Frequently Asked Questions

Rollers, hinges, and all moving hardware should be lubricated with a metal lubricant (available from Big Guy Garage Doors). For the tracks, you can also use a metal lubricant, mainly where the tracks curve. The same goes for the springs. Apply a metal lubricant and wipe off the excess with a cloth, thus lengthening the lifespan of your springs. Never put grease on the tracks. Remember that rollers must “roll” and not slide in the tracks.

At the beginning of each season, give your door opener a checkup. First, make sure that your door opens and closes completely. If it is unable to do this satisfactorily, refer to the instructions in the user’s manual or contact Big Guy Garage Doors. Next, disengage the door opener by pulling on the red cord. Open and close the door manually. The door must be balanced correctly. You should be able to operate it with only one hand. If excessive force is needed, either it is unbalanced or your spring no longer works. In this case, contact Big Guy Garage Doors immediately to correct the situation. Finally, check your automatic reverse safety system that uses photo sensor eyes located on each side of the door. Your door should automatically reverse direction if an object or a person comes between the sensors.

Yes, it’s possible, although rare, for your garage door to open by itself. There are a few unusual factors that can cause your door open by itself. Here are a few scenarios we've come across:

• Residential electric garage door openers manufactured after 1993 are equipped with two safety mechanisms that operate while the door is closing. The first is photoelectric and the second is mechanical. The most common scenario is a misalignment of the photoelectric reversal system. When the two sensor housings are out of alignment, the beam is cut off, which the door opener interprets as an object in the way of the door’s descent. As a result, it automatically reopens the door. Realigning the beams will resolve the problem. To make sure that it has been corrected, check the wall panel near the entrance to your home. The indicator light should have stopped blinking.
• Another common scenario: during the winter, the threshold of your garage door must be kept clean to avoid any accumulation of snow or ice. Otherwise, the door’s mechanical mechanism will butt up against this buildup, and depending on how sensitive it is, may reverse the door.
• Also, a power surge caused by a lightning storm, for example, may have damaged the electrical circuits of your door opener.
• There’s one last scenario that applies to door openers manufactured before 1993. Before this time, remotes were programmed by positioning clips. By sheer chance, one of your neighbors may have a remote programmed with the same code. After 1993, LiftMaster started using a rotating code with millions of possible programming combinations.
• According to a persistent urban legend, a plane passing over your home can cause your garage door to open. To correct many people’s misimpression, we should point out that it all depends on the frequency used by the door opener. The frequency used in older garage door openers could interfere with certain military planes. This problem was corrected starting in 1993 by employing a different transmission frequency.

Your garage door is an important component of your home, and as such, deserves a few minutes of your time each year to ensure its long-term reliability. If you don’t have the time, contact Big Giy Garage Doors to perform a “tune-up” at your home. For a small fee, a technician will perform a 10-point inspection of your garage door including any needed lubrication an adjustments. If any part needs to be replaced, you will be consulted before a change is made. Big Guy recommends performing preventative maintenance every 12 months, starting 1 year after purchase. Contact Big Guy Garage Doors to set up your preventative maintenance agreement.

Residential & Commercial Overhead Door Preventive Maintenance Agreement Program

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Just like your car or truck, planned maintenance can extend the life of your garage doors, hardware, operators, electrical control panels, access systems and dock equipment, as well as preventing not only costly unexpected repairs, but possible accidents and/or injury to you, your family members or personnel. If this equipment is out of operation, it can result in added security expense, or worse, your home or facility that is not secure. Preventive maintenance is not only a factor in providing safe and useable equipment; it can also maintain your business’ productivity and efficiency levels. Since exterior shipping doors are the first and last part of the product cycle in most facilities, your equipment should be performing at its highest level all of the time.

The purpose of the Preventive Maintenance Agreement Program from Big Guy Garage Doors is to establish consistent routine maintenance of your garage door equipment for a longer life, more reliable product performance, and early detection of operational malfunctions. Our extensive experience has taught us that periodic preventive maintenance inspections can reduce both downtime and major repair expenses while extending the operational efficiency of your overhead doors.

By purchasing our preventive maintenance program, you become a ‘preferred customer’ which entitles you to:

• Discounts on parts and labor
• First priority for service calls

In addition to those services, our preventive maintenance will:

• Increase the operational efficiency and reliability of your overhead door and its mechanics
• Extend the useful life of your equipment
• Reduce the probability of equipment malfunctioning
• Decrease downtime
• Lowe long-term repair expenses

If you would like to learn more about what our Preventive Maintenance Agreement Program has to offer, or talk to a representative about how Big Guy Garage Doors can help your home or business, contact us today.

We carry a wide selection of replacement parts for residential or commercial door openers in order to meet your needs, whatever model of door opener or special use you have, for instance in apartment or condominium buildings. Here is a short list of replacement parts and accessories we keep in our warehouse:

• Remote Controls
• Exterior Keypads
• Wall Control Panels
• Commercial Door Receivers
• Gears and Sprockets

Whether for residential, commercial, industrial or agricultural use, we carry a wide selection of suitable weatherstripping for any type of garage door.

• Residential Rollers
• Commercial and Industrial Rollers

Your garage door isn’t working very well. It’s making all sorts of strange noises. Now and then, when you press the remote, the door doesn’t even open or refuses to close. You don’t have time to take care of it. Who can you trust? You’re not alone in asking this question. So turn to a well-established garage door specialist, one who has been in business for several years, who can give you a written checkup of your garage door, and above all, who will discuss any work to be done with you before undertaking repairs.

We carry several wireless exterior keypads (377LM, 387LM, 877LM, 877MAX) meant to simplify your life. No longer will you need to enter your house in order to operate the door from the wall control panel. A keypad works just like a remote control transmitter (remote control). This type of keypad is very useful if you have a shed or a detached garage where you cannot install an access door (width of 36" / 91 cm). For LiftMaster, Chamberlain and Craftsman (Sears) electric garage door openers, we are able to supply you with the exterior keypad that corresponds to the model of motor you have.