My garage door tracks are bent, should I repair the or replace
them?
Garage doors function as a system with many components performing a function to allow your
door to open and closed safely and properly. The garage door tracks are made up of vertical,
horizontal and curved tracks.
The tracks hold the garage door in place and carry the rollers as
the garage door opens and closes. The tracks also hold the garage door in place when it is open
or closed.
The tracks perform a vital function in the garage door system. When considering repairing or
replacing the tracks, it will depend on the type of damage present. If the tracks are only slightly
bent or damaged, you can straighten the bent pieces and make sure all the bolts holding the
tracks together and to the jamb brackets are tight.
You will need to visually inspect the tracks
for damage and manually open and close the garage door inspecting the gaps on both sides as
the garage door opens and closes. You will also need to visually inspect how well the rollers
travel in the tracks on both sides as the garage door opens and closes.
In most cases you can repair garage door tracks that are bent or out of alignment and this is not
a difficult task. There are however situations when you will need to replace the tracks. You will
need to replace the tracks if they are severely twisted, creased or cracked. If you determine
that the tracks need to be replaced, it is recommended that you have a garage door repair
technician replace the tracks for you. The tracks will need to be aligned properly for the door to
function. Different techniques must be used when replacing the different sections of track to
prevent the door from falling. Garage doors are heavy and can cause serious damage even
death if proper techniques are not use when repairing them.
