Oftentimes, homeowners wait until their garage door stops working completely before calling a garage door repair service. Then, they often have to wait a few days for the right parts to come in and for the repairs to be made. If your garage door isn't working, you should absolutely call a repair service. However, you can often get ahead of the game by watching out for these earlier signs of garage door trouble. Call a repair company as soon as you notice these signs, and you may avoid a complete door failure.

Going Back Up 

Do you ever close your garage door, only for the opener to immediately draw it back up again? Sometimes this might happen a few times before the door finally stays down. There are a couple of different problems that can cause this behavior. The garage door springs may be stretched out, causing the door to drop too far and trigger the closing mechanism to pull it back up. The sensors could also be wearing out. Both of these issues are rather easy for a garage door repair company to fix.

Grinding or Clanging Noises

When the garage door is opening or closing, do you hear a grinding or clanging sound? This could be the chain starting to rub against itself and lose flexibility. In some cases, it may just need to be lubricated. You can try lubricating it yourself and seeing if that helps. If it does not make a difference, a repair company may need to come to replace the chain or at least replace a few links in the chain.

Rattling From Side to Side

Does your door seem to rattle or vibrate from side to side when it is moving up or down within the tracks? This can be a sign that the tracks themselves are loose, or that the opening mechanism is struggling mechanically, causing the door to wiggle too much and bounce against the edges of the tracks. A garage door repair company will likely come to tune up the motor and also tighten the tracks. Done together, these two steps can stop the door from rattling before it rattles right off the tracks.

Garage doors can be a bit particular. If yours is acting strange in any way, don't wait for it to fail completely. Contact a garage door repair company, and arrange for them to come to your home and make repairs.