What Causes Garage Door Tracks To Bend?
Trying to access a garage with a door that’s off its tracks is not only dangerous, but it can also cause further damage to your door. Therefore, it’s important that you understand the causes of garage door misalignment to help prevent future damage to your door. The main causes of warped tracks include the following:
- Inadequate Lubrication of Rollers: Inadequate lubrication of rollers may lead to displacement and cause the tracks to bend when the door is in motion. Failure to lubricate the roller stems leads to inflexibility, and this may cause the rollers to break, which can cause the tracks to bend.
- Scraping of Vertical Tracks: The continuous grazing of the vertical tracks by the lock strikers may cause the tracks to split and eventually bend. This is common with commercial plants where the opening and closing of garage doors happens frequently.
- Broken Cable: A broken cable will put pressure on one side of the door and cause it to bend sideways. Subsequently, this will cause the track to bend as well, especially when attempting to close the garage door.
- Metal Fatigue in the Horizontal Track: Consistent opening and closing of the garage door coupled with constant door weight put on the horizontal track leads to metal fatigue. This causes the horizontal track to warp as it tries to support the weight of the garage door.
- Decayed Footings and Jamb Brackets: The footing of the track and the jamb brackets that hold the tracks may decay due to exposure to harsh weather conditions and rusting. Tracks that run on decayed jambs and footings are more likely to bend.
- Shifting of the Building’s Foundation: It’s normal for the foundation of the building to shift over time due to aging. The shifting may exert slight pressure on the door and tracks, causing them to bend.
- Vehicle Accidents: A vehicle accident is one of the most common causes of garage door misalignment. Accidentally hitting your garage door will consequently cause the tracks to bend as well. The damage might be slight or severe, depending on the impact.