Regularly I’m asked by curious friends, family, and strangers how can they tell what garage door opener is correct for them.

The answer is, it depends!

If you were asked which is the best laundry detergent, or which is the best pasta sauce, you wouldn’t even think twice about your answer. There are items we purchase and use so often that it’s easy for us to try new things and quickly determine what is best, what we like, and what we will continually use. But it’s not often that we need to shop for a garage door opener. In fact, you probably will only do it once in your life, maybe twice if you move to a new home. So how can you go about deciding what is best?

There are three variations of garage door openers to think about, and each is meant for a type of way of life. It’s really up to you to figure out.

Which Garage Door Opener is Best?

Don’t worry, this short summary will help you inconsidering the facts about each.

1. Chain Drives - The most common and typically the cheapest, chain drives use a metal chain to operate. However the tradeoff is a noisey motor.   So the question is, do you worry about noise? If your garage is not connected to your home or you want to tell what time your teenagers are coming home at night this might be a good option. But if you’d rather no noise, say because there are bedrooms above the garage, the chain drive might not be for you.

Summary: Most economical but loudest. Best if you have a not attached garage or don’t care about noise.

2. Belt Drives - Touted as being the best of the three openers. Belt drives are as reliable as chain drives, but because of their rubber belt they are practically silent! connected garage or hate loud noise, think about selecting this one].Belt drives are more expensive than chain drives so it’s a concession between noise and money. These Chicago garage door openers are highly recommended. 

Summary: Practically silent but costs more. Good idea if you have an attached garage or don’t like noise.

3. Screw Drives - These are not recommended because they just don’t hold up well under drastic temperature changes. If you live in an area with hot summers or cold winters you will run into some problems. Screw drives work by using a threaded steel rod attached to a lifting device. Slow moving and noisy, screw drives are moderately priced compared to the other options

Summary: Best if you live in a region with constant climate. Noisy and slow moving.

Your garage door is in need of repair or the roof is leaking. You pick up the phone and call someone you found in the yellowpages. They say they’ll be there tomorrow. You hang up the phone without asking anymore questions…

Know who’s coming to your home!

Have you ever gotten nervous when a serviceman showed up at your home with no uniform, no badge or identification, in an unmarked car? You wonder, is this stranger the real deal or someone out to do harm to me or my family?

If you have you are not alone. This is a common sentiment when it comes to contractors and perhaps rightfully so.

Unfortunately, some companies do not screen their employees. Reduce your exposure to risk by asking these simple questions BEFORE hiring a contractor/serviceman.

1. Do you perform criminal background checks on your employees?

2. Have your employees been drug tested?

3. If you say your employees have had criminal background checks and drug tests, where is the proof/documentation? (When a company says they will mail you a copy you should be cautious do they really have the proof or do they just tell you what you want to hear?)

4. Do you take any other precautionary measures when hiring employees?

5. Will your employees come to my home in a marked vehicle and uniform so I can easily identify who they work for?

If the contractor can’t answer your questions or says he’ll get back to you, be wary.

Ideally, you want the company to have the information before hand. But if they present it to you when they show up, that is fine too.

It’s important to check this information before hiring anyone, be it a chicago garage door repair company (who incidentally do test, which was very pleasing to hear), a roofer, or anyone that is coming to work on your home. 

Garage Door Energy Tax Credit

I caved in and replaced my garage door last month. Why? Well, it was starting to look like this:

Ok. Maybe it wasn’t that bad!

But it was pretty bad. I mean, the door was cracked and pealing paint. The rubber stops were old and brittle. Water was coming in during heavy rain, and you could feel the wind come through most days.

No surprise, my garage itself was pretty cold and damp. Not a pleasant place to try and do any sort of work in during the winter. And forget about the wife or kids bringing the trash out there.

I heard talk about the energy tax credit the government offers for upgrading your home. Turns out the garage door qualifies too.

 I called a couple local places before settling on this one garage door company.

I know. A DIY guy like myself calling for pro’s. But I had my reasons. First of all, I had more than enough to keep me busy elsewhere. Second, the price was right. Real right.

It seems Uncle Sam wants all of us to upgrade our homes to be more energy efficient, so the gov’t is offering tax credits. Yes, your garage door qualifies for an energy tax credit too. Up to 30% back. Hey, that’s some good money. 

I found that guy Jack Rabbit Slims blog above and was able to find some more info on the energy tax credit. Or a quick Google search will get you some answers too. 

The energy tax credit only covers the cost of the material not the labor, so if you want to install it yourself you certainly can, it wont hurt your tax credit.