Renting, Garage Doors And You

The bulk, and by bulk I mean nearly all, of this blog is targeted at homeowners. People who have a say in their home’s construction and maintenance with the only real obstacle to them being money. They might not always know what needs to be done in their home, but if something necessarily needs to be done they can do it. However, in today’s day and age the amount of renters in the country is quite high. People are buying real estate less often and moving around more. This means that there are at least a few renters out there. Renting a home can be tough, you are stuck in a spot of not often being allowed to have much say over things like repairs and improvements. When it comes to your garage door this very well may be annoying and even dangerous at times. What should you do then to make sure that your garage door doesn’t give out on you one day and ruin your day or week even? As a renter you won’t really have the luxury of being able to simply call the repairman to get your garage door fixed as quickly as possible. You will most likely need to go through your landlord or whoever they feel will do the best job for the money. This can take time if they have multiple properties and you can end up with a less than perfect solution to a problem you may not be equipped to handle. What are ways then that you can prevent these sorts of things from happening? That’s where this article comes into play. Below are just a few tips on how to avoid garage door disaster as a renter with not the greatest amount of control over your home.

One way to make sure that you aren’t left with an uncorking garage door an hour before you’re meant to be at work with your car left inside is to make sure your garage door and the garage door opener are properly maintained. You should talk to your landlord about how they deal with regular home maintenance and what not when you move in, but realize that it may not be their top priority. If you are really worried about something like this see if you can take over the maintenance and simply send them the bills. This will give you control of the maintenance and will hopefully mean that fewer disasters occur. However, this can be tricky because your idea of routine maintenance and their idea of necessary maintenance may differ. Make sure to have clear understanding of what you plant to get done. You can also just take it up on yourself to do the reminding. You may eventually come off as nagging, but sending an email or text once a year to make sure your landlord gets someone to lubricate your garage door correctly is something that won’t take too long and really shouldn’t come off as too needy.

Another thing that you should do as a renter is make sure you are paying attention the changes in your home. If your garage door opener starts making a new noise or something then let your landlord know. This will mean that they will have a record of the problem and that if need be you can get it looked into before it becomes a problem. Landlords don’t have the luxury of being around their properties every day so if you can help them spot things before they become costly repairs they will really appreciate you as a tenant. This means that you have to use whatever amount of knowledge you have of, say garage doors, to make the call of what should be told and what shouldn’t.

One last tip for you is that sometimes you just need to play hardball. If your garage door is broken because of something like a broken garage door spring you will know it. It is also something that needs to be fixed pretty quickly because you won’t be able to use your garage door for much at all with a broken garage door spring. If this sort of thing happens you need to know that your garage needs be fixed as soon as possible so that you can get back to using your garage. If you have your car in your garage and need your car to get to and from work it is especially important and so you can tell your landlord this sort of thing. If they give you trouble just let them know that if you can’t get to work because of a broken garage door then you also can’t pay rent because you can’t go to work. This will most likely get them to grasp the gravity of the situation and do their bet to accommodate you.

Being a renter has its positives and negatives. However when things go awry in your home a lot of the negatives really come through. If you have a good landlord and a good relationship with your landlord than you may every well be able to get through things like a broken or damaged garage door without much fuss. However, if your landlord has a large number of properties or is just otherwise not great at responding quickly then it may help to try and take some of the onus onto yourself. This may be a bit of a hassle at times, but if you can make it easier on your land lord to keep your home in the best shape then you will really appreciate it. You will also have and appreciative landlord which in the future could be a good thing.