A garage door can operate perfectly for a while but then begins to change how it performs.
One of the changes can be a buckled garage door when opening it from the ground. A sagging effect on individual door panels can occur that causes sections to buckle and flex as they move. This can create an unpleasant flexing, cracking, or bending sound, plus if it’s obstructing the door mechanism, then it may create trouble with the tracks too.
For this article, we’ll look at causes and how to repair a garage door that’s buckling.
What Causes a Garage Door to Buckle?
Here are a few of the causes of it:
Weak Material
When the garage door is produced using thin, inferior materials, then it may have added flex to it compared to strong doors. Indeed, it may have been paired with a weaker garage door repair mechanism too.
Bad Weather Conditions
If the home is located in the path of frequent bad weather, then the door could be taking a battering from the wind, rain, hailstones, and more.
Track Misalignment
The tracks are fixed to the ceiling and are used to guide and hold the garage door in place when it’s been lifted. Unless they’re ideally aligned together, they won’t operate as intended. This can lead to a garage door buckling when it fits the uneven or misaligned section of the track.
How to Repair a Buckled Garage Door?
When wanting to know how to repair a buckled garage door, the answer is it depends on what’s causing the problem in the first place.
Here are our suggestions based on different causes:
Badly Aligned Tracks
When the tracks have been moved or dislodged, they need to be correctly realigned so that the door mechanism can flow perfectly. This must be done carefully to realign appropriately, otherwise, you’ll go back and forth on this problem forever.
Add a Lubricant
If the garage door is screeching, then it probably requires lubricant and without it, it’s bunching up and causing the door to fold over itself.
A household cleaner is fine. Avoid using WD-40 because this is solvent-based and won’t help in the long term.
The Garage Door is Too Flimsy
We’ve added this as a separate section because it’s more serious.
If the garage door and individual panels within it are just too cheap and flimsy, then you have a different kind of problem.
You’ll need a professional repairer most likely for this one. The door will need additional, reinforced garage door hinges to provide greater support. Then steel angles can be used by attaching them from one section of the door to the next to brace it up.
Better hinges and bracing won’t interfere with the door movement but will reinforce the panels to avoid them bucking due to being too flimsy. If the garage door material is too thin, but it will provide extra support to help better maintain their form. Other than replacing the door panels or the whole garage door itself, it’s the next best thing.
What If the Door Won’t Stop Buckling?
If the door won’t stop buckling despite following the above suggestions, then the situation is even more serious. The door may be so inferior that even trying to work around that problem won’t resolve it 100%. In which case, replacing the garage door with something sturdier will be recommended.
However, the rest of the garage door opener mechanism will also need to be examined to determine the maximum weight that it can support. If its capacity is limited, then part or all of the mechanism will necessarily need to be replaced along with it.
It’s best to get professional assistance if you’re having persistent garage door buckling concerns. At least doing so will confirm the best course of action towards a resolution.
