Why is My Garage Door Buckling?

A buckling garage door isn’t just unsightly– it’s unsafe. On the outside, it looks ‘off’ and can make your day harder than it needs to be if you can’t get in and out of your garage. Along with that, a buckling garage door typically means there’s something wrong with its mechanics or structural integrity. This means that determining why your garage door is buckling– and either fixing or replacing it– is something you need to do sooner rather than later.

This article looks at reasons why your garage door might be buckling and the potential fixes. For personalised advice, contact our team at PDS Garage Doors today.

How Can I Tell if My Garage Door is Buckling?

A buckling garage door has visible warping or bending, making it curve inwards or outwards. This might be very obvious, but it can also be more difficult to spot. You might also notice:

• The door not moving smoothly along the tracks
• The opener straining to lift the door
• Light passing through areas of the door where it shouldn’t
• Noises like creaking or grinding when you try to open the door
• The door not sitting flush with the ground when closed

While frustrating to deal with, the good news is that in most cases, a buckling garage door is fixable with the help of a garage door technician.

Why is My Garage Door Buckling?

Reasons your garage door might be buckling include:

1. Low-Quality Materials

Just like with most products, if something is made from inferior materials, it’s more likely to break. This includes garage doors, where flimsy metals are prone to damage and should be replaced with a more durable material such as aluminium.

2. Weather Damage

Melbourne has its fair share of weather events throughout the year, and events like storms can cause garage door panels to warp and buckle. Even temperature changes can play a role, as extreme heat or cold can cause some materials to expand and contract, which can lead to warping. Depending on the extent of the weather damage, in cases like this, you may be able to replace the affected panel or panels rather than replace the entire garage door.

3. Misaligned Tracks

Your door can get jammed and buckle if its tracks aren’t aligned properly. This can cause one side to lift up more than the other, forcing the door to buckle under the pressure. While it may look like a DIY job if the tracks are only slightly misaligned, don’t attempt to fix them yourself– this is something only a garage door technician can fix.

4. Improperly Installed Arm

Your garage door arms connect the door to the opener. If the arms aren’t angled correctly this can cause your door to bow, which can lead to serious damage.

5. Needing a Strut

A strut is a reinforcement bar that provides additional support to prevent buckling. Not every garage door has one, but if your garage door is buckling, a strut helps to open and close your garage door smoothly.

6. Needing to Lubricate Your Hinges or Rollers

If your garage door’s mechanics are dry or rusty, this increases the friction and stress they’re under, which may lead to buckling.

7. Accidental Impact

If you lightly bump your garage door with the car as you pull into the driveway, it may not seem like it did any damage. However, if this happens over time, or if somebody runs into your garage door with their bike or another object, this can cause structural weakness that leads to buckling.

8. Wear and Tear

Garage doors age, and over time they experience wear and tear that can cause them to weaken or lose their shape. While many things can speed up the process, if you’ve been using your garage door for years, buckling can occur naturally.

Fix Your Buckling Garage Door With PDS Garage Doors

At PDS Garage Doors, we’re your trusted team for fixing and replacing buckled garage doors. Operating in Epping and surrounding areas, we supply, install, and repair roller doors, tilt doors, sectional doors, and more. Don’t wait until your buckling garage door gets worse– contact us today!

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