Monday, June 30, 2014

Garage Door Hardware

There are many different pieces and parts that go into a garage door in the hardware department and the different types of hardware can determine the functioning of the garage door. Different garage door hardwares can make the garage door function quieter.

The hardware on a garage door is hinges, rollers, bottom bracket, top bracket, cables, drums, torsion shafts, bearings, bearing plates, and weatherstripping.

Types of hinges: range from 11 gauge to 18 gauge steel, the 11 gauge is a thicker hinge that is primarily used in commercial jobs, and the 18 gauge steel hinges are thinner and used in residential jobs.

Types of rollers: steel rollers with no ball bearings, steel roller with ball bearings, steel roller with nylon coating and ball bearings, and a nylon roller with no ball bearings. Nylon and steel rollers with no ball bearings are a low end least expensive roller; these are for inexpensive doors and the most common. The nylon and steel rollers with ball bearings are used on more expensive garage doors. Nylon rollers with ball bearings are the best rollers, and operate quieter.

Hardware on a garage door can wear out without proper servicing. Bearing plates, garage door rollers, bearings, and drums are the most common things to wear out on a garage door; all of these hardwares can be oiled once a year to keep your garage door hardware from wearing out. There are companies out there that will tell you that you need an overhaul kit to fix your garage door, there are no such hardware kits out there. Get your garage door serviced once a year to keep your garage door working properly. Get your garage door serviced once a year for just $79.00!

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Insulation in Garage Doors

The different kinds of insulation in garage doors is polystyrene, polyurethane, and styrofoam backing. The three different insulations have different R values that can increase keeping the weather out with a higher R value.

Polyurethane: a liquid insulation that is inserted in the manufacturing process that solidifies. Polyurethane is similar to the spray foam sprayed into walls for insulation.  The R value of polyurethane ranges from 15-25. Polyurethane garage doors are more expensive than polystyrene garage doors.

Polystyrene: a styrofoam material sandwiched in between two pieces of steel. Polystyrene is how garage doors have been made for many years.

Styrofoam Backing: a styrofoam that is held onto the back of a garage door with pressure.

At Grove City Garage Door Inc., we recommend the polystyrene or the polyurethane insulated garage doors. These two insulations have the best R value for the Ohio weather, they can withstand wind load, and they are also harder to dent if you run into one.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Different Kinds of Garage Door Track:


The garage door track is the metal rails on each side of the garage that the rollers of the garage door glide up and down in when the garage door is opened or closed. Choosing track for each garage door is important because the amount of room above the garage door determines if an opener can fit. If you choose the wrong kind of track, you run the risk of the opener not having enough room to operate. In choosing the right kind of track for the garage door, it is important to measure the opening or the garage and the headroom above the garage door. The space above the garage door is known as headroom.

Low Head Track is used with minimal head room from the top of the door to the ceiling- 10" of headroom. There are two types of Low Head Track: Front Mount and Rear Mount. Front mount low head track is used if there is 6-10" of headroom. Rear mount low head track is used for 5" or less of headroom.



10" Track is used when there is less than 13" of headroom

Standard Track Sizes- Most used in residential and commercial settings:
12" Track  is used when there is less than 15" of headroom
15" Track is used when there is 16" or more of headroom


High Lift Track is used when there is more than 15" of headroom



Vertical Lift Track is used when there is an unlimited amount of headroom above the garage door. The garage door will lift straight up the wall.



Roof Pitch Track follows the pitch of the rafter and is available from 4-12 to 12-12 pitch roofs.






Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Difference in Garage Door Springs!

There are many garage door spring manufacturers out there and each manufacturer makes their springs slightly different at each place. Some manufacturers have been cutting costs on producing springs by shortening the metal the springs are made out of. Some manufacturers use sand to cool their springs instead of water, this results in the metal being weaker.

What does the manufacturing process have to do with your garage door?

Garage door springs are formed metal wound into a spring shape. The thicker the metal, the more cycles you can get out of a garage door spring. Some garage door springs can get 100,000 cycles while others can only get 10,000 cycles. Spring cycles is how many times can the spring lift the garage door. The commercial grade springs are used for the additional cycles, they are thicker, and can get up to 100,000 cycles for use. You can also install the commercial grade springs on a residential home for longer use of a residential garage door. The commercial grade springs are a little more expensive than a regular 10,000 cycle spring; but, if you use your garage door often then it may be worth the additional expense for longer use. Regular residential garage door springs can get about 10,000 cycles out of the springs. 100,000 cycles could be upwards of 10 years of use, and 10,000 cycles could be around 5-7 years of use depending upon the use of the garage door. Recently the manufacturers have been cutting the amount of steel being used to produce each spring, which results in springs that are not lasting more than 5,000 cycles or 3-5 years. At Grove City Garage Door Inc., we buy our springs from a reputable manufacturer that does not practice using less material to get more springs. The springs we install have lasted up to 5-7 years without any problems.

The best way to ensure you get the longest use out of your spring is to have your garage door maintained every year. Grove City Garage Door Inc. offers a service call for $79.00, we can help maintain your garage door for longer lasting results and operation!

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Thunder and Lightning!

Recently there have been pop up storms rolling through the Columbus, Ohio region and surrounding areas. These storms have been producing some cloud to ground lightning and cloud to cloud lightning. The cloud to ground lightning is the most dangerous and can cause all kinds of problems with electrical items, especially with garage door openers.

Many homes have garage door openers plugged into an outlet on the ceiling. Most ceiling outlets are not surge protected. Without a surge protector on the plug for the garage door opener, there is a risk that the opener will take a lightning surge from cloud to ground lightning. The lightning surge will burn the electrical board out of the opener and damage the circuits inside. If this happens, the opener will most likely need to be replaced. Most openers cannot with stand a lightning surge. To protect your opener from a lightning surge, you should install a surge protector on the ceiling plug for your garage door opener. This will reduce the risk of the garage door opener taking damage from a lightning strike.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Difference of Garage Door Openers! Do you know the difference?

There are a few different types of garage door openers on the market. There are different brands as well as different makes of openers. The garage door openers that Grove City Garage Door Inc. recommends is the Chamberlain brand belt drive opener, or the LiftMaster belt drive openers.

 Why do we recommend these openers?

The Chamberlain brand and LiftMaster brand are both made well and last a long period of time, this is one of the reasons we recommend these brands. Another reason is the quiet operation of both brands. A belt drive opener operates quiet and does not require maintenance.

There are three different types of garage door openers on the market also. A belt drive opener, a chain drive opener, and a screw drive opener.  We always recommend a belt drive opener!

Difference in garage door openers: Belt Drive, Chain Drive, and Screw Drive

Belt Drive Garage Door Opener:  A belt drive opener is driven by a belt from the opener for quiet operation, long lasting durability, and zero maintenance!

Chain Drive Opener: A chain drive opener is driven by a chain which causes noisy operation, requires grease, and wears out quicker from the chain!

Screw Drive Opener: A screw drive opener is driven by a screw which is extremely noisy operation, requires grease, and wears out fast!

Maintaining your garage door:

The garage door requires little to no maintenance when a steel garage door has been installed. The steel garage door should be maintained once a year to avoid costly garage door repairs!
What is maintained?
       -The garage door is oiled and adjusted
       -The springs are oiled
       -The garage door opener is looked over for good operation
      -The cables are looked at to make sure they are on and operating
       -The rollers are oiled
       -The track is looked at to make sure there are not any damages
Maintaining a garage door is simple and will help make the garage door opener last a longer period of time. If a garage door is misaligned the garage door opener will wear out faster from the gears turning harder to open and close a garage door. One broken spring on a garage door can cause an opener to wear out faster. The springs aide in lifting the garage door along with the garage door opener. Replacing one spring when it breaks could help a garage door opener last longer. And as a rule of thumb, if one spring breaks; the other spring will break soon, so you may as well replace both springs at the same time to avoid us coming out twice within a month!

A service call with Grove City Garage Door Inc. is only $79.00! Make your garage door opener last longer by having a service performed on your garage door once a year!

Friday, June 20, 2014

Fire Safety

Grove City Garage Door Inc. believes that fire safety for children is a great program. The Jackson Township Fire Stations run a fire safety program for children every year with safety town and tours of the fire stations. Every year we donate to this cause to help ensure the future children know about fire safety. We also install garage doors on the Jackson Township Fire Stations with these same touring children in mind. We put up more safety precautions on all of the fire stations to ensure when the children come to the fire stations for their tours that they can be seen and the safety sensors are all installed at the proper height.  Safety Town

The top picture is what the doors used to look like, the bottom picture is the full view glass garage doors we installed so the kids can be seen through the doors while they are visiting the fire stations in Jackson Township.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Summer Heat and Garage Doors!

Did you know that the extreme summer temperatures can affect your garage door the same as extreme cold temperatures in the winter? How you might ask?

As everyone knows the cold temperatures in the winter can cause freezing which can cause a metal spring to break after cycling the spring by opening and closing the garage door many times. A spring can be cycled many times before the metal fatigues and just wears out and breaks. The cold temperatures cause the metal to get cold during the winter and can cause the spring to break in two. The garage door opener no longer has the assistance of the spring to help lift the garage door.

Summer heat can cause the metal in a spring to also fatigue and wear out. Garage door springs can also break from cycling during the summer months. It is not uncommon for springs to break on 95 degree days! The extreme hot temperatures cause the metal to heat up more than is normal which can then cause the metal in the spring to break.

Cold temperatures in the winter can also cause the garage door to freeze to the ground if the garage door has water sitting under it. The weatherstrip on the bottom of the garage door can freeze to the ground once the water freezes. One good way to avoid having your garage door not to freeze to the ground is to keep the snow from piling up against the garage door and keep the garage door opening clear of water. Cold temperatures can also cause the garage door window inserts to crack during the winter months.

Summer heat can also cause the weatherstripping on the bottom of the garage door to dry out and crack. The weatherstripping helps to insulate the garage door by blocking out the elements. The best time to replace the weatherstripping on the garage door is during the summer. Keep the elements out by having your garage door weatherstripping replaced once it cracks or drys out. 

Summer heat also effects the garage door window inserts. The window inserts are made of impregnated colored plastic, and some manufacturers do not use impregnated plastic for their garage door window inserts. Clopay uses impregnated plastic for their garage door inserts, those inserts can fade with time of extended amounts of sun exposure. This is also common of a garage door that has been exposed to a western facing garage door that has been up for a long period of time. In fact, just last year we had to replace out garage door window insert. The garage door faces the west, and has been installed for the past 10 years, the insert just faded over time and extended sun exposure. You can keep your garage door looking fresh by just replacing the garage door window insert.

The best ways to avoid expensive garage door repairs during the extreme temperatures is to have your garage door serviced once a year. Once a year we can check out the springs, opener, weatherstripping, oil the door, and make sure the garage door is in good operational use! Our service calls are not overly expensive, we only charge $79.00 to come to your home to ensure your garage door is in good operational use. The $79.00 service charge once a year is better than replacing the entire garage door from neglect!

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Social Media and Small Buiness

Social Media is a constant topic of conversation at Grove City Garage Door Inc.! The question is always, what do we share, how much, and are customers really interested?

Since the age of computers has now taken over and there is so many social media outlets out there, the big question is always which social media outlet is more useful? A constant blog like this one? A Facebook blog with pictures? A Twitter account? Instagram?

Being a small business with minimal employees, we keep up on a couple of social media outlets. We try to stay current on this blog and Facebook; but there are times that it gets to be a lot to do to come up with good content that our customers are truly interested in reading about. Then the question is always, what do our customers really want to read? Personal views? Insights about their garage door? Is YouTube really a useful outlet? Do customers really watch YouTube videos on garage doors?

Social media affects a small business in many ways from customer reviews, to interactions with customers. We don't bother our customers with mailing lists because that takes up time, and we don't want our customers to feel like they are having their privacy invaded by receiving fliers and constant emails from us. So we depend on repeat customers. We have repeat customers because we try to do the best services with fair prices. 

Grove City Garage Door Inc. is comprised of three people, two doing garage doors all day long, and one doing marketing and social media at night and in spare times. Being a small business means that you are always competing with the big fish in the market who has many employees and more overhead. So in some ways we have an advantage, we do not have a lot of overhead and can offer lower prices on most all of our items. Being a small business that is a factory direct dealer also means that we can get lower prices by eliminating the middle man; we buy all of our doors, openers, and parts direct from factories which means lower prices for our customers.

Which media outlets do you use? Valued Reader?

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

BIA Parade of Homes 2014!

Grove City Garage Door Inc. is a part of the BIA Parade of Homes again in 2014! We have installed the garage doors on the Silvestri Homes entry of the parade this year! The theme of the parade is coastal living! The homes are designed with the north coast living in mind! Check out our entry of garage doors, we installed a Clopay Carriage house garage door with glass and black iron hardware. The parade stats on July 19th and runs through August 3rd! Located off 315 north! BIA Parade 2014

Monday, June 16, 2014

Before and After photos on our site!

At Grove City Garage Door Inc., we try to capture a garage door before it is replaced and take a photo of how it looks once it is completed! We have many photos on our site to go through and if one strikes your fancy then give us a call! We can set up an appointment to come out and measure your door for a free estimate for replacement. Check out some of out best garage door replacements!

 http://www.grovecitygaragedoor.com/BEFOREANDAFTER.html

These before and after photos can give you a better idea as to what a new door could look like on your home. A new garage door can raise the value of your home by up to 40% once it's replaced! And it's the cheapest upgrade to your home you can buy! Add glass to your door for a new look! Upgrade to a wood look with steel with an Ultra-Grain door! Imagine the possibilities a new door could do for your home! 


Friday, June 13, 2014

Best Garage Door Opener!

                At Grove City Garage Door Inc., we take down many Genie brand garage door openers on customers homes that have only been operating for six months or less. Genie brand garage door openers are made poorly and will not last more than a year if you are lucky! Why you ask? Well, Genie has changed what they manufacture their products with. They use plastic on most of their internal gearing, which causes the gears to wear out faster from constant opening and closing of the garage door.

              On my personal garage door, I use a LiftMaster, Chamberlain, and a Linear brands on my home and in my shop garages. All three brands offer long lasting functionality because they have been manufactured with steel internal parts and minimal plastic use.

              If you want a garage door opener with quiet operation and long lasting functionality, we recommend a Chamberlain belt drive garage door opener. I have installed many of these openers with little to no complaints from customers, and many have lasted years on end. So if you want a garage door opener that will stand the test of time, then install a Chamberlain belt drive garage door opener! I personally use the Chamberlain belt drive opener and have installed them on many homes including the Parade of Homes garage door!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Trademarks, wow what a topic!

Everyone knows what a trademark is, you see them every day when you go to McDonald's, Wendy's, or any other company.

 But does everyone know what a trademark really is? 
                      A trademark is a symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product.

Grove City Garage Door® is a legally registered by Grove City Garage Door Inc. with the United States Trade and Patent Office (USTPO), and has been since 2012!

 Search for yourself: http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp

 What does it take to get your trademark registered? It takes more than 5 years of use of the trademark in commerce to even get considered for having a trademark.

What does it mean to have a trademark? It means that the use of the words Grove City Garage Door can only be used in commerce by the owner of the trademark, Grove City Garage Door Inc.

How hard is it to protect a trademark? Extremely hard! Once upon a time there was no Internet, there was only the phone book. The phone book only allowed one listing of each company and no one was allowed to copy another companies name. The phone book was also regulated by the government so that copying another company name could not happen. Well then the Internet got started and Internet people don't really care if other companies copy other companies' names on the Internet. Thus, you get a federal trademark for your trademarked name and then you still have to battle with the Internet people to protect your name. The only protection you can get with a federal trademark is that Google and other online search engines will not allow other companies to use your trademark as their headline. Now if other companies use your company trademark as their keywords, that is completely legal to do. Rearrange your name in other manners, that is also legal.

Is this fair? We truly do not think it is fair that Internet search engines will allow other companies to use your trademark as their keywords, or rearrange your name to get your customers confused. We also do not think it is fair that other companies will do unsavory things such as making other websites using a companies' name but with different end extensions to try to confuse customers into thinking this is the real company. At Grove City Garage Door Inc., we do not practice this at all. We prefer to get our customers the original way, through hard work, trust, and truth in advertising. We do not practice using other companies' names to get their customers. The garage door business is a competitive business and there are many companies out there. Some are fair in pricing and others will rob you blind, so be careful when you are searching for a reputable company to fix your garage door.

What can a consumer do to protect themselves? Do some research on a company first. Find out what people really think of the company. Does it sound too good to be true? Then it probably is! Do companies really offer $200.00 or more off of garage doors? Most likely not. Do they offer a service call for less than $25? That is probably not true! It takes gas money to get to your location, so what does $25 really cover? Nothing!


Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Finding us on the world wide web!

The web is an interesting topic of discussion at the Grove City Garage Door headquarters! We are always trying to figure out how to improve our website, get our name out there in front of others, and just be the best in the business! So the topic of the web is an ever interesting topic!

 What do we discuss? 
              We discuss how other companies can buy a domain name that is similar if not exactly the same but not the .com version because of course we own the .com version.

We ask ourselves, why would any company want to buy our name in another version?
                Here is our theory, these companies are not that reputable, are having a hard time getting customers, so they resort to stealing our customers!

How are they stealing?
                When they make a website domain that says grovecitygaragedoor.info, and advertise using almost the exact spelling and wording of our company, this is considered stealing! They are stealing our valuable customers who are confused as to who we actually are!

Who is Grove City Garage Door Inc.?
                 We are a couple of brothers from the Grove City, Ohio area who decided to start our own garage door business! We have been in business since 1998!

How are we successful?
                  We are successful in the garage door business because we know how to take care of our customers! We have a loyal customer base, and we appreciate our customers!

How can you reach us?
                  Find us on the world wide web www.grovecitygaragedoor.com! Or just call Mark Rothwell or Pat Rothwell on the phone 614-877-0350! If you don't hear Mark or Pat answering the phone, it's not Grove City Garage Door Inc.!

Friday, June 6, 2014

Favorite Desintation!

One of our favorite summer time destinations is Kelleys Island, Ohio! We go there frequently during the summer season months. What does this have to do with garage doors? Well since we are already heading to the island for frequent summer visits, we can bring a garage door with us! We can also fix any garage door problems while we are on the island!

Just give us a call, we can make an appointment to meet you on the island, and we don't charge any additional ferry fees to bring you services!

Never been to Kelleys Island? Check out the chamber of commerce website: | www.kelleysislandchamber.com