Read this post with the understanding that I just completed a couple of hours helping unload a tractor trailer full of garage doors. There is no easy way to do this. By easy I mean using a forklift or some other fancy schmancy piece of machinery to offload such product.
It is all done one or two pieces at a time and in most cases requires two good sturdy people. It also requires a couple of staffers in the back of the trailer.
Your garage door is stacked neatly inside this trailer wrapped in cardboard wrapped in shrink-wrap and some styrofoam to insure it has a nice comfy ride. This also insures we receive it factory fresh and damage free. It rides in there with about 100 of it’s closest friends but once unloaded they only have a day or two to say their goodbyes to each other as they make their way to your home.
I’m getting off track.
Once we swing open the doors we’re presented with a series of steps. Prior to that we have been told what is coming on “the load” so we’ve carved out nice little nooks for each job.
As we begin to take pieces off the truck we first identify them by their unique number. We check off each piece as we handle it and stack it in it’s nook. The typical employee can easily handle an eight to nine footer by themselves unless there are windows and in that case they are much weightier so we use a team lift on those. Anything 10 foot to 18 foot or longer certainly requires two people and we walk them to their spot singing “Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho” while they are hoisted on our shoulders.
As each door section is placed we also inspect the packaging for blemishes. If we find something that doesn’t look near perfect we then unwrap the section and do a visual check for possible damage. Our factory does a fantastic job of packaging so this is rarely an issue but does happen from time to time.
The typical time for just the garage door sections on “the load” takes about an hour and a half to unload but it doesn’t end there.
Next we unload all the springs for each door once again checking them off carefully. Then comes all the hardware and lastly the track, tubes, and struts where necessary.
Every other load we receive our garage door openers by the pallet and with the way most of the trucks are configured from the factory we rarely get to use a forklift for these. In that rare case we can a hearty “Yippee!!” is heard throughout the warehouse.
I consider myself a pretty smart dude and, for the life of me, cannot find an easier way to accomplish this weekly project. Or at least an easier way that makes sense. It’s a little hard to explain but for a visual think of a 53 foot by 10 foot by 10 foot giant game of jenga that has to be unassembled one piece at a time.
For now we will keep doing this as we always have because it makes the most sense and rest assured that the quality assurance you expect is done by the people fully vested in your garage door installation or service experience.