Understanding Smart Garage Door Openers

When you need to leave your home in a rush, you might forget details like whether you closed the garage door. If you’re away from home, you may also want to know when the door was opened or closed. Smart garage door openers introduce innovative technology that solves these and other needs relating to your garage door.  What Is a Smart Garage Door Opener? Smart garage door opener systems use your wireless internet connection and sensors on the garage door controller and rails to send data to an app. As for the role of smartphone apps in garage door operation, […]

Elevate Your Curb Appeal With Our Garage Door Trends for 2024

Home design trends continually change, and 2024 is no exception. These shifts in taste impact every aspect of your house’s interior and exterior, including garage door styles. Explore the designs, colors and features on track to become this year’s popular options for transforming the look, feel and function of homes everywhere. Introduction to 2024’s Garage Door Trends Garage doors are a prominent feature of many houses, forming a substantial portion of their exterior. As a result, they’re key to your property’s overall visual appeal, security and access. Best Overhead Door has over 30 years of experience helping Portland area builders […]

What (Else) To Replace After a Garage Door Spring Breaks

Most people do not realize that factory standard parts on a garage door have a life span of 10,000 cycles.  This includes the springs, rollers, bearings, drums and cables.  The spring is usually the first thing to go which gives you a sign that you had used your garage door at least 10,000 times.  Some people just change a spring but this just causes more problems later on.  It is best at this time to change the springs, rollers center bearing, bearing plates, spring shaft or tube and cables.  Why You Should Replace Your Remaining Garage Door Parts When Your […]

Tips for Keeping Your Garage Organized and Clean Year-Round

Despite most homes having a garage, many of these spaces don’t actually serve as useable spaces for storing vehicles. Instead of car parking, most homeowners find their garage is a mass of unorganized storage for old boxes, seasonal decor, home improvement tools and lawn and garden equipment. While cleaning out your garage may seem insurmountable, you can easily reorganize the space back into a garage in only a day or weekend. To begin, sort through all of the items currently stored in your garage and begin placing them into three categories: keep, donate and throw out. Regardless of sentimentality, toss […]

How to Tell if Your Garage Door Springs Are Broken

As you may be aware, one of the reasons your garage door may not be working correctly can be a broken garage door spring. However, you may be unsure of how to tell if a garage door spring is broken or know what to do if your garage door spring breaks. Here’s what you need to know about your garage door springs and what to do about them if they break. Types of Garage Door Springs Your garage door has one of three types of springs:  Most residential garage doors have one or two torsion springs, which you will find above your garage door when […]

How to Protect Your Garage Door From Heavy Rain

When a storm rolls through and brings a lot of rain, your house may be susceptible to water damage or flooding. The most vulnerable places that can experience water damage during heavy rain are your garage door and the inside of your garage. Your garage door is the main protective barrier that keeps the items inside of your garage safe from the outdoor elements. If your garage door succumbs to water damage, it can impact the door’s integrity and potentially affect the belongings you store in the garage. Learn how to prevent rain damage on your garage door and the […]

Benefits of Sealing Garage Doors Your garage doors are your home’s largest access point, so if your garage doors have a faulty seal, your house risks exposure to the elements and unwelcome pests like insects and rodents. If you’re looking to save energy, reduce your heating or cooling costs, protect your garage from water damage and keep pests away, sealing your garage door can do all of the above. While all garage doors come with a weather seal, they wear out over time and need replacement. Weatherstripping your garage door provides you with peace of mind by ensuring nothing can […]

Contact Us How to Open a Garage Door During a Power Outage We often take automatic garage door openers for granted, especially when they are working as they should. Garage door openers rely on electricity to operate the opening and closing of the door. But will the garage door open if the power is out? Without power to the opener, you may be stuck either inside or outside the garage. If you’ve experienced this situation, you’re aware of the frustration and inconvenience it can cause. Fortunately, there are a few solutions to this problem, and it is possible to open the […]

How to Maintain a Wooden Garage Door Your wooden garage door adds warmth and style to your home’s facade. It accentuates your home’s originality and charm, elevating any architectural choices. If you want your garage door to look and function like it’s brand-new, you’ll need to keep up with regular maintenance. Some tasks you can take a few moments to do on your own — others may require professional service. Either way, simple preventive maintenance can save you a great deal of time and money in the long-run. Learn how to properly maintain your wooden garage door. Why Should You Maintain Your […]

How to Clean Your Garage Door Your garage door is one of the most important and practical features of your home. Cleaning your garage door is a way to invest in that crucial amenity. The experts at Best Garage Door have created this guide to help you learn more about the importance of cleaning garage doors. Read on to discover how to properly clean your garage door. Why Should You Clean Your Garage Door? Here are a few of the reasons you should clean your garage door: Extend your garage door’s life span: Your garage door takes a beating throughout the […]

High Cycle Garage Door Springs

The answer to the question, “How long does a garage door spring last”, depends on a number of things. The majority of modern overhead garage doors use a torsion spring, which has a standard rating of approximately 10,000 cycles. Each time you open and close your garage door, you complete one of these cycles. If you typically complete around 3 to 7 cycles each day, your garage door spring’s life cycle would be around 3 to 10 years.    However, other factors — such as increased cycles, temperature changes, and lack of regular maintenance — can negatively impact how long […]

Tips for Maintaining Your Garage Door’s Warranty

Your home’s garage door is most likely the primary entry to your home, the first line of home security and an improvement to your daily functions and energy efficiency. Having a garage door warranty is essential and can protect homeowners from installation defects that could later cause property damage or personal injury. Clopay® offers a one-year installation warranty, covering garage door replacement from one of their Authorized Dealers or Master Authorized Dealers. With an Authorized Dealer, Clopay is guaranteeing work completed by skilled, knowledgeable, honest and capable technicians. This warranty begins the day the installation was completed and is not […]

Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart Garage Door Openers One of the most popular recent advances in garage door technology is the smart garage door controller. This is a feature for your automatic garage door that gives you much more control over the way your garage door opens and closes. If you’ve heard of a smart home, a smart garage door opener is another addition to the smart home system. With the developments of smart home devices such as smart thermostats, video cameras, security systems, voice assistants, etc., smart garage doors are the next step you can take in automating your […]

How to Prepare Your Garage Door for the Winter

A good garage door should last you year after year, even through the change of seasons and multiple daily cycles (opening and closing). But there are threats to your garage door in winter that you may need to address. Getting your garage door stuck is always bad, but when your garage door is stuck in winter, it can create all sorts of problems. Leaving a garage door open in winter allows warm air to escape your home, driving up energy costs and allowing anything in your garage, like your car, to be fully subjected to the elements. To help you […]

What to Do If Your Garage Door Opener Stops Working

If you’re like most homeowners, you probably rely on your garage door opener to get in and out of your house. But if the opener stops working, it can be a real hassle. When it doesn’t function correctly, don’t panic — there are plenty of tips and tricks available to help. From the photosensor to the antenna, there could be a few different culprits to blame. We are breaking down some easy DIY troubleshooting tips to help you get your garage door operating like normal. If these tips don’t work, you may need to turn to a professional for repairs […]

Home Security Tips: How to Protect Your Home From Thieves

Before we start looking at ways you can protect your home from burglars, it’s important to understand one thing — if a thief wants to get into your home, not a whole lot will stop them. There’s a residential burglary happening somewhere in the United States about every 20 seconds. Only about 13% of residential burglars are caught. The deck would seem stacked against you. The idea behind home security tips is to find ways that you can prevent yourself from being one of those homes. Certain steps will greatly reduce the chances of your home being robbed, yet they’re steps many […]

How to Prepare Your Wood Garage Door for Spring and Summer in Oregon

In springtime, a homeowner’s thoughts often turn to ways to spruce up their home. In the middle of all the landscaping and spring cleaning that often comes this time of year, there’s one home improvement project that often gets overlooked — garage door maintenance. These days, the majority of people use their garage door as the primary entrance to their home. Because you use this door so much, it’s necessary to prepare your garage door for spring and the upcoming summer months as well. If you have a wood garage door, then it’s even more critical to make sure you’re […]

How Do Garage Doors Improve Home Safety?

Garage doors, from the outside, look like an impenetrable force to prevent home burglaries. And as long as only family members have remotes or keypad codes, intruders can’t enter your home, right? Garage doors can provide excellent security for your home as long as they’re not accidentally left open and are properly maintained. Many intruders can take advantage of your home’s lack of security by either copying your garage door opener’s frequency to their own remotes or even being able to lift roll-up garage doors. Tips for improving your home’s garage door security include: Closing Your Garage Door: A simple […]

Home Improvement Projects With the Best ROI

These days, television is filled with home improvement shows featuring remodeling and decorating on both a large and small scale. Everyone is talking about installing new hardwood floors, knocking down walls and replacing old pipes. It all sounds great, but most people don’t have the luxury of renovating their entire home all at once. And, the truth is that this approach to home improvement isn’t always the smartest. Whether you’ve recently purchased your home or you’re contemplating a move, it’s important to weigh the renovations you want to do with their potential for return on investment (ROI). What does that […]

How To Tell If Your Garage Door Hinges Wear Out

Although small and somewhat easy to ignore, your garage door’s hinges are an essential component, guaranteeing the proper opening and closing of your garage door and allowing your door to accurately follow the track to eliminate any swinging. If the garage door hinges wear out, it may be extremely difficult or impossible to safely open your garage door. Whenever your garage door operates, many parts are under a great deal of tension, weight and pressure — including the hinges. Garage door hinges can often wear or become broken as a result of being damaged — for example, by a car […]

How to Choose a Garage Door Opener

If you don’t have an automatic garage door opener for your garage, or your existing garage door opener is worn out or you just need an upgrade, it will be important for you to know how to choose a garage door opener to replace it. You can choose from many different types of garage door openers, and knowing which one is right for you will depend on a variety of factors. Here are four of the main factors to consider when you’re wondering how to choose a garage door opener. Type of Drive Your automatic garage door opener can be […]

Can Your Garage Door Be Hacked?

Your garage door is a major entry point into your home, so it is only natural to wonder — can garage doors be hacked? Are garage door openers secure? You may have heard stories about criminals using loose garage door opener remotes to get into unsuspecting people’s homes. If this is true, what can you do to stop your garage door from being hacked? Can Garage Door Openers Be Hacked? The truth is that if you have an older garage door, it can indeed be hacked. The original mechanism for garage door openers was a series of dipswitches set in […]

Does My Garage Door Need Regular Maintenance?

Many homeowners choose to forego routine inspections and maintenance for their garage doors because they can function many years without noticeable problems. This lack of maintenance can lead to inconveniences, like being stranded inside or outside of your garage — and can lead to costly emergency repairs or frequent technician visits. As the primary entrance for most homes, the garage door is estimated to operate over 1,800 times per year for average homes. To ensure your garage door is always in top-notch condition, garage door professionals recommend having a garage door tune-up at least once per year. Having regular garage […]

Benefits of a Custom Garage Door

When you have the right type of garage door, utilizing the latest designs and features, you can add to your daily productivity, add curb appeal and home value. Most homeowners opt for a standard garage door to simply get the job done: reliably opening and closing the garage as they come and go. Findings in REMODELING magazine’s 2018 Cost vs. Value Report show that replacing a garage door not only improves a home’s curb appeal, the project generates the best return-on-investment (ROI) when it comes to recouping cost at resale. The report indicates that spending $3,470 for an upscale garage […]

How Long Should a Garage Door Last?

Contact Us Many homeowners take advantage of the reliability of their garage door, expecting the door and opener to operate optimally for a lifetime. Homeowners know how long the roof should last, and appliances like the hot water heater, but how long do garage doors realistically operate? With proper maintenance and care, you can expect your garage door to last a minimum of 15 years. Garage Door Lifespan – How Long Do They Last? While garage door warranties vary, many manufacturers offer a warranty for their products for typically three years. How long your garage door will last largely depends […]

What to Do if Your Garage Door Is Off-Balance

Contact Us Garage doors were created to have even and smooth operations when opening and closing, but too often, due to lack of proper maintenance and spring wear, garage doors can become off-balance. The balance of your garage door is managed by the tension of torsion or extension springs. These springs make raising and lowering garage doors easy. When a garage door is off-balance, it means the springs either don’t have enough tension to counterbalance the door’s weight or they are exerting too much pressure. The garage door opener strains when it is off-balance, which will drastically shorten its life. Operating […]

How Often Should Your Garage Door Be Serviced?

Your garage is most likely the primary way your family enters your home — homeowners use their garage door 1,500 or more times per year. Most homeowners make the mistake of only having their garage door inspected when a part or component breaks. To keep your garage door in proper working condition, professionals recommend having regular garage door service on your door once every year.  Benefits of Regular Garage Door Maintenance Regularly scheduled maintenance for your garage provides numerous benefits to ensure this convenient feature lasts. Cost Efficiency Your garage door will most likely show signs of use years after installation. You may notice […]

Do Garage Doors Need to Be Inspected?

For most of us with garages, the only time we give much thought to our garage door is when it breaks down. As long as it is opening and closing on command and not making an excessive amount of noise or behaving erratically, we assume everything is fine. But do garage doors need to be inspected? The answer is yes, and here’s why. The Importance of an Annual Garage Door Safety Inspection A garage door system has many moving parts, and moving parts are designed to wear out. Even if your garage door seems to be working fine, you could […]

How to Paint & Maintain Your Custom Carriage House Garage Door

Instructions for Painting and Maintaining Your Best Custom Wood Carriage House Doors To the Homeowner: Please note that our custom wood doors are made to our high standards with top quality products. We DO NOT provide a finish on our custom wood doors. The finish warranty is the responsibility of the painting company you choose and the finish should match the quality of our doors to maintain the beauty and integrity of your investment. Below are instructions that we recommend to you, the homeowner, to pass on to your painting contractor. We recommend that you NOT use dark stains or […]

How to Choose a Garage Door Dealer

How to Choose a Garage Door Dealer There are a variety of sources you can turn to to purchase or obtain garage door products, the most popular of which is the door dealer professional, such as an International Door Association (IDA) Dealer. IDA Garage door dealers are often the most reliable and dependable source for several reasons. These include experience, knowledge and – most importantly – the fact that IDA Dealers make their living by selling, installing and servicing door systems. Safety: A Primary Concern A garage door is often the largest moving object in a home or commercial business […]

How to Choose the Perfect Garage Door for Your Home

When you envision taking your home’s curb appeal up a notch, chances are you envision a gorgeous, expensive landscape or an upgrade to the front entrance. You may not give much thought to replacing your garage doors, but a recent study proves that might be the first thing to consider. Among all home remodeling projects that cost less than $5,000, replacing garage doors made the top five for having the highest return on investment. In fact, garage doors can increase the total value of your home by 4 percent. But curb appeal and an increase in your home value aren’t […]