Is Your Garage Door Ready for Snowy Weather?

The snow is falling, the wind is blowing, and the roads are in less-than-perfect condition. You’ve finally made it home from work, and you hit the garage door opener button in your car to open your garage door. We’ve all been in this situation, and the very last thing you want to happen is for the garage door to remain closed and unresponsive as the snow continues to fall outside your car. Your garage door undoubtedly plays a critical role in your daily life, and you want it to keep functioning properly and seamlessly, especially when the power is out (and it's cold outside!).

As the weather cools down, Winter storms can frequently result in power outages. Are you prepared? If your garage is the main entry point into your home, once the power goes out, your automatic garage door opener will also be affected. This moves from a “hassle” to a “really big deal” when the garage door is how you (or your family, children, etc) access the house, and don’t routinely carry keys – which is more common than you’d think!

If you are inside your home, you can always use the pull-chain trigger in the garage that will disable the automatic opener and allow you to operate your garage door manually. This comes with its own set of hassles, though, since you will need to re-activate the automatic garage door opener when you are finished raising and lowering the door, or your garage will be unlocked and unsecured if you leave it in manual mode (without re-activating the automatic opener). So how do you prevent this problem?

Consider installing a garage door backup system – this provides battery backup for your garage door, allowing several open/close operations on battery power. This would completely eliminate the issue, allowing you to enter and exit the garage as necessary. This also allows you to keep your garage secure – if you engage manual mode, raise the door, exit the garage, and close the door, how do you then lock the garage door in closed position? You have to re-enter the garage through the house or an exterior door (not the garage door), and activate the automatic opener once again.

With a garage door backup system installed, you can relax knowing that your main entry to your home will continue to operate reliably, even when the unforeseen power outage occurs. Contact a garage door professional to find out what kind of a system would work best for your home and needs, and rest easy knowing that you’ve saved yourself the worry and hassle by ensuring that you will always be able to operate your garage door, regardless of weather conditions or power outages.