Frequently asked questions

Do I need insulated panels?

When people ask me whether they should get insulated panels or not,I tell them absolutely they should!

Insulated panels come with a variety different ‘R’ values. The higher the ‘R’ value, the higher the insulation factor.

If you live in northern climates, the insulated panels can reduce your energy consumption and can add a significant amount of strength to the panel and entire garage door system.

If you are concerned with noise, energy consumption, and strength, I would recommend insulated panels of at least R-12 value. You won’t regret it!

How can I seal the edges of my garage door more effectively?

An easy way to check if you have a good seal around your door would be to go inside your garage during the day, turn the lights off and close your garage door. If you can see daylight around your garage door (including the bottom), then you could use either new seals or an adjustment to improve the seal on the garage door.

You could also perform a test at night. Turn the lights on in the garage and go outside. The light you see are the holes you have around your door. Even with an insulated door, it will not be effective without a proper seal around the door.

My garage door opener does not close/open when I press the remote/ wall unit. Can you help me?

Here’s a step by step I would take.

Check the alignment of your sensors located at the bottom of your tracks, in most cases if these are aligned properly there will be lights on both sensors. If there’s only one light on, you’ll find that your door will not want to go down.

Is your garage door getting caught anywhere in the tracks? This could be another reason. Some openers have force limiters on them that, when the force exceeds the setting the door, will stop its action.

Check for kinks in your wires. I would also check to see if your wires are properly secured to the terminals of your opener.

As for a dysfunctional remote or keypads, it could be a dead battery cell (9 volt for keypads), or just a fried unit. Universal remotes and wireless keypads are now available for most residential openers in the industry.

If all that fails. It’s time for a new opener.

My door won’t open, do you know what it could be?

Sounds like you have a broken spring. The springs are located either above your panels or on the side of the top tracks. If your spring is in 2 pieces, that means it snapped and you need to replace it with a new one. If your door has 2 springs and only 1 is broken, it is recommended you change both, as the other is not far behind. If your spring is still in 1 piece, then it’s possible it needs some adjusting.

It could also be a broken cable. Your door could shift upwards on one side and cause the door to get stuck.

These are the most common reasons.

Can you choose the right opener for me?

I would love to! For residential uses, I recommended using either a chain drive opener, belt drive opener or a jack shaft opener.

Chain drive is reliable and the most common.

Belt drive add a certain level of sound reduction while keeping its strength and reliability

Jack shaft is the most expensive option but it is also the cleanest looking and the one that produces the least amount of noise.

Any type of commercial/industrial use, you should purchase a commercial/industrial type opener.

What about Horse Power?

Openers all have motors in them and they can range anywhere from 1/2 H.P. to 1 H.P.

If you ask me what I recommend for your residential door, I would recommend a high efficiency opener of 1/2 H.P. That’s what most residential garage doors need.

The door itself is balanced by the springs. You should be able to open the garage door with one arm with relative ease. That’s why anything over 1/2 H.P. is excessive in most, if not all, residential applications.

Do you sell parts so that I can perform the repairs myself?

We sell everything you will need for a residential garage door system. Check out our kits to help with your repairs! It will help bring new life to your garage door system.

Do you sell torsion springs ?

Torsion springs have 4 measurements that are important: the length, the diameter, the gauge of the coil, and the handing.

If you are able to tell me these measurements, I can have springs ready for pickup or delivery.

To help save you a lot of time, headaches, and maybe even injuries, contact Nick’s Doors for your garage servicing needs!

Do you do other types of installation work?

At Nick’s Doors, we also provide the following: