Garage Door
There are many small things, including several battery changes, you may not have thought about when it comes to garage door maintenance. Lubrication is absolutely necessary for devices like this that operate every day.
The garage door rolls up and down on wheels that run on ball bearings. These wheels should be oiled each year with about three drops of oil or silicone spray. Put a drop of oil on the hinges also. Do not over oil these moving parts, as the oil will attract dirt that will harm the parts.
The garage door opener has a chain similar to a bicycle chain. This chain needs to be lubricated about once a year with silicone spray, spray grease, or a light oil. Do not over spray. The manufacturer recommends checking the chain tension twice a year and adjusting when needed. Look at your instruction manual for this, but if the chain is sagging it needs to be tightened.
There is a large spring mounted over the door opening that aids the opener in raising the door. The life of this spring is about seven years for a double door and fifteen for a single door. You must have a professional replace this spring when it breaks. It is very dangerous for someone who is not trained to tension this spring during installation. You can manually open and close the garage door by pulling down on the trolley release cord. The door will be heavy to lift and you may need assistance. You will see why there is a spring assist. This release can also be used to open the door during a power failure.
There is a button battery in the remote controls for your garage door opener. When it is in need of replacement, you will notice that you need to get closer and closer to your garage to open it. The life is about five years.
If you have a touchpad to open the garage door, there is a nine-volt battery inside to power it. This battery needs to be changed about once every five years. If it is not changed you will come home someday, punch in your code, and the door will not open. This happened to us last year when we went for a walk. Luckily we were able to borrow a 9v battery from a neighbor. Just hope the neighbor who has your key is home or you can borrow a nine-volt battery from someone to get into the garage.
There is a light on the opener that comes on when the opener is operated and stays on for 41/2 minutes. When the bulb burns out replace it with a 60W or smaller (a larger bulb will melt the shield). A better solution would be a 75w or 100w LED bulb which burns cool.
If the door should encounter an obstruction while closing, it will stop and the light will flash. If the light begins to flash, and the door does not move in the close direction from a push button or remote, the external safety device is activated or defective. To temporarily override to close the door activate the push button for two seconds. The opener will begin in the close direction. Keep depressing the button until the full cycle is complete. If the button is released before the cycle is complete the door will reverse and come to the full open position.
Woodchucks furniture repair day on April 12
Each year the Woodchucks usually hold two furniture repair days for residents. One is in April and one is in October. On April 12, 30-40 Woodchucks are available in the shop to repair loose chairs, broken tables, broken picture frames and other wooden items needing repair. If you have wooden furniture needing repair, sign up starting April 2 at the Meadow View CAM desk for the April 12 session at the Millgrove wood shop.
Many residents are so pleased with the repairs made to their furniture that they want to pay us. We do not accept any pay. This is our contribution to the community. We do accept contributions to our toy fund. We build 300-350 wooden toys for underprivileged children each Christmas. The wood and other parts for these toys costs $1500-$2000.
If you have suggestions for future tips or have questions about maintenance around your home submit them to ask.the.woodchucks@gmail.com
