CRASH! The noise you never want to hear coming from your garage door. Unfortunately, it’s a noise many of us will hear. Whether it’s you, or someone else, garage doors hit by vehicles all the time.
You may be a little embarrassed, and you’ll definitely be inconvenienced, but it’s no uncommon and it’s not the end of the world! We see this issue all the time, we can help you get your garage back in business in what will seem like no time!
If you do unfortunately hit your door, it’s hard to know what to do at first. You don’t want to make the issue worse of course, but how do you know what will help, and what will hinder the door getting fixed as soon as possible? Well, this article should give you a good idea of what to do next if you or someone else hits your garage door!
1. Stop the Vehicle
If your car is stuck under the door, don’t try to drive out from under the door. Some garage doors are very heavy, and depending on the state of the springs, the door could damage your car even more than it may already be damaged, and it could also damage more on the door. Your car will be able to hold the door up, so exit the vehicle SAFELY and you can asses the damage from there.
2. Asses the Damage
After you are all the passengers are safe and out of the vehicle. You can asses the damage to the door and the tracking system. Depending on how hard you hit the door, there may be minimal damage, or severe damage. Note the panels hit, the track system, cables on the side, springs above the door, and the opener rail attached to the door.
3. See if You Can Open the Door Manually
If the cables are still attached to the door, and the track system isn’t too bent or separated from the door or the wall you can try and open the door manually. DO NOT TRY TO OPEN THE DOOR WITH THE OPENER. Using your opener to open your door once it has been hit can damage the opener motor, which adds a few hundred dollars extra to the total cost of what your repair will be.
Pull the release handle on the opener rail and strong arm your door up until you can get your vehicle out of the garage. Repairs of this sort can take a few days, so you’ll likely need access to your vehicle.
4. Call Hung Right Doors
Once you have an idea of what’s going on with your door give us a call. We will have a repair person come out to your home and get you an estimate of what it will take to get your door back into good working condition. Depending on the severity of the damage it could be anything from a few new rollers to a new garage door panel or two.
One thing is for sure, if you’ve run into your door and intend to keep using it, you need to give us a call. Continuing to use your door when it’s damaged can result in worsening damage and cause danger to yourself or other members of your household.