Buffalo gets weather most of the country never sees. A band coming off Lake Erie can drop several feet on one neighbourhood while a town twenty minutes away stays clear. For a garage door that creates a specific set of problems that ordinary snow does not.
Lake-effect snow is heavier
It carries far more moisture than the dry snow that falls in a typical continental winter. Wet snow piled against the bottom of a door compacts, then partially melts against the slightly warmer door, then refreezes as solid ice.
When the opener tries to lift, it is fighting the weight of the door plus a wall of ice bonded to it. That is how bottom sections get bent and how openers burn out in a single morning.
It arrives faster than you can clear it
Three inches an hour is normal in a band. If the door is left closed overnight during a storm, by morning there can be two feet packed against it, and the bottom foot of that will have frozen solid.
Wind is the quiet problem
Buffalo wind is constant rather than occasional. Over a few seasons it works hinges and brackets loose through simple vibration. A door with loose hardware is the one that jumps its track during a storm, and it always happens at the worst possible time.
What actually helps
- Clear a strip in front of the door before the storm, not after. Even a foot of clear concrete gives the meltwater somewhere to go.
- Check hardware in autumn. Go along the hinges and brackets with a socket wrench and snug anything loose. Fifteen minutes in October prevents the most expensive winter call.
- Run the door once a day during a long storm. A door that moves does not have time to freeze shut.
- Watch the balance. Disconnect the opener and lift by hand to waist height. If it does not stay put, the springs need adjusting before winter, not during.
If it has already gone wrong
A bent bottom section, a door that lifts crooked, or an opener that grinds are all things to stop using immediately. Call (646) 960-8060. We cover Buffalo, Amherst, Cheektowaga, Hamburg, Orchard Park and the surrounding towns.
Garage door trouble in Upstate New York?
KGC Garage Door covers Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and the surrounding towns. Free estimates, same-day service on most repairs.