A garage door is perhaps one of the heaviest and maximum utilized moving parts at home. These garage doors are lifted so many times a day either to get your cars in and out, or to get various supplies for your yard work or even to get the toys of your children. Every task involving the opening and closing of your garage door causes a sufficient amount of abuse to your garage door. To avoid complete damage to the door, you need to be cautious every time you operate the door and also service the door regularly to prolong its shelf life.
Homeowners should recognize the benefits of regular garage door maintenance. It can help avert many problems and also help identify certain other very serious problems and address them. Recognizing these problems at an early stage can help save upon other costly future repairs. Typically, you should consider undertaking these garage door maintenance tips at least two times every year, these tips include:
Lubricate all Moving Parts
This is the best way to keep the parts of your garage door moving without a gag. Lubricating various parts of your door will enhance its functioning and cause it to open and close smoothly. You should regularly lubricate the rollers, the chain, the track and also the hinge pins.
Carefully Check the Bolts
First inspect the bolts of the garage door visually. Make sure you replace the worn out, rusty bolts and replace the missing bolts with new ones. Also tighten the bolts that hold the track in place if required.
Alter the Electric Opener
If you have an automatic garage door opener, you should regularly check it for its proper functioning. In case your door is pushing against the floor before stopping or even slamming shut, then it can be easily adjusted. In many cases there is a dial to alter the up and down limits of the door, so you can very well adjust the level according to your need. Also you need to check if the motion sensor of your door is functioning properly or not.
Is Lifting the Door Difficult
Disconnect your door from the opener after that you try manually to lift your door. If you door is sufficiently heavy and is causing resistance, you might just require to change the springs. But first try lubricating the system, if the garage door still causes resistance, you should call upon a professional.
Check the springs
Lift your garage door half way and inspect the springs. The springs in your garage door are tight if the door pulls completely up and the springs in the door are loose if the door comes down to the ground. At the same time if your springs appear to be worn out and loose, then you should immediately consult a professional and get them replaced.
Monitor the Tracks
It is important to check whether the tracks are lined and leveled with each other. In case they are not aligned in the right track, then you can simply loosen the bolts get them on track and tighten back again.
Inspect the Weather Stripping
In case your door has weather stripping then check if it’s falling or is experiencing a thrust anywhere. Apply a new weather stripping if required to ensure a strong seal. It is particularly very important if your garage door is the main entry into your house.
Give Wash to Your Garage Door
The cheapest and perhaps the most important garage door maintenance tip is to regularly wash your garage door. To maintain a good shape and avoid premature aging of the garage door, washing it every day is highly recommended.
Consult A Professional If Required
If your door is not functioning properly you should consult a professional. Repairing garage doors can be quite dangerous as the springs can just shoot off and you might get crushed. If you are not aware of the proper mechanism, calling upon a professional is advisable. The task is complicated and risky. It shouldn’t be taken lightly and a professional should be consulted in time.
You Can Stain your Wood Door
In case your garage door is wooden, then you should periodically stain or paint it to secure it from damage caused by the outside elements.
Author Bio :
Oren Linder is professionally providing garage door services. For more good tips on garage doors or services reach him by Facebook or online presence.
As a new homeowner, I love these ideas on keeping my garage door up to date. I had no idea there were so many little tests, like lifting the door manually, to check the quality of the door. I am excited to put these to work and see how long I can keep my garage door up to date before calling in the professionals. Thanks for sharing this!
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I thought that the information about adjusting the tracks for my garage door was really interesting. It’s good to know that I can loosen the bolts to my tracks and move them over to make sure they’re properly aligned. I was wondering about them when I noticed that my tracks weren’t level, so moving them over seems like a good way to fix my garage doors. Thanks for the tips!
I would have never thought to have to clean my garage door every single day as you mentioned is recommended. Is there anything specific that would have to be used to wash it? I definitely think it could make my garage door look a lot nicer so now I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, thanks for the advice!
Before reading this, I didn’t know you are supposed to wash your garage door. I need to have my garage door repaired because it won’t close. After reading this, I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I’ve never cleaned it. Now that I know this, I will be sure to do that.
Great post! Thank you for helping me know how I can maintain my garage door. I really like how you said that “If your door is not functioning properly you should consult a professional. Repairing garage doors can be quite dangerous as the springs can just shoot off and you might get crushed.” I have never had problems with my garage door before but I can imagine how important it would be to have a professional look at and repair the door.
I like what you said about talking to a professional if you need help. It is okay to have a repairman help you with home maintenance like a broken door. It seems like that would be something you would want to fix properly.
Thanks for the article! I like the suggestion to check the garage springs regularly to make sure the springs are not worn out. Having the door completely touch the ground may indicate that your springs are loose and may need maintenance. I like to have my garage door inspected every once in a while in order to check for problems with how the door opens or closes. I really appreciate your tips. I hope to use them in the future.
The weather stripping on our garage door is completely falling off and the wind blows right into the space. It’s one of those things that you don’t think about until you see it when you are leaving for the day. I need to make a note to myself to get the repair made because I know that it’s going to be all the way off in a matter of time. Is there any specific brand of stripping that you would recommend? Preferably something that lasts a long time!
Thanks for the article.Its really helpful for me in future interms of cleaning my garage doors myself rather expecting or waiting for others to do that.i dont have a idea of how to clean my garage door until i found this article its really helpful for me.
This is a really helpful post. I think a lot of homeowners don’t realize that a quick inspection of their garage door and a few minutes of maintenance every few months can save them hundreds of dollars in repair costs over the years.
This is a great article. I was unaware of the ways to maintain the garage doors myself and spent god knows how many dollars for the maintenance. But now with your article I’ll save my dollars and maintain my garage doors on my own. Thank you so much . This is an amazing article.
Regards Jon.
I liked that you had mentioned that it can be important to inspect all of the bolts that are visible on the door and replace any that look worn out. Recently I’ve been having a problem with my garage door slipping at the very last inch of it closing and I’m worried that the problem might get worse. I’ll have to do a quick check of all the bolts on the door and see if any have come loose, but I might just have to reach out to a professional to see if they can find the immediate problem.
Your article convinced me on hiring some service to do some maintenance on our garage door. That is due to the part where you mentioned about how regular maintenance of it would be able to help avert and identify potential problems and address them. I would love that as it would help me ensure the longevity of our garage door which means more use on it due to proper investment making it a cost-effective action. Thanks for the interesting article on some garage door maintenance tips!