Unfortunately, many San Diego homeowners are all too familiar with experiencing an earthquake. These unfortunate outdoor events can be scary, to say the least, and cause an extensive amount of damage to the area. When it comes to your home, one area that you’ll want to assess after an earthquake is your garage door.
House Shifting
When an earthquake rumbles, it can end up causing a shifting of your home’s or garage’s foundation. This movement can cause a misalignment of the garage door and its tracks. When you go to open your garage door, it may get stuck or it may go up at an angle because of the misalignment.
Track Bending
Another way that an earthquake can affect the overall functionality of your garage door is due to the excessive vibrations that it makes. These vibrations can get so bad that they actually bend or warp the tracks for your garage door. Any sort of misalignment in the frame of these metal tracks can affect the smooth operation of your door. It will likely be off-center or jammed when it tries to open or close.
Cracking Panels
Another problem with the excessive shaking that an earthquake produces is that it can cause the actual panels of your garage door to start to crack. This holds especially true for lighter-weight materials like thin steel or aluminum. If you have wooden garage doors, the shifting caused by the earthquake can cause splitting of the wood and compromise the door’s overall structural integrity as well as its appearance.
Snapped Springs and Cables
The springs and cables on your garage door are constantly underneath tension so that they can effectively help lift your garage door. When you experience seismic forces, like the excessive vibration that earthquakes cause, the springs and cables can be so disturbed that they end up losing their tension or ultimately snapping under pressure. It’s vitally important to make sure you look at the springs and cables, as trying to close your garage door once the cables have snapped can be extremely dangerous.
Electrical Damage
One component of your garage door that you may not be able to visibly see the damage to is your garage door opener. Inside this mechanical feature is a lot of sensitive electronic equipment. The excessive vibration and shaking caused by earthquakes can cause the electronic components inside of that garage door opener to become disengaged and break. Furthermore, the chain or belt that drives the garage door opener may become displaced due to the shaking.
Broken Seals
One other place to look for damage caused by an earthquake to your garage door is the weather seals that go around through the door’s edges. The constant shaking caused by the earthquake can result in cracking of the weather stripping and even allow some of it to pull loose from the door. Without adequate weather stripping, you can experience issues like excess moisture, pest infestation, and loud outside noise.
Falling Debris Damage
Apart from just the direct effect that an earthquake can have on your garage door, it’s also important to pay attention to everything that’s around your garage. As the earthquake is shaking the area violently, anything that you have stored on shelves in your garage can come flying down on your garage door and its tracks. This can cause physical damage in the form of bends in your door’s tracks or dents to your door panels.
Inspect Your Door Before Opening
After you experience an earthquake at your San Diego home, it’s important to thoroughly inspect your garage door and its components before trying to open it. You want to look at all the different tracks, panels, pulleys, cables, and so forth to ensure that they’re all still in good working condition.
If you notice any damage to any of the components of your garage door, it’s best to have one of our service professionals come in to assess and fix the problem. You should never continue to use your garage door if it has been damaged by an earthquake, as it could lead to even more costly damage causing a need for garage door replacement.
Secure Items in Your Garage
While you certainly can’t prevent an earthquake from happening, there are some necessary preventative steps that you can take to help stop damage from happening to your garage door when your home experiences one. One of the first things that you want to take a look at is all the different components that you have in your garage.
Make sure that they’re in a secure location where they won’t come flying loose whenever you experience an earthquake. Simply putting a lock on cabinet doors and making sure that countertops don’t have any loose items sitting on them can do wonders for helping to reduce any physical damage to your garage door.
Upgrade to a Reinforced Garage Door
Another great step you can take to prevent damage to your garage door during the next earthquake is to upgrade it to a reinforced garage door. This type of door is made of a more robust material that’s specifically designed to be resistant to the effects of an earthquake. These tend to be made of very heavy steel and come with some added bracing to give the door more strength to get through the worst of the earthquake shaking and vibrations.
Earthquake-Resistant Mounting Hardware
One component of your garage door that can be very susceptible to earthquake damage is the garage door opener. If it’s not properly adhered to the ceiling, it can fall down as the building shakes. To help prevent this issue from happening, it’s best to use earthquake-resistant mounting hardware. This provides a better anchor for the motor so that it’s much less likely to detach from your ceiling during the worst of the earthquake.
Use Vibration Dampeners
Another possible investment that you may want to make to better protect your garage door from damage caused by an earthquake is vibration dampeners. These are typically installed on the garage door and its frame setup to help absorb some of the excessive vibration that an earthquake causes. By actively absorbing most of the vibration, these dampeners help to minimize the amount of movement that your garage door and its tracks experience during an earthquake event.
Regular Garage Door Maintenance
One other notable thing that you can do to help minimize earthquake damage to your garage door is to invest in getting regular garage door maintenance service. Most homeowners should get professional maintenance service on an annual basis. This will take care of tasks like installing new weather stripping and checking all the components of your garage door to ensure that they’re operating correctly. This service is great for catching any potential issues with your door, as problem areas are more likely to experience an issue when it comes to earthquake shaking.
Reliable Garage Door Repair Service
ADS Automatic Door Specialists offers reliable garage door repair service to the San Diego, CA community. Our team of professionals can also assist with all of your garage door installation, replacement, and maintenance needs. Simply call our friendly office staff today to book your next appointment with one of our helpful service professionals.
