The door

When the garage door repairman came to rescue me last week, he let me know that I have a top-notch garage door opener and a reasonably high quality garage door. This was, sadly, small comfort in view of the fact that the door was stuck open, and it was around 8 p.m.

The first problem -- the obvious problem -- was that a guide cable jumped its pulley. The second problem -- the small problem that had been irritating me for weeks -- was that the spring wasn't tight enough, so that the motor was having to take too much of the door's weight. (The primary symptom of the second problem was that the door would refuse to open, usually right when I needed to get to work.)

Investigating those problems revealed a series of secondary issues:

• The track was mounted too close to the frame of the garage, causing the door to rub against the jamb and the frame on one side.
• Support brackets for the track were installed backward.
• The release handle that allows manual opening and closing of the garage was installed backward.
• The pins in the outer hinges of the door were installed such that they could catch the guide cable and either stop the door from moving or pop the cable off its pulley.
• The pulley was loose.
• There was too much give in the door, causing it to shimmy too far left and right, potentially destabilizing the pulley further.

On the plus side, the repairman seemed highly skilled, and, as the owner of a small, local company, heavily invested in making a good impression. He made sure that I understood what he was doing and why he was doing it, and went above and beyond to make sure that the fix was complete. (If you know anyone in the area who needs garage door maintenance, installation, or repairs, let me know. I'll give you his card.)

On the minus side, I didn't exactly budget for this. I wonder if I could make winter holiday presents from the clay in my back yard...