Good quality garage door openers will serve your home for years. True, every now and then,  you may have to call a garage door technician to look into a squeak or a lag in the response. Most of the time, however, your opener is this silent and reliable workhorse that operates the door for you.

Family Safety Comes First

When time comes for your opener to be replaced, there will be indicators that you ought not ignore. Otherwise, you will be putting your family at risk for injury. An opener need not be faulty or non-working for you to start shopping for a new one. Older models that are not equipped with the reverse-closing mechanism that newer garage doors have is a hazard to your young kids. Non-coded openers will also make your home vulnerable to break-ins since this type of security has long been replaced by programmable code entry or some other keyless form of entry. The latter will make your garage door more secure and difficult to hack. Lastly, an opener that has an emergency power source for those unexpected blackouts, will enable you to enter your home hassle-free.

Source: Garages.about.com

There is no question that the function of a garage door opener is very essential in every garage. This is the reason why door openers must be regularly maintained together with the garage doors.

But even if proper maintenance has been made, there will come a time that the door openers will eventually reach its lifespan. Once this happens, then it must be replaced.

Whether you are replacing your door opener because you bought a newer model or your old one is already not repairable, changing the mechanism is quite a challenging process. The difficulty here is caused by the pre-installation of the track.

If you follow the steps that the manufacturer of the door opener provided, then you should be good to go.

1. The very first thing to do is to remove the old door opener. Make sure you do this carefully so that the main mechanisms of the door will not be damaged. Next, get hold of a measuring tape and find the center of the garage door. Mark the center since this will be the spot where you will be installing the new one. If the center spot does not match the old location of your door opener, follow the center line.
2. Mark the high point of the door. Homeowners will be able to do this by raising their residential garage doors and looking at the highest spot. Place a piece of wood in the area. But if your old opener already has a support piece placed, then there will be no need to add another one.
3. Grab the rail’s front end and attach it to the door in the spot where you marked as the center of the garage door. The rails must be assembled carefully based on the instructions of the manufacturer. Once the rails are placed, bring down the garage door.
4. Placed the motor assembly in the ceiling but make sure that the rails are in a horizontal orientation before fastening it. You can slightly lift the door to make sure that the rails are aligned.
5. Plug the door opener and set the remote control. You should also set the motion sensors.
6. Try opening the garage door using the remote control and check if the door opens smoothly.

Garage door openers are essential parts of the garage as they play a very important function. That is why choosing a garage door opener that is durable and powerful is imperative when replacing your old model.

Chamberlain

Chamberlain is one of the largest brands when it comes to manufacturing of door openers for different garages in the country. The brand has a line of door openers that are built in such high standards and superior quality control.

Chamberlain Lift Master Professional Formula 1

One of their models is the Chamberlain Lift Master Professional Formula 1.

• This has a motor that runs at one half horse power and it is also a belt drive type door opener.
• Most of the users that have this model installed in their garages say that it is a powerful model that can easily open their garage door and it is also very quiet.
• One of the reasons why this door opener runs a quiet operation is the feature called MVIS or the Motor Vibration Isolation System.
• This model is also capable of emitting light that is 200 watts bright.

As we all know, door openers are attached to the structure of the house. With this system, the vibrations of the motor will not carry on to the house and the noise is dramatically reduced. This is what many consumers love about this model.

Experts say that door openers for the garage is best placed in conjunction with the garage door installation. But of course, if you are just buying a new door opener or vice versa, then you can also do so;  just make sure that all mechanisms are connected properly and that the door is also balanced.

Interesting Features of Chamberlain

• The Chamberlain brand always makes sure that the security and the safety of the homeowners are their priorities.
• All of their models are built with features like sensors and invisible light beams.
• Aside from that, there is also a remote control that can be used to easily regulate the movement of the garage door.
• There is also an accessory that emits laser lights to assist you when you park your car in place.

Recently, Florida became the host of the 2012 International Builders’ Show. The show featured a very well designed and engineered house known as Cool Energy House. It has great features and energy saving capabilities.

The Cool Energy House

• It used different innovations in housing technologies and parts that were built to maximize energy efficiency.
• This house is a great way to show other people in the country that there are now new technologies that are made to improve their dwellings. Among the parts that were used in the house were from the company called Clopay.

Clopay

Clopay is an award winning Door Company that creates energy efficient and durable doors for your homes. Some of the doors in the Cool Energy House used were from Clopay’s Canyon Ridge Collection.

Clopay’s Canyon Ridge Collection

• These are very durable residential garage doors.
• The materials used in making these doors include a polyurethane insulated faux wood that only requires very low maintenance.
• These doors actually reduce the energy loss of the house all year round.
• The designs of the Clopay garage doors are also very elegant. The ones used in the Cool Energy House had stained Mahogany composite cladding. These doors could endure any weather and they are guaranteed never to crack, shrink or split.

Clopay’s Wind Code

The back part of the garage doors are very well reinforced with the use of Clopay’s Wind Code. The door will stay in its place even if there are strong winds caused by a hurricane. Because of this reinforcement technology, posts are not required to keep the door secured.

Clopay’s Two-way Technology

Clopay also uses high end and durable garage door openers which are equipped with a two-way technology.

This system allows the homeowners to control the doors from any location with the use of their smartphones or portable computers with internet access.

This means the owners can check whether the door is locked even if they are already at the office.

The Cool Energy House also features a great veranda at the back where the people can have a magnificent view of the water. Other parts of the house also use materials that use great energy efficiency technologies.

Some parts of entry door systems break faster than the others. If you are in the market for a new garage door remote control, there are a few features that you want to consider.

1. Compatibility. Since it is only the remote control that needs updating and not the garage door openers themselves, your wallet will be spared from the expense of a new opener. There are universal garage door remote controls available that you can purchase and install on your own. While these types of controls are made to work with most opener brands, you may need to double-check the same. You could end up spending for something that will not complement with your specific opener brand.

2. Security. Having a numerical code inputted onto a keypad adds a higher level of security to your door opener control. This is an ideal feature to have on garages not attached to the house. As for fingerprint pads that will only recognize and open the garage door on the owners’ fingerprints, potential intruders are even more deterred at the sight of them.

3. Power Source. Garage door openers run on batteries so maintenance is relatively easy. They just vary on their consumption of power and how often you change your batteries.

Source: Garagedoorclicker.posterous.com

Some problems that plague garage doors are common enough that homeowners, especially those with older models, are bound to get them sooner or later.

Headache: Squeaks and other noise.

Problem: Roller-related. Since the moving part of the garage door is largely attributable to the rollers, most sounds, be they a squeak or a pop or a grating noise, are caused by them. Depending on the issue, the usual fix can include oiling some parts, adjusting or re-aligning the tracks, or replacing the worn out parts.

Headache: Faulty operation or non-functional at all.

Problem: Opener or torsion spring.  When doors refuse to open or lags in opening or closing, the usual culprits are the garage door openers or the torsion springs. For the former, you can try changing the batteries and see if the door functions again. It might also have something to do with your code. As for the latter, any attempt to tighten or replace them is better left to the trained garage door technician to prevent injuries or accidents.

Headache: Burnt smell.

Problem: Electrical wiring. The opener box may have exposed wires and shorts that could be the reason for the odor. If you are handy with electrical tapes, you can repair these wires yourself; otherwise, have an electrician take a look and do the necessary fixes.

Source: Angieslist.com