Reasons Why Your Garage Door Will Come Off Its Tracks

Garage doors coming off the tracks is a challenge many garage owners face. Understanding some of the common causes will help you stay attentive and be in a position to prevent accidents and further damage to the garage. A garage door that is coming off its track is a hazard to you, your property and family.

Here are the main causes why your garage door will come off its tracks:

Hitting the garage with your car

This is the most common cause for many cases. When in hurry to leave or get home people tend to pull out of the garage or get in with the door not being fully open. At other times it is just forgetfulness especially when backing up. Even a speed as low as 5 km/h is enough to cause sufficient damage. When the garage door is hit by a car, the whole door is shaken. The force is enough to cause a number of rollers to come off their tracks. This leaves the door hanging placing undue pressure on the lift cables. When you have such an experience, it is safe not to assume anything even if the damage is not extensive or visible. Call the company that did the installation and have them come to inspect the door and conduct necessary repairs.

Horizontal tracks bend under weight of the door

The garage door has considerable weight and some, especially double garage doors, can have weights going up to 400 lb. At times this weight becomes too much for the horizontal tracks and a slight impact on the door results in the tracks bending inwards. This causes the door to come off its tracks. The major reason for this is poor quality horizontal tracks. For strength and durability in the long run you need 14 gauge steel horizontal tracks about 1.8 mm thick. This should further be reinforced by an L shaped angle iron to withstand the weight overtime.

Misaligned door tracks

When the horizontal tracks are not aligned with the vertical rails they result in a wobble from the brackets at every vibration during the door use. This in turn leads to further misalignment of the tracks and in time the rollers may come off the tracks causing the door to come off too. The cause of misalignment is either poor installation or loose bolts on the brackets.

Rollers wearing out and breaking

When one or two rollers wear out and break, the others come under huge pressure. This is even critical with heavier doors. The further strain leads to more rollers breaking or coming off the rails. Much worse it results to the horizontal rails bending inside. Getting quality rollers that come with at least 10 ball bearings is crucial in preventing wear and breakage.

One of the lift cables broke

This is a rare occurrence and usually happens on older garage doors unless you are using lightweight cables on heavier garage doors. When one cable breaks it leaves the weight of the door held by the remaining cable resulting in an imbalance. This makes it easy for rollers to come off in the opened side and soon the door too.

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