Our 15-year old garage door openers (two) finally gave out. Well, that is to say, mine did–it gets used the most. So we went for a quiet, belt driven model that could be accessed by our phone. If you do it yourself and for two doors, it’s around $500 in parts. But we paid a very experienced fellow $1000.
He also replaced one of the heavy-duty (and very dangerous by the way) springs used to control the heavy door load. The other spring was replaced when we moved in ten years ago. And he tightened down all the rails. His time, 5 hours. Bonus the new unit has two lights and with the advent of LED lights, we no longer are limited to 60 watt bulbs.
Pictures and instructions for do it yourselfer are here: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Chamberlain-CHA-1-2HP-BELT-DRIVE-GDO-WITH-WIFI/5002862169
The belt should last a long time, I think I was told 20 years but we’ll see. It is a steel reinforced belt that should allay any concerns about the rubber wearing out.
Bonus: If our door opens we get an alert on my phone. If I can’t remember if I closed the garage door, I can check the door status. And if it is open and I’m at a gig, I can close the garage door from that location.
I was putzing around the garage, getting lawn tools out and thought that in some ways I miss the loud garage door opener. I always knew when Suzy came home and could hear it when I was in my car closing it at night after coming home from band practice. But then, I’m just being silly I guess.
The Bis Key Chronicles 