You’ve finally gotten everyone out of bed, got them dressed, given them something to eat, and found everything they need to get on with their day. You pile everyone into the car and hit the garage door opener button. The motors start as usual, but the garage door doesn’t open. You try again, but the door still doesn’t open. Before you panic and think you’re trapped, think about how cold it is outside. Is it possible your garage door is frozen? It does happen, but it doesn’t mean you’re stuck inside until spring. Getting the door open without causing damage requires some well-thought-out actions. This article will teach you how.
How Does A Garage Door Freeze?
The most typical reason a garage door won’t open in cold weather is that it is actually frozen to the ground. This may have occurred because the moisture from inside the garage has seeped towards the door or snow and ice outside the garage has melted and refrozen along with the rubber stripping on the bottom of your garage door.
What Not To Do
Whatever the case, don’t keep pressing the door opener button in hopes that the motor will be strong enough to pry the door off the ground. This can cause the motor to burn out and you’ll end up having to replace it. It can also cause the mechanism that attaches the motor to the door to break.
You’ll also want to resist the temptation to yank the door open manually. Not only are automatic garage doors incredibly heavy, but the fact that there’s ice covering the ground can also make this a slippery and dangerous proposition. It can also cause the rubber trim to rip and tear which will need replacing if you want to keep any warmth in and the cold out.
What To Do
Remove any snow and ice that’s drifted along the outer side of the door. Quite often heavy drifts are enough to stop your door from opening, so getting rid of the entire length of snow running along the entrance may solve the problem. If there’s ice be careful not to chip at the door or the rubber liner.
If you need to get on the road quickly, you can use warm water to melt any ice that’s sticking the rubber liner to the ground. However, if it’s freezing outside you’ll need to do this quickly or you’ll only add to the ice that’s already there.
If you have more time to work with you can set up a heater inside the garage and point it towards the spots of the door that are frozen. Just be sure not to set it too close to the door so as to create a fire hazard.
