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Manual garage doors are a pain to open and close. Without the motor and switch which make electronic garage doors so convenient, users will need to stop, get out of their car, unlock and lift up the garage door before parking their car. After getting into the garage, the process will be repeated, unless that person plans on leaving his or her car and possessions highly visible and easily stolen.
Not only are electronic garage doors more convenient, they’re much easier on the body and not so difficult for the old or infirm to operate. If you have a remote control garage door here’s how you can easily install the thing yourself to save money on overpriced, professional work you don’t exactly need. It’s really just screwing in some bolts and setting up some rails, nothing complicated or too difficult.
Take Measurements
Before you install anything, make sure the door you’ve selected is wide enough to actually fit the garage you need to cover. Many projects like this have been delayed or dropped because a garage door was too big or too small to fit in the available space.
So, get some precise measurements before putting money down on a door. You will want to measure the height of your garage opening as well as the length to make sure the door you buy won’t need to be returned or scrapped.
The door is sure to have a certain width to it too; make sure you car or cars will fit comfortably in the garage with the new door shut behind them.
Install Rails
Because remote control garage doors operate by sliding up and down along metal rails, you’ll need some of those rails to feed the door through if you want it to work. Using the measurements you took in the last step will make this easier as you’ll know where you need to go on ceiling to catch the garage door as it swings up from the ground.
Rails may need to be installed well into the back of your carport if the door you got is too tall. This is superfluous spending and another good reason to take exact measurements before starting this or any size-sensitive job. Use high quality steel rails that won’t bend or snap.
Get a Good Battery
Running new electrical lines to your garage isn’t something you should do if you don’t have any previous training and experience as an electrician. That doesn’t mean you need to pay big money for someone else to get your garage ready for its new door though, not at all.
Instead of operating on hard, grounded wires, your electronic garage door can work with batteries instead, just like most other electrical appliances. The battery is big, about the size of a car battery; it will install into the roof of your garage where the door assembly and gears are already set up. This is a great, cheaper alternative to getting dangerous electrical work done.
Use the Right Tools
Garage doors are heavy, too heavy for a single person to pick up and move. You must realize that the motor you install is going to be lifting up that big, heavy door on its own, every time. If you don’t install everything correctly and use screws strong enough to hold up the mass, your remote controlled garage door could end up on top of your car instead of above it.
You definitely shouldn’t use discount tools or parts and going cheap on this project is like asking for something to go wrong, something which will cost you a lot of money later. Installing your garage door is not the time you should be skimping!
