Garage doors open - garage doors close. Cars go in. Cars go out. With the garage door closed, the cars are safe and dry. But what if that door didn't open? With the hustle and bustle of life today, things like garage doors usually get taken for granted. And if they suddenly stopped working, think of how fast they'd occupy our minds. We'd certainly do whatever we could to get them fixed ASAP, wouldn't we? But to fix garage doors, we need knowledge - knowledge most of us probably don't have. And that's why we've assembled this glossary of garage door terms and definitions, so you'll know what's going on when that repairman or builder starts throwing garage door jargon at you. So read on, and get a quick education. It'll be a lesson well learned.

• Astragal
  
  Astragal is the name of the weather-stripping that runs along the bottom of the garage door, stopping any drafts or rain from entering the garage.



• Back hangs
  
  Back hangs are the vertical supports that hold the horizontal track in place, and stop the door from moving around in the track.



• Backroom
  
  Relating to garages, the backroom is NOT the room where you go to play cards with the boys. It actually refers to the amount of space required to install a garage door, and is measured from the door to the back of the horizontal track.



• Bottom bracket
  
  There are two bottom brackets, or corner brackets, on a garage door - one on the right, and one on the left. The lifting cables are attached to the bottom brackets on most sectional doors.



• Bracket-mounted track
  
  Sometimes, a vertical track is attached to a doorjamb with angle brackets. This is referred to as a bracket-mounted track.



• Cable drums
  
  Cable drums are an important part of a tension spring system. As the garage door opens, the lifting cable winds around the grooves in the cable drum. It keeps the lifting cable in line, so it doesn't get tangled.



• Cable safety device
  
  A cable safety device stops the garage door from falling if the cable breaks.



• Cable stop
  
  A cable stop is another safety device, attached to the end of the cable, that stops it from slipping through the drum.



• Cable