Garage door balance is essential for ensuring that your garage door functions smoothly. When your garage door is unbalanced, it will cease to function properly. If you want to check your garage door’s balance on your own time, consider performing a DIY garage door balance check. If you want to learn how to prepare for this task safely and what steps are involved, keep reading this blog. 

What You Need For A DIY Garage Door Balance Check

Without the right safety equipment and tools, you could injure yourself or damage part of your property during a DIY garage door balance check. For this reason, you want to obtain the right supplies. Ensure you have safety glasses, gloves, and a ladder to maintain your personal safety. While a spring test can be part of a balance check, we recommend leaving this part in the hands of a technician for your safety.

How To Do A DIY Garage Door Balance Check

Now that you have the proper safety equipment, you can start your DIY garage door balance check. Here are the steps you need to follow for a successful balance check:

1. Observe The Movements Of Your Garage Door

You will start your DIY garage door balance check by observing how your garage door moves with the automatic opener. Is the door aligned? Are there any strange noises? Does your garage door seem slow to move or have jerky movements during operation? These are just a few questions to keep in mind when observing your garage door’s movements. After two or three times, move on to the next step. 

2. Turn Off And Disconnect The Garage Door Opener

Truly testing the balance of your garage door involves putting it in manual mode. To prevent any accidents, turn off your garage door opener and disconnect it from the power source. Your user manual should include specific information about how to approach this step. Before disconnecting, ensure your garage door is closed.

3. Manually Open And Close The Garage Door

To start the manual test, you’ll first need to locate the emergency or manual release cord. Start opening the garage door using the cord and notice how it moves. If your garage door easily moves along the tracks, it means it’s balanced. However, if the door isn’t moving easily or seems uneven, it means it’s unbalanced. 

4. See How The Garage Door Hangs

Now bring your garage door to the halfway point. After raising your garage door halfway up the tracks, see if it remains in place. The garage door shouldn’t move an inch at that point if it’s balanced. This balance will be due to sufficient support from the springs. 

However, if your garage door starts moving out of place, it means your garage door’s balance needs to be restored. If your garage door doesn’t move and passes the balance test, lower it closed once again and reconnect it to the opener. If your garage door fails the balance check, it’ll be time to call a garage door technician to take a closer look.  

Our Technicians Will Take A Closer Look At Your Garage Door And Its Balance

We hope this DIY garage door balance check guide will allow you to confidently test your door’s balance before calling for professional help. If your garage door is unbalanced, you’ll need to know which garage door service is best equipped to rebalance it. Luckily, if you live in Houston, you don’t need to look any further than Garage Door Repair Houston. Contact us, and our team will not only determine what’s throwing your garage door off balance; they will also be able to fix it.