgent thing we look for.
Why annually here
A lot of the housing around here is decades old, and doors on those houses carry accumulated wear. The components tend to reach the end of their lives within a few years of each other, because they were installed together.
Where we do this work
San Rafael, Novato, Mill Valley, San Anselmo, Fairfax, Larkspur, Corte Madera. That list is the honest one; where the drive is long we city, not the whole of it.
Questions we get asked
Is a tune-up worth it on a door that works fine?
On a door under ten years old, not particularly. On a forty or fifty year old door it's the cheapest hour you'll spend, because it finds the frayed cable and the failing spring before either one traps your car.
What lubricant should I use between visits?
A garage door lubricant on hinges, rollers and the spring, and nothing on the track. Grease on the track collects grit and makes the problem worse.
Get a price for tune-up
Call (510) 509-9998 and describe the door. We'll tell you what it usually is, what it usually costs, and when we can get to you.
San Rafael · Novato · Mill Valley · San Anselmo · Fairfax · Larkspur · Corte Madera