Who gets their garage doors serviced every two years?

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mattwnz

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#249085 24-Apr-2019 17:51

Have purchased some sectional garage doors on a new house and openers, and they come with a 10 year warranty. However in the fine print it does say that in order for that warranty to apply you must get it serviced within the first year, for settling of the door. Then you must get it serviced every 2 years. Is that normal to get them serviced every 2 years? Guessing the warranty is void if you don't.

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#2223320 24-Apr-2019 18:07

i would assume its to do with keeping the hinges and rollers lubricated, along with keeping the springs/wires at the correct tension so it operates correctly and doesnt put extra strain on the opener.

i would be interested to see what the cost of servicing is

mattwnz

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#2223322 24-Apr-2019 18:41

Jase2985:

i would assume its to do with keeping the hinges and rollers lubricated, along with keeping the springs/wires at the correct tension so it operates correctly and doesnt put extra strain on the opener.

i would be interested to see what the cost of servicing is

The servicing prices aren't listed. I would have thought that is all stuff an owner can do, if they had a service guide for it. They are pretty basic things. My current garage door is 20 years old and very similar to the new ones. Never had any problems, apart from the door not going up enough, but that was adjustable in the motor.

Jase2985

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#2223323 24-Apr-2019 18:45

the spring/cables isnt something the average joe homeowner can do it can be very dangerous if not done correctly. the wires can stretch and the spring can loose tension.

not saying you should be paying for a service every 2 years but i can see why they say that

would be interested in whats done and how much/long it takes

xpd

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#2223324 24-Apr-2019 18:46

Been in our current house for 8 years this year, never once had it serviced. oops ? :)

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MikeB4

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#2223334 24-Apr-2019 19:32

When I was able to climb ladders etc I serviced our garage door every year by cleaning the runners dry lubing the chains and runners. I also checked and tightened all connections and fasteners. I now get my son to do it for me.

timmmay

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#2223376 24-Apr-2019 20:38

I don't get my lift door serviced regularly. I use Fred Chapman Garage Doors in Porirua to check the install I did when the old once broke, to fix it when the springs came off when it tore something off the wall with those huge springs, and they've done a bit of maintenance. If you need a place in Wellington I recommend them. I don't recall their prices, but I do recall it seemed reasonable. Last time they came out to fix it back to the wall they didn't even charge me, though I don't know if that was intentional or they just forgot.

Goosey

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#2223378 24-Apr-2019 20:43

I spray the tracks, rollers and coils with silicone lubricant each winter.

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CokemonZ

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#2223459 25-Apr-2019 08:10

Every 2 - 3 years. Our garage door opens and closes 2 -3 times a day at a minimum.

When we moved in it hadn't been done for a while and it was out of balance which meant the top guide was rubbing against the pole pretty badly adding a lot of friction. Once serviced and the springs balanced (one replaced) it's a lot easier to open - I notice it a lot when opening by hand.

If I remember as long as we're not fussy about timing it's about $160 or so. If they do a callout just for us about $250.

Honestly, for the two weeks that it wasn't working properly a couple of hundred bucks every couple of years works out pretty well.

BlinkyBill

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#2223462 25-Apr-2019 08:14

I had my door serviced for the first time in 15 years a couple of weeks ago. $130+GST from memory.

OT, but why don’t tradesmen include GST in their pricing for consumer jobs?

old3eyes

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#2223466 25-Apr-2019 08:35

BlinkyBill: I had my door serviced for the first time in 15 years a couple of weeks ago. $130+GST from memory.

OT, but why don’t tradesmen include GST in their pricing for consumer jobs?

To make it sound cheaper than it really is.

Regards,

Old3eyes

scuwp

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#2223475 25-Apr-2019 09:35

old3eyes:

BlinkyBill: I had my door serviced for the first time in 15 years a couple of weeks ago. $130+GST from memory.

OT, but why don’t tradesmen include GST in their pricing for consumer jobs?

To make it sound cheaper than it really is.

...because a lot of the work they do is for commercial businesses, and as they only 'pass on' GST to the Govt it's easier for accounting purposes to have the non-GST price so straight away you have the actual price of the service/goods.

Back OT - I lube ours occasionally but that's about it. I should do more than that, when they break down it can be a huge PITA. Particularly if your car is stuck inside. I kind of liken it to many things I should do but don't until absolutely necessary when it will cost way more, like going to the dentist.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

CokemonZ

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#2223476 25-Apr-2019 09:38

Yeah - my pricing would include GST being a filthy consumer :)

rogercruse

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#2223485 25-Apr-2019 10:11

Wanting to prevent the garage osculating between too hot and too cold, so we added carpet to the garage floor and insulation to the external door... then had to call a garage door company to re-balance the springs as the door was now too heavy!

While we never had it serviced the engineer didn't comment on the status of the springs, etc

We did to upgrade garage door opener as it was about eight years old. Should have added a backup battery to use the opener when there's a power outage.

BlinkyBill

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#2224484 25-Apr-2019 10:35

scuwp:
old3eyes:

BlinkyBill: I had my door serviced for the first time in 15 years a couple of weeks ago. $130+GST from memory.

OT, but why don’t tradesmen include GST in their pricing for consumer jobs?

To make it sound cheaper than it really is.

...because a lot of the work they do is for commercial businesses, and as they only 'pass on' GST to the Govt it's easier for accounting purposes to have the non-GST price so straight away you have the actual price of the service/goods.

I know this is off topic, but this statement is not correct. From an *accounting* perspective there is absolutely no difference between selling to a GST-registered business, and a non GST-registered consumer. In either case, the GST has to be handled separately. The invoice to the purchaser is the same.

mattwnz

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#2225144 26-Apr-2019 00:18

Jase2985:

the spring/cables isnt something the average joe homeowner can do it can be very dangerous if not done correctly. the wires can stretch and the spring can loose tension.

I would agree that homeowners should never touch the springs and cables. But in all my years of owning a range of sectional doors from new, and that is over about 25 years, I have never needed those things adjusting, and the doors have operated fine .I have 3 new doors, one of which will hardly get any use as it is at the other end of the garage, and allows me to drive though the garage to access the back garden, and there isn't a huge amount that can go wrong with them. My main concern is likely to be things like corrosion of the panels or fixings, which isn't related to the mechanics of the doors.

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