Home Buyers’ Garage Door Inspection Services

We often hear the same thing from new customers: “We recently bought this house and the garage door is not working properly.” When you are buying a home, it helps to know before closing whether the garage door and garage door opener are in good working order, or working at all.

Overhead Door Company of Albany has been repairing and installing garage doors and garage door openers across the Capital Region for more than 20 years. We are locally owned and based in Clifton Park. Our technicians are factory certified on Overhead Door™ products and work on garage doors of any brand. Our home buyers’ garage door inspection is completely free, with no strings attached.

After the inspection, we give you a professional garage door health report. It recommends any repairs or parts the garage door and garage door opener need. If repairs would cost more than a brand new garage door, the report says so and recommends a replacement instead.

You will have that information in hand before closing, so you can factor it into your decision.

The inspection is for anyone buying a home within our service area. The property must be in one of the nine Capital Region counties we serve: Albany, Saratoga, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Montgomery, Fulton, Schoharie, Greene or Columbia.

Real estate agents can also arrange pre-closing inspections for their clients through our real estate program.

A general home inspection usually includes running the garage door opener to see that the garage door opens and closes. It may not include testing the safety reverse. Our technicians work on garage doors every day, so they can give you a clear idea of what any repairs involve.

Garage door problems aren’t always obvious during a showing. Springs wear out over years of use, and a garage door opener can work but be old enough to lack modern safety sensors.

You can spot some garage door problems yourself while you tour a house. Ask the seller’s agent before you operate anything.

• Open and close the garage door with the wall button and watch it move. It should run smoothly and evenly, without jerking or loud grinding. Look at the springs above the garage door, and check for a gap in the coil, which means a spring has broken. Check the cables at the bottom corners for fraying or rust.
• Look for the photo-eye sensors near the floor on each side of the garage door. A garage door opener made before 1993 may not have them, and garage door opener manufacturers recommend replacing it. The garage door opener’s label often shows when it was made, and most garage door openers last 10 to 15 years.
• Ask how many remotes and keypads come with the house, and whether they work.

Once the house is yours, erase the old codes from the garage door opener and reprogram the remotes and keypad. Previous owners or their contractors may still have working remotes. Our guides to programming your garage door opener and your wireless keypad walk through it.

Test the reversing feature once a month. With the garage door open, lay a 2×4 flat on the floor in its path and close it. The garage door should reverse when it touches the board.

Use the request service form, or call 1-800-688-4312. Schedule it as early as you can before closing. Our office is open Monday to Friday, 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM.