A.B.E. Doors & Windows Blog

If you're reasonably handy, there's plenty that you can to to keep your garage door working great through one season after another. We'd like to share some of those simple actions - but first, a couple of things you should never do.

If there's any problem with the safety stop mechanism on your automatic door, call a professional right away. This is a situation that can damage your car and even cause personal injury. Even more important: hands off the powerful high-tension springs that control the door. A sudden release of these springs can be extremely dangerous. Leave everything related to these components to the pros.

What you can handle yourself starts with visual inspections - look over the whole system. If a track or other part is bent or otherwise damaged, have it replaced at once. You should be able to spot tracks that are out of alignment, another common problem that needs prompt attention. Failures in these components can lead to more serious and expensive repairs. The same is true of cables - anything frayed or worn should be checked and replaced by your service technician.

Remove any leaves or other obstructions from the tracks or moving parts, and wipe out the tracks with a household cleaner. Use a penetrating oil such as WD-40 (citrus-based solvents also work) on the tracks, rollers, hinges and latches. Wipe it all off, then apply light lubricating oil to the same parts. On garage door openers, apply the same oil to the chain. Lubricate the system at least annually.

Check the door's weatherstripping - if it's damaged, jammed or missing, adjust or replace it. Older wooden doors without such protection at the bottom should first be sealed or painted - then you can add weatherstripping if you wish.

Finally, check all nuts, bolts and fastenters. Tighten any that have loosened. Remember, something that looks wrong may well be. If you have any concerns, call ABE Doors and Windows at 610-398-2430. Our friendly, expert technicians will be there soon to check things over.

People ask "How are you doing?" so often and so casually that it seldom means much. For a service-oriented business, though, it's a serious question. And the answer matters greatly to the company's success.

A while back ABE Doors and Windows sought a way to measure our performance with customers. The best help we could find came from a company called Guild Quality. It's their business to survey the customers of participating firms after projects or services are completed. Guild Quailty then compiles and posts the results, along with customers' candid opinions.

The survey company is objective about this. You accept when you sign up that they're going to put the results online for all to see. Unless you think your report card's going to be pretty good, it's probably not something you want to try.

We've been in the process for many months. See results by clicking the Guild Quality logo on our homepage, or use this link: www.guildquality.com/cr/A-B-E-Doors-Windows/N6Y506012224XT9/ . Customer quotes via Guild Quality also appear often on our Facebook page.

We're happy with the results. We come in at 98 percent or better for most measurements, including "Professional & Organized," "Value," "Communication," "Sales Knowledge," and "Schedule." Ratings for "Clean and Safe" and "Construction Quality" are perfect 100s. And the overwhelming majority of our verbal evalutions are also very positive. Take a look.

So that's the answer to "How are you doing?" Pretty darn well - but always with room for improvement.