You can tell that terrible weather is on its way when clouds start to drift in and the wind starts to build up. When the electricity goes out during a storm, the intense wind and weather can be very unsettling. This is true whether you are driving through the pouring rain on your way home in your car or waiting out the storm from the comfort of your living room. When the power goes out, you are faced with a number of challenges, one of which is the inability to open the garage doors. This is in addition to the inconvenient fact that there will be no light or cable.
After a power outage, a garage door opener that does not have a battery backup will not function properly because there will be no electricity. If your door won’t open or close, you have a problem on your hands. This is true whether you have just drove into your driveway and realised you can’t get into the house, or whether you are locked inside and have no way to get your car out of the garage. You can’t help but wonder if it’s even possible to open a garage door manually when the wind is howling and the lightning is flashing outside. No matter the temperature or the humidity outside, we are here to assist you with moving that door.
What You Need to Know About Manually Opening a Garage Door
Advice on Keeping Your Family Safe When Manually Opening Your Garage Door. Maintain your composure in the event that a power loss leaves your garage door inoperable. An emergency release kit is a mechanism that can be installed into your garage and provides you with the ability to physically open the door from either the inside or the outside of the building. Every contemporary garage should come with one of these kits. The next time you find yourself in a situation where you do not have electricity and you have to get out of the house to drive to work or get inside during a pounding thunderstorm, you can effectively pull the garage door open by following a few simple steps.
How to Manually Open a Garage Door From the Inside of Your Home
Turn the key in the lock:
Locate any locks or latches that are located close to the exterior of the garage door and make sure they are open. This will ensure that they will not obstruct your ability to manually open the door.
Remove the power cord from the automatic door opener and then unplug the device.
Locate the release cord for the emergency:
Find the emergency release cable, which may be identified by its red handle and can be found hanging from the middle rail of the garage door track. This red cord is attached to the trolley, which in turn is connected to the arm of your garage door, which is connected to this middle track. When the garage door is completely shut, and only then, should the emergency release handle be used.
To activate the emergency release, pull down on the handle located on the top of the device. You should be able to manually operate the garage door after pulling this cord, which will detach the door from the trolley and allow you to do so.
Raise the garage door:
Before letting go of the door’s handle and backing your vehicle out of the garage, lift it by pulling up and straight from the bottom until the door stops moving. Then, check that the door remains in its proper position.
Once you’ve made it outside, pull the door down by hand to close it again. This time, though, you’ll need to do it manually. Slide the lock bar to the locked position by hand if your door has one.
How to Open a Garage Door by Hand From the Outside of the Building
Find the quick-release toolkit for emergencies:
You should be able to find a little lock centred and quite close to the top of your garage door. This lock contains a cable that can be used as an emergency release. In addition to it, you’ll need to have the key that corresponds to it.
To unlock the emergency release cord, turn the key and pull out the lock tumbler to expose a cable. Turning the key will unlock the cord. By pulling on this cable, the release mechanism will be activated, and your door will transition into the manual mode.
To unlock the garage door, lower the emergency release kit until you see a lock next to a handle. This lock keeps the door itself locked when it is in this position. Unlock the door with your key, and then turn the handle such that it is perpendicular to the door.
Before driving your vehicle into the garage, ensure sure the door can be lifted by pulling it up in a vertical position with your hands and ensuring that it will remain open.
Put the door back:
Once you’re safely inside, bring the garage door all the way to the ground and draw it down to the closed position.
Advice on Keeping Your Family Safe When Manually Opening Your Garage Door
Take precautions to avoid injury whenever you manually operate a garage door.
Pull the plug on the door opener for the automatic door:
If you want to keep yourself safe while manually opening or reconnecting your garage door, unplugging the garage door opener first is a good idea. In the event that the power is restored, the opener may try to open the door even if it is now disengaged, making it more difficult to successfully reattach it.
Recognize when it is necessary to bring in a technician:
If, after disengaging the trolley, the garage door remains difficult to operate, the fault may lie with the springs that support the door. Because the springs on your garage door are so risky to work with, you will need the assistance of a trained professional.
Make use of the manual lock:
There should be a metal manual lock located right next to your garage door. In the event that the power goes out, the automatic lock on your garage door will be rendered useless. To keep your home safe in the event that the power goes out, simply slide the manual lock into its proper position.
Keep an eye out for problems:
If, after you have reconnected the door, the door continues to shake or move in an uneven manner, there may have been an issue. In this scenario, your best bet is to speak with a trained expert.
