If your garage door has come off the tracks, it’s not a good situation. The rollers in the tracks are what is holding the door in place so if the rollers have been thrown off, your door is really just hanging there. This can be quite dangerous as the door could possibly fall, coming down on you or your family or onto your car or other valuable items inside your garage. Garage doors can be very heavy so if that was to happen, it could cause some very serious injuries. If your door is off the tracks, it should be fixed by a professional immediately to prevent that from occurring.
You are probably wondering what caused the door to come off the tracks in the first place so here are a few of the reasons that can cause this.
- The garage door was hit.
This one is the most obvious. If someone has hit the door with their vehicle and the door is now off its tracks, clearly it was the hit that caused it. Unfortunately, a car doesn’t need to be moving very fast to do quite a number on your door. When a vehicle hits a garage door, it doesn’t always only damage the doorface, it can affect the entire door system. Rollers can be forced out of the tracks, cables could come off, among other issues.
- Tracks that are misaligned or bent
With regular door usage, the vibrations can eventually loosen up the brackets and bolts. As these parts loosen, it is possible for the tracks to shift and become misaligned. When the tracks are not in proper alignment it greatly increases the chance of the rollers coming off.
Tracks that are not good quality can also create a problem. They can end up warping and bending if they cannot properly sustain the weight of the door. It’s important to have good quality tracks that can handle the weight and will not easily warp.
If rollers are damaged, or one or more rollers have come off, this can also cause the tracks to bend as the weight will not be distributed evenly.
Tracks can also bend and dent from accidental damage. You should inspect your tracks during regular maintenance a couple of times per year to ensure you cannot see any damage as you might not notice straight away. Bumping the track or something in your garage falling on the track could cause dents.
- Damaged or worn out rollers
Rollers wear out after a few years from normal wear and tear. If some of the rollers have worn out or broken, it forces the other rollers to handle more weight and take on more of the work. This can cause the remaining rollers to break, the track to bend and lead to the rollers coming out of the door tracks.
- Broken cables
If one cable snaps on your garage door, it can cause the door to become unbalanced. You may notice your door being lopsided where one side is shut and the other side is partly open. The weight of the door will be transferred to the cables on the side of the door that isn’t broken. This uneven distribution can make the rollers come off the tracks.
A door that is off the tracks is unsafe. You should always be very careful if this occurs and it is highly recommended to have a professional fix the issue to prevent injury. If your door is off the tracks, call The Door Master. We will have a technician out quickly to determine the cause and get the repairs done so you can safely continue using your garage door.