Garage Door Maintenance

For the vast majority of us, our garage door is the largest moving part in our entire home. Garage doors are used multiple times per day, at any hour and in all seasons. To ensure your garage door operates smoothly for years, it’s very important that you take the time to perform regular garage door maintenance and preventive care.

Here are 8 tips for Garage Door Maintenance that all homeowners can do:

  1. Observe – take the time to observe your garage door in action when you use it. Make sure it is moving smoothly along the track. Your garage door should operate silently without making grinding or scraping noises. Make sure the mounting hardware is secure and not loose. Do both sides of the system (springs, pulleys and cables) look symmetrical? Look over the garage door springs, cables, rollers, pulleys and mounting hardware, such as hinges, for signs of wear or damage.
  2. Check and tighten up the hardware – With all the movement and vibration caused by a garage door being opened and closed hundreds of times a year, make sure hardware is not loose. Examine and tighten all roller brackets and bolts with a socket wrench.
  3. Check the Cables – Look for cable wear or fraying, but do not try to fix the high-tension cables that lift your door yourself because they have enough force to maim and kill. Contact a professional company for maintenance of garage door cables.
  4. Check your garage door balance – A properly working garage door is balanced, the garage door opener will have to work harder, and it won’t last as long if the garage door is not balanced. You can check the balance by disconnecting the opener by pulling the release handle – a red cord –  and manually move the door halfway up. It is a sign the counterweight system (springs) are improperly balanced if it doesn’t stay put. Garage door spring adjustment is best left to the professionals.
  5. Inspect and Replace the Rollers – Twice a year the rollers need to be checked. A good rule of thumb is to replace them every seven years or so. You can tell your rollers need to be replaced when they are worn, chipped or cracked, and you should do this as soon as possible. Click here to watch a DIY video.
  6. Weather stripping – The rubber weather seal strip on the bottom of your door ensures your garage is protected from the elements. When weatherstripping is cracked or damaged, you will need to replace it. Weather stripping can be cut to size and easily replaced. Click here to watch a DIY video.
  7. Moving Parts – To ensure years of smoother operation, make sure you lubricate your garage door parts. You will need white lithium grease for the the opener’s chain or screw and a spray lubricant to coat the overhead springs, door hinges, rollers and tracks. This should take you as little as 10 minutes a year.
  8. Test the Auto-Reverse Safety – This will be a two part test to check both the mechanical and photocell. The mechanical feature can be checked by placing a 2×4 on the ground in the path of the door. The door should open back up after it comes into contact with the object. Testing the photocell can be done by passing a broom handle in front of the photoeye when the garage door is closing. The garage door should reverse and open back up.

You can do some of your garage door maintenance yourself or you can call an expert garage door company; either way garage door maintenance is best done a couple of times a year. Modern Overhead Door is your garage door maintenance company in  Ripon, Fond Du Lac, Waupun, Lomira, Oshkosh, Omro, Weyauwega, Fremont, Appleton, Greenville, Green Bay and De Pere, Green Lake, Princeton, Westfield, Montello, Kingston, Marquette, Wisconsin.