Why a Bowed Garage Door Demands Your Attention

The garage door repairs Visalia homeowners have available to them include fixing bowed wood. For area homeowners with wooden garage doors, bowing is not an uncommon issue. There is a number of common causes of it, and, in many cases, your garage door expert can correct the situation by alleviating the cause.

What Is Bowing?

There are five distinct ways in which wood can warp. Bowing indicates that the warp is occurring along the face of the wood, and this warping type is the most prevalent when it comes to garage doors. Such warping is often visible, such as there being a caved-in appearance or the door just not looking right. Warping can still cause problems before it is perceptible to the eye, such as your opener moaning or otherwise straining as it works to open or close the doors.

What Causes Bowing?

There are two primary reasons why doors warp. The first is mechanical. If your opener is undersized or not properly supported, that can put undue pressure on the door and cause it to warp. The other cause is simply natural wear and tear. Over time, extreme temperatures and even temperature fluctuations can undermine the integrity of the wood.

Does Bowing Cause Additional Damage?

Yes. No matter the cause of the warping, bowing causes undue wear and tear on the entire system. This can cause the motor in your opener to burn out, but the wear isn’t limited to moving parts and can actually cause everything to get out of whack over time.

Can a Repair Expert Fix It?

In many cases, yes. Adding struts, for instance, is a common fix that takes the added pressure off the door and allows it to return its natural form. If the door is severely bowed, however, there may be no way to undo that, so your local expert may advise replacing the door instead.