If you’re a business owner or commercial real estate investor, you know that having a garage door that opens and closes smoothly is essential. But what do you do if your garage door gets stuck? In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to open a commercial garage door manually and what the common causes are. With just a few simple steps, you can get your business back up and running in no time.
Why Commercial Garage Doors Might Be Stuck
Garage doors are an important part of most commercial buildings, providing both security and convenience for vehicle and loading dock needs. If your garage door is stuck, it could be due to one of the following culprits:
- A Broken Automatic Opener System
- A Dead Garage Door Opener Remote
- Broken Garage Springs
- Blocked Sensors
- Roller Issues
In addition, the electric eye safety system (also known as the photo-eye) can become misaligned or malfunction. If you’re experiencing any of these issues with your commercial garage door, it’s important to contact a professional for assistance in troubleshooting and repair.
Ways You Can Open a Garage Door Manually
If you have an electric garage door, it can be frustrating when the power shuts off and you need to open your garage door manually. Luckily, transferring from electric to manual is a breeze!
Pull the Release Handle
If you have an automatic garage door, it’s easy to forget how to manually open it if there’s ever a power outage or the garage door opener stops working. Fortunately, many garage doors are designed to allow manual operation in case of emergency.
First, you need to do is disconnect the garage door opener system from power. Then reach up and pull down on the release handle located directly under the garage door system in the center ceiling. This manual lock often looks like an upside-down “T” or a cord.
Obviously, this method takes much more effort than automatically opening it with a remote. However, manually opening your garage door can give you peace of mind and freedom to continue working until you can call in a garage door expert.
Look for a Red Cord or Rope
You left your work garage door remote in your personal car. You’ve checked, and there’s no release handle along the garage door interior. Now what?
Go into the garage and look for an emergency release cord or rope hanging down from the center of the door on the inside. Usually colored red, this cord pulls and disconnects the garage opener from its power source, allowing you to lift and open the garage easily. Remember that a garage door can be heavy, so make sure to use caution when lifting.
Utilizing the Interior Garage Release Cord from the Outside
Some garage door models have a handle on the outside of the garage door. This type of garage door system typically will come with a metal key to keep on hand that will activate the interior release cord with just a turn of the mechanism.
Once the key turns off the automatic garage door function, you can open your garage door manually with ease. Make sure to keep this garage door opener key somewhere that relevant team members can access in a pinch.
Push Up on the Lever
If there is no emergency release cord or rope on your door, take a look at the side – there may be a lever that can allow you to open it manually. To do this, push down on the left-hand side and then pull up on the right-hand side of the lever – once this is done, the door should swing open inwards and upwards towards you.
Call the experts at Overhead Door of Puget Sound!
When electric issues prevent you from being able to open a garage door for your business – there are some solutions to get it done quickly. However, using any of these emergency release methods often requires properly resetting your automatic garage doors once the power is back on again! Whether you’re here because it’s time to reset your automatic garage door opener or if you’ve heard someone else’s nightmare garage door stories and are ready to make sure you aren’t stuck in the same situation – the experts at Overhead Door of Puget Sound are ready to help.
Their expertise in installation, repair, preventative maintenance, and replacement for any type of garage door will keep you from being the angry manager yelling outside while they try to open a garage door at the start of the business day. Let us put your mind at ease with our trustworthy services. Don’t wait any longer; call Overhead Door of Puget Sound today!
