There are a number of things that can cause you to have trouble with your garage door. It's completely possible to avoid these problems in most cases, however. Here's a bit about how your garage door could give you trouble, including preventative measures you can take to make sure it doesn't.

Issue with the Floor

One common issue that can mess up garage doors is an issue on the floor such as road salt, fluids from cars, or even a hairline crack in the concrete. The door can fail to close properly if it falls into a crack at the floor, for example. Cracks and other obstructions can also cause cars to jump when they are driving into the garage, which could cause them to bang against the receding door.

Garage Rail Obstructions

It's important to check the rails on other side of the door on a regular basis, such as monthly. If something gets in the tracks such as debris like leaves, then the door could fail to open at a key moment and your car, truck, or other vehicle could smash into it.

Auto-Reverse Issues

It's important to make sure that you test the auto-reverse options on your door since avoiding the door closing at the wrong time with 100% certainty is essentially impossible. There are two major ways that auto-reverse mechanisms work, including the photocell and mechanical parts. You can periodically test the mechanical safety feature by just putting an object such as a brick underneath the door on the ground.

The door should reverse itself after it hits the brick immediately. If it doesn't, then you need to fix this mechanism. Photocell systems work by constantly shooting out invisible beams. The safety mechanism is tripped when the beam is broken.  You can test this system by waving a hand or foot underneath the door well before it finishes closing to see if the broken beam makes the door reverse. Testing this monthly is important to make sure it remains fully operational.

Commercial garage doors are highly effective these days, and they are overwhelmingly safe to use. They do rely on you to make sure that you maintain them properly, though. The vast majority of issues occurring from garage door failures are preventable if you keep on top of the maintenance work. None of these problems really have anything to do with the door. It's not the door's fault. 

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