My garage door started acting up recently. It would open half way and stop. I'd hit the button again and it opened all the way.

Like most procrastinators, my first reaction was to assume that the problem would go away if I just ignored it. Then, one day, I started backing my car out of the garage only to notice just in time that the door was not open all the way. That was my wake-up call.

Right then and there I examined the rollers and the tracks. They hadn't been cleaned in awhile, so I gave them a brushing and added some lubricant. That seems to have fixed the problem, although I'm keeping a much closer eye on the door before I start backing out of the garage these days.

If you run into some malfunction on your garage door and don't have the inclination or confidence to fix it yourself, you might want to read this article on how to find a good garage door repair technician. Don't wait for the problem to fix itself. Chances are, it will only get worse. And, in the meantime, you might find yourself doing what I almost did--backing your car through a partially opened door. Imagine trying to explain that!

I don't know a lot about Twyla Tharp. She's a very successful and well-known choreographer, and I'm a dunce about dance.

But she wrote a book that I really like called The Creative Habit. Tharp has a bone to pick with those folks who think that creative success stems from genetic luck. She's in the camp that maintains that hard work and sharp focus produce champions, in all walks of life. I'm with her there.

She also has some strong opinions on storage and organization that I like. With all of her fame and fortune (which, she readily acknowledges on behalf of all top dancers, is inadequate in comparison with professional basketball players and rock stars), Tharp loves cardboard boxes for storing her work material. Why? Because she can write on them, something "you wouldn't do . . . with a thousand-dollar cherry file cabinet."

When she begins a new project, Tharp grabs a new box and writes the project name on it. Then, everything that goes into creating a new dance piece goes into the box. The box represents commitment: "The simple act of writing a project name on the box means I've started work." She also likes that the boxes are easy to buy, cheap, fully functional, portable, identifiable, and disposable once they've worn out.

Most of all, Tharp maintains that she never has to worry about forgetting or losing some important thought or object. "I don't worry about that because I know where to find it. It's all in the box."

As someone who often has more projects going on than I can count, I like Twyla Tharp's thinking enough to adopt it myself. As she points out, before you can start thinking outside the box, you have to have a box.

Top Ten Overlooked Storage Spaces

Photo © blmurch

I received an email from a careful reader of my article on Simple Garage Door Maintenance Tips. He suggests a couple of additional recommendations. First, on extension-spring openers, lubricate the pulleys. Second, on torsion-spring openers, lubricate the bearings. This is good advice. Also wipe a little oil on the torsion spring if it is rusty and binds up. If you have any questions about these parts and procedures, check the owner's manual or contact the manufacturer.

A more important point made by this reader concerns the potential dangers posed by tampering with the bottom brackets that are attached to the garage door. These brackets have a lot of tension on them and should not be removed unless the lift mechanism has been disabled. You can find instructions for handling that chore in my article How To Remove a Garage Door.

I appreciate the reader's warnings and have made a few changes in my article to clarify the points he raises.

I recently read a story about a couple whose three-car garage burned to the ground, along with what they estimated to be $200,000 worth of possessions.

The owner called 9-1-1 shortly after the fire began, but several fire trucks could not get to the garage, which sat on a snow-covered hill the trucks could not climb. The owner, a general contractor, lost all of his tools in the fire. Though the structure was insured, the loss exceeded the value of the contents. The fire was probably started by a kerosene heater, which evidently was on while the garage was empty.

This is one of those unfortunate incidents that is just full of lessons that were learned too late. A properly installed, maintained and operated heating unit should never start a fire. A building that cannot be reached by fire trucks even some of the time probably ought to be equipped with a sprinkler system. And a garage that is full of the tools and equipment you need to conduct your livelihood should be insured for full replacement value of the structure and contents.

What's in your garage right now? Does your home insurance policy cover all of it? If you can't give a definitive "yes" answer, this might be a good time to give your agent a call.

Choosing a Garage Heater

Photo © karindalziel