Going to a professional can be confusing whether it is a doctor, mechanic, or plumber. Each profession has an industry specific jargon and these different sets of terminology can make a visit intimidating. Your garage door is the gateway to your home. It provides an important first impression to visitors and guests, and is the largest contributor to the curbside appeal of your property. When you invite a mechanic to assess your home, it is important for you as the homeowner to fully understand the situation. In the case of a broken mechanism, the ability to describe the issue using specific lingo ensures all of the problems you are experiencing are addressed. In addition, being knowledgeable about your garage door will help you schedule routine maintenance to prevent developing problems. Below is a list of basic terminology to help you become educated in garage doors.

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Technical Garage Door Terms

R Value: Used to rate the capacity of a garage door’s material to resist heat flow. The higher the R-Value, the greater the insulating power.

Torsion Springs: Torsion springs are devices responsible for lifting the weight of a garage door in order to be opened manually or by an electric opener. These large springs are typically located in your garage directly above your garage door.

UL- Approval: UL is an organization that rates many devices with mechanical applications. Their thorough set of standards require garage door openers to go through 30 test rounds to achieve certification. Only the best devices and mechanisms in the industry are UL certified.

Low Headroom Track: Some garages do not have enough vertical space to accommodate a standard garage door track. In these cases, a low headroom track is utilized.

Inside Slide Lock: A security feature located on the inside of the garage door that manually latches the door closed.

Bottom Bracket: This is a structural support on the bottom of the garage door for attaching the lifting cables onto the garage doors. Also referred to as “Bottom Corner Bracket.”

Track: This is a guide for the roller wheels. The vertical track is mounted to the jambs with brackets on each side of the garage door opening. In the closed position, the garage doors are supported by the vertical track. When open, the garage doors suspend from the horizontal track. Sectional door tracks usually have two vertical pieces and two horizontal pieces.

Jambs: These are the upright framing on each side of the garage door opening. There are many types of Jambs including wood, steel and masonry jambs. Some of the specifications vary based on the material.

Winding Sleeves: These are used to safely allow the application of torque from a torsion spring. The winding sleeves’ design retains a torsion spring when fully wound or unwound, and withstands the forces exerted by the spring.

Torsion Shaft: The shaft attached to the torsion spring is used to convert the lifting force of the torsion springs to the cable drums and lifting cables.

Cable Drums: These grooved drums on the torsion spring shaft are attached to the lifting cables. When the garage door opens, the cables will wind around the drum. These drums allow the cable to be gathered or dispensed systematically, preventing the cables from overlapping and becoming damaged.

Cables: Composite wire used to attach the garage door, via bottom brackets, to the counterbalance mechanism.

This list of terms will help you confidently navigate the world of garage doors! At One Clear Choice, it is crucial that our customers understand the ins and outs of their garage door system. We want our customers to feel empowered by information and to ensure they are not left in the dark. Our professional mechanics are knowledgeable and will gladly answer all of your questions. Call us today 303.565.6409 to schedule an appointment.

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