This article How Do You Manually Open A Garage Door? was at first submitted on: ajsgaragedoorservice.com
Knowing how to manually open your garage door is vitally important, yet it’s surprising how many homeowners are not aware of how to do it. That’s OK… the good news is that it’s really not complicated! It’s kind of like a riddle where once you know the answer, you look back and think, “Wow! That’s really simple!” Why is it so vitally important to know this basic information? Well, what happens if you have a power outage and you need to leave the house but your car is in the garage? With no electricity, and without knowing how to manually open the garage, you’re stuck and you won’t be going anywhere until the power comes back on. Not a good situation! Another reason is that you want to know how to do this is so that, in the even your garage won’t open but you do have power, you can get a sense of whether you are having a problem with the garage door opener or with the door itself (most likely a broken garage door spring). A basic understanding of the difference between these two critical components of a properly operating garage door is important. You see, many people imagine that the electric motor - your ‘garage door opener’ - is responsible for ‘muscling’ the garage door open. This is actually not the case. It is the springs on the door that act as the muscle to pull the door open and control it when it goes down (a garage door can weigh several hundred pounds, so you can imagine it takes a fair amount of ‘muscle’ to accomplish this day in and day out). On a door that has the proper springs on it, the motor barely has to put out any effort at all. But if a spring is broken, the motor will try to open it, and it might be successful if your door was set up with 2 springs and only one is broken, but this puts a tremendous strain on the opener and eventually it will wear out and break completely. Your second spring will also eventually break. So, why are we sharing all this info? Because it’s important to know if your door has the proper springs on it if you want to get the most life out of your opener. And to check if you have the proper springs - or to determine if one is broken (especially in a ‘hidden spring’ torsion tube system where you can’t see the springs) - you’ll need to manually open your door to see if it balances in the half-way open, half-way closed position. If it does not, you need to call a garage door repair company to have your springs repaired. So - whatever your reason is to manually open your garage door, all you need to do is pull the release cord to disengage the door from the trolley on the opener track. Something like this is easier seen than read, so have a look at the following video. If you have further questions, or something just isn’t working right, just remember that AJ’s is always ready and willing to have a look at what’s going on for you. Just give us a call!
Hi this is Scot with everyday home repairs and if you're watching this video something tells me you're in a little bit of a hurry or maybe in a pinch so we'll get right to it maybe your power's out or something's wrong with your garage door opener and you need to get the car out of the garage you need to get to work get the kids to school it's not that big of a deal we'll show you how to to disengage the door and re-engage the door and it'll all start with this little red handle behind me let's jump in so do two things we're gonna want to check here before we can lift up the door one you're gonna want to check these two springs here they're called torsion springs that actually when your door closes those coil up and they they store potential energy so they store all the energy then when you lift the door up that is actually what's doing most of the work your garage door opener is just doing a small amount of work to lift it out if there is a break in one and especially both of these your garage door opener is going to be a beast to lift up and unless you've been doing a heck of a lot of working out that might not you might not be able to lift it up if those are intact all you need to do is to pull down and disengage this pin here to the carriage now your door can be manually opened and I'll show you how to do that all right now it's disengaged you can take the handle either in the middle on the side and just easily lift the door open and take the car out then once everything's out come back and manually lower back down take your time to not slam the door against ground one safety tip I would use the safety lock and make sure it goes through the track now when the powers back on use your remote or the wall controller and start to open the door and the trolley there will start to retract come over and then you're going to re-engage now you can go back to your controller or the wall button and press it and you'll see it grabs ahold of it now you're you're back in business and good to go
If it turns out you do need some kind of repair to your door (garage door springs or a new opener), you may want to read our article on How Much Should It Cost To Repair A Garage Door? More information about what AJ’s offers as far as garage door repair services can be found here. And don’t forget, we offer service to the entire greater Tucson area including Oro Valley and Vail, AZ.
not worth repairing[/caption] With that being said, there are a lot of variables that must be taken into account and it can be difficult to know for sure without having a good look at the door. The beauty of the technology age we live in today is that with a quick smart phone photo being texted to our highly skilled technician, we can oftentimes give you a good idea of whether it’s worth trying to fix or if it’s a lost cause and time for a new garage door. One thing to mention here is that if AJ’s tells you that you need a new garage door, it’s because you need a new garage door. We don’t sell, install, or in any other way deal with new garage doors. We only repair them. If we see a door that we can’t properly and safely repair for you, we’ll tell you that. Knowing this, you can rest assured that we’re not trying to sell you a door that you don’t really need. So going back to the scenario where one of your garage door panels is slightly tweaked, but not destroyed… it may be possible to do some work to it, such as adding a supporting steel strut to it and giving it just the right ‘umph’ to get it back straight enough to function properly. When AJ’s technicians do this kind of work, we always inform you that there is no guarantee that the door will look perfect from the outside. Once there’s a bit of a wrinkle or crease in the metal panel, there’s no ironing it out. However, when your primary concern is just getting the door to safely work again, there’s a good chance we can accomplish that for you at a cost that is a lot less than replacing the whole door. As for replacing a single panel… that is not something we do, and unless you have a very new door, it is unlikely that you’ll be able to get anyone to do it for you. The reason may be frustrating to hear, but it’s the truth. [caption id="attachment_1525" align="alignleft" width="500"]
garage door panel that causes problems but can be fixed rather than replaced[/caption] Garage door manufacturers make changes to their doors every few years. In doing so, it becomes increasingly difficult to find a perfectly matching panel for an older door. What’s more, is that over time the color on the door will fade, so when you replace just a single, older panel with a brand new one, it usually stands out and doesn’t look to great. If you can find a panel that matches your door and if you don’t mind it looking obvious that you have mis-matched panels, a single garage door panel is something that can be done by a garage door repair technician. But because of all the variable factors mentioned above, it’s not something that AJ’s offers. If you do find yourself in a situation where you’re sure you need just a single replacement panel and you’re not sure who to call, go ahead and call us and we’ll share a few names of local companies that we feel do good quality, honest work at a fair price. More useful information you might not know about regarding your garage door: 
Typical garage door repairs are more like ongoing maintenance than an insurance claim, and the reason why they are not covered. Kind of like changing the oil in your car isn’t covered by your auto insurance. The thing is, garage doors are big, heavy, mechanical doors with lots and lots of moving metal parts. Over time, metal will wear out and break. The good news is that garage door parts typically last a very long time. The bad news is that nothing lasts forever, so eventually something will break and will need to be repaired and replaced. The most common repair on a garage door is the spring. The garage door spring acts as the muscle that actually lifts and lowers the door under control. When you consider a door can easily weigh a couple hundred pounds or more, and it gets opened and closed multiple times every day (in most households who use the garage as the main access to the home), you start to understand why these parts will eventually break. In the unlikely and unfortunate situation when there is actual damage to the door, such as someone hitting it with a car, then most of the time you’re better off replacing the entire door rather than trying to fix it. While AJ’s Garage Door Service are experts at repairs and will do our best to fix whatever you have going on with your door, there are certain times when we will say that your money is better spent on a new door rather than continually trying to patch an old, broken down one. And because we don’t sell, install or in any other way deal with brand new doors, if AJ’s says it’s time for a new door, you can rest assured it’s not because you’re being sold a bill of goods! There are times when there is damage to a single garage door panel that is enough to cause problems, but not enough to destroy the door. In such cases, a common question is, “Can you replace one garage door panel?” That is an excellent question, and one that deserves a bit more explanation. We’ll do that in our next article. 
Andrew Johns, General Manager and spokesman for AJ's Garage Door Service of Tucson, says, “Usually, the largest mechanical device in your house is the overhead garage door. While the mechanism is complex and poses a threat to anyone without the know-how to take it apart safely, the most dangerous component of the overhead garage door is the spring (or springs, depending on your model). These springs are constantly under immense pressure, which means that it’s very easy for things to go wrong if you don’t know how to handle them properly. If the situation does take a turn for the worse, they can seriously injure or even kill you.” “The figure might actually be a bit unbelievable, but according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, garage door related accidents are numbered in the thousands,” says Johns. “These accidents vary in their severity but they can lead to fractures, crushing, and even amputation. Considering that not all accident numbers are reported inside the US, the actual number of garage door related accidents is likely to be even higher than that. So believe us when we say that 
Google Local Guides are considered an informal authority on the area that they live in, as Google only bestows the status upon power users of Google Reviews who sign up and contribute meaningfully to the program. Such guides are meant to enhance the local experience for other online searchers in the area by adding and improving listings on Google Maps. As Google’s Local Guide status is awarded based on certain requirements, receiving a stamp of approval from such a guide is a good sign for any local businesses. Andrew Johns, owner and representative of AJ's Garage Door Service of Tucson, says, “AJ’s is a small company that is looking to serve all the residents of Tucson, and it really means a lot to us when a customer takes the time to write a review after we’ve completed a job for them. We appreciate that Reyna took the time to let others know about her experience. We work hard to provide a