Agricultural FAQ

There may be a number of reasons why your overhead door does that. A built-in safety feature makes the electric opener open the door back up if something is out of the normal to prevent damage or any threats to safety. There are several things you can do to troubleshoot the problem.

• Check that the threshold of the overhead door is clear. The opener may sense if there is something blocking it even slightly.
• Take a closer look at the photo safety eyes or photo-cells located at the bottom of the tracks. Sometimes if they get hit or misaligned and the infrared beam between them gets disrupted the opener will believe that something is blocking the door. If the small green or red (amber) light on the safety eye is not turned on, it may be a sign of the safety eyes being misaligned and the beam not getting reflected from the other unit. In this case try aligning them with each other until the lights come back on, try then to close the door normally. Often the safety eyes may be fine but the wires connecting them to the opener may be damaged, cut or short-circuited by touching another surface. You can try moving the wire around carefully with your fingers to see if the lights on the safety eyes blink or come back on when you move the wire.  It could be as simple as a cobweb or fly etc interfering with the beam, try to make sure there is no obstruction that may cause the two eyes not to see each other.
• The regular travel distance may be hindered. This can sometimes happen if the tracks or hardware of the overhead door get hit or twisted out of place. The opener can believe there is something blocking the overhead door if it is forced to stop before it has moved the programmed travel distance.
  Travel limits may be slightly off in the openers limits switch. The limits control the exact spots where the overhead door stops when it is raised or lowered. On residential garage door openers, the limits can be adjusted by turning the limit screws with a flat-head screwdriver. The limit screws are usually located on the side of your opener. On larger commercial openers, setting their limits is a bit more complicated. On some openers the limits can be adjusted by pushing down the brake plate and turning the two white limit cogs to the desired spot on the limit shaft. You will need to open the opener cover and locate the limit shaft in order to do this. It is however highly recommended that a trained service technician does this work as contacting any of the circuitry may cause further expensive damage. There is also a safety risk of electrocution.
• The logic board may be malfunctioning. Like any electrical devices the logic board, the central brain in the opener that controls the operation of the overhead door, can get worn out with time. It may also be affected by voltage spikes in the electrical grid or if the proper voltage does not pass through to the opener. Other signs of a faulty logic board may be that the overhead door opens or closes by itself without explanation, even though the door otherwise operates normally.

If your overhead door is still not working properly or you feel uncomfortable troubleshooting or working with your overhead door and opener yourself, please don’t hesitate to call us. Easy Lift Doors expert technicians are more than glad to help and will promptly get your overhead door working properly again.

We generally recommend to book your planned annual maintenance of your overhead door for the spring and summer months as our crews have lesser workload at that time. Fall and winter are our busiest periods where we have to prioritize more urgent repairs and less severe jobs may have to be delayed.

Yes, Easy Lift Doors can replace sections (panels) of your damaged overhead door whether they are at the bottom, middle or top of your door. We can replace sections for any type of agricultural, commercial, industrial or residential overhead door. When replacing only a damaged section of an old door there may be a difference in color and sheen between new and old sections. The difference can be lessened by painting the sections or waxing the undamaged sections with car wax to match the shine between the sections. If the damage is more extensive and you need to replace more than a couple of sections, it may be cheaper to get the entire door replaced. Inquire about our replacement sections and we can give you a free quote.

Firstly, we recommend you to make sure that no one can use your lost remote to gain access to your personal space. If you have additional spare remotes you can easily erase the memory and reset the code, making sure that the lost remote no longer will work. In most cases we can promptly offer you a replacement for a missing or damaged remote from our inventory. However, for some electric opener models we may need to order the remote in from its manufacturer or offer an universal remote. Please contact us for pricing and availability.

Easy Lift Doors offers all the replacement parts (door sections, windows, springs, tracks, cables, hinges, etc.) and accessories for your overhead door and electric opener. Most parts are carried in stock, however some parts may have to be ordered in. For parts ordered it is usually within a week, as we use local suppliers. Please contact us for pricing.

Headroom is the space between the top of the door opening and the underside of the lowest part of the ceiling above the door. An overhead door installation may still be possible even though the headroom is low. Using low headroom kits and special hardware the required headroom can be reduced to 4-1/2” depending on the door type. It is strongly recommended that you contact us in the planning stage of your building, especially for large overhead doors as they require more headroom. Inquire about Easy Lift Doors low head room options and we can determine which solution is best suitable for your overhead door.

Don’t worry. We carry overhead doors from 4 feet up to about 40 feet wide and every door is custom made to the nearest inch. We do not charge any extra for cutting the panels down to the exact size. Please contact us for a free quote.

Steel overhead doors are the most commonly used overhead door and come in a wide range of panel designs, insulation and price options. They can be insulated or non-insulated depending on purpose of usage. Thicker multi-layered doors provide greater durability, impact-resistance and thermal insulation.

Polycarbonate overhead doors are made out of a lighter see-through material. Their translucent multi-walled structure makes them strong yet lightweight and provides an excellent thermal insulation, reducing winter heating costs due to solar heat gain. They are a great choice for maximizing natural light in your building. Polycarbonate overhead doors are extremely impact and weather resistant, long lasting and retain their brand new look for a long time. Often polycarbonate doors are used for agricultural, commercial, institutional or industrial purposes but they are also suitable as residential garage doors to give a stylish contemporary look and feel to your garage for years to come.

Tell us about what kind of overhead door you are interested in and we will give you a free quote.

In residential garage doors the window section is placed in either the third section (second from the top) or the fourth (top) section depending on why you want to add windows. If you want to be able to look through the windows the third section is best. If you want privacy but still want to let daylight in, the fourth section is the best. If you want to be able to look outside but still want some privacy, you can request other window panes options such as obscure glass which still lets light in while maintaining privacy. It is also possible to place windows for example on only one side of the door in each panel, creating a vertical column of windows. This makes for a great contemporary look. For other window locations Styleview Series or Contemporary Series may be an option to pursue.

For generally larger commercial doors the placement of the window section depends on the surrounding structure and building aesthetics. Take into consideration where other windows in the building are placed and again what the purpose of the windows on the overhead door are. It is also possible to install several window sections on top of each other or make the entire door see-through. A so called full-view overhead door has glass windows in all sections. An alternative is installing an overhead door where see-through window panes are made out of lighter polycarbonate or acrylic material. Tell us about your needs and we can give you a free quote and discuss options.

Overhead doors come in a wide range of materials including steel, composite, polycarbonate, aluminium, natural wood and glass. Most common are insulated steel overhead doors. Before you choose which materials your Easy Lift Doors are to be made of, please consider the overall style of your building and what the purpose of the overhead door is. Other factors to keep in mind are durability, energy efficiency and aesthetics. Please let us know about your needs and we will be happy to give you a free quote and discuss options.

Headroom is the space between the top of the door opening and the underside of the lowest part of the ceiling above the door. Required headroom for a commercial overhead door depends on which spring configuration and what kinds of tracks are to be used in the installation. Special follow the roof tracks, high-lift, full vertical tracks or dual-tracks can be used depending on how much headroom there is. For a standard door with torsion springs and 2” tracks with a 15” radius, requires minimum 16” of headroom. Adding for instance a trolley opener, requires even more headroom. We recommend however that you contact Easy Lift Doors so that we can have a look at your door opening and determine which tracks are best suited for your overhead door project as there are a lot of factors to consider.

Yes, Easy Lift Doors can replace sections (panels) of your damaged garage door whether they are at the bottom, middle or top of your door. We can replace sections for any model of garage door providing we can identify the make and model of the existing door. When replacing only a damaged section of an old door there may be a difference in color and sheen between new and old sections. The difference can be lessened by painting the sections or waxing the undamaged sections with car wax to match the shine between the sections. If the damage is more extensive and you need to replace more than a couple of sections, it may be cheaper to get the entire door replaced. Inquire about our replacement sections and we can give you a free quote and discuss options.

Sideroom or side clearance is the measurement on each side of your overhead door opening to the nearest wall or obstruction. For smaller overhead doors allow 3” to 4” on either side and larger overhead doors 5” to 6” for standard spring and shaft configurations. If a side mounted opener is used a larger sideroom has to be accounted for to allow for fitting the opener beside the door.

Backroom or rear clearance is the distance between the overhead door and the back wall of the space where the overhead door is installed. For a residential garage door the backroom required is at least the door height plus 18”. For a commercial overhead door the requirement is door height plus 23” when 2” track is used and 25” when 3” track is used. The backroom requirement is also larger if an electric opener needs to be installed behind the overhead door.

Yes, you can paint your door but first take into consideration that the warranty will be null and void once you paint them and if damage is done to your door and a panel needs to be replaced you will likely need to repaint the entire door due to the UV rays fading the paint you used. This is due to not being baked on as it is in the factory.  Upon saying this your residential and commercial overhead doors can be painted with any high quality exterior latex paint. Do not use an oil based paint. Please consult your paint store for which exterior latex paint is recommended for the surface on your overhead door.

Painting instructions: Remove the weather stripping from the sides & top. Rub the exterior with a Scotch-brite fiber pot-scubber to dull the surface a bit. You can buy the pot-scubber at Loblaws, Zehrs, No-Frills etc. Do NOT use steel wool. Then wash with a diluted trisodium phosphate (TSP) solution (Home hardware or CTC); rinse and let dry. Then apply a good acrylic latex paint in the shade when the door is cool. If you paint in the sun when the door is hot, the paint dries almost instantly. It doesn’t have a chance to “level” between brush or roller strokes and bubbles may harden in place. Paint the joint between the top of one section & the bottom of the one above it, with a very thin coat, allowing it to dry before the sections contact each other. Lift the door gradually to get access to this joint, as it goes around the curve at the top of the door. Re-attach the weather-stripping after a day, using the same pieces lined up with the same screw holes. If the weather-stripping is attached too soon, it will stick to the soft paint and may peel off when the door is opened.