Garage Door Maintenance Tips

PHILADELPHIA - Garage door maintenance contains essential activities that aim to maintain the condition of your garage door. It can also prolong your garage door’s lifespan, which wear and tear may affect. 


Garage Door Maintenance Tips

A typical garage door lasts for about 15-30 years, depending on the garage door’s material and how well you maintain the door and its garage door parts. But unfortunately, some garage door owners ignore the condition of their garage doors.

Instead of spending your money on a costly garage door repair or replacement, you can follow the following garage door maintenance tips for your own good. Here is a garage door maintenance checklist you can do. 

Visually Inspect the Garage Door System

Visual inspection is the easiest way to know if your garage door is suffering from garage door issues. But, if you don’t know what to look for, it can be a little tough. 

So to help you, here are common issues with the garage door components that you can check:
  • Rollers. The rollers must be rotating along the tracks and their shaft. 
  • Cables. Snapped or loose cables require replacement immediately. 
  • Springs. Find bent or broken garage door springs and replace them. It is worth mentioning that springs are held under a lot of tension and therefore can be very dangerous. Is better to schedule a garage door spring replacement with a professional rather than repairing them yourself.
  • Tracks. Check for debris build up and remove them. 
  • Bearings. Look for signs of wear and tear, damages, or bending. 
  • Weather seal. Hints of dry rot or damage in the weather seal require replacement. 
  • Cable drums. Inspect drums for cracks or deformation.
  • Garage door panel. Look for dents in steel/aluminum garage doors and termite attacks in wooden garage doors. 

Note that it is best to replace a damaged garage door component to avoid affecting the whole garage door system. 

Test the Garage Door Parts

Sometimes, visual inspection of the garage door system may overlook a garage door issue. So, after looking for signs of damage, another part of garage door maintenance is testing the garage door parts. 

Listed below are some of the garage door maintenance tests you can do: 

Garage door balance 

Press the open and close button on the garage door opener’s remote control to check if your garage door moves in a balanced manner. If the door moves crookedly, there is a problem with the springs, cables, rollers, tracks, or opener. 

Auto-reverse mechanism 

Modern garage doors have safety sensors that trigger the auto-reverse mechanism of the automatic opener. So, if you put an obstruction under the garage door, it should not close but reverse its motion. 

Garage door opener remote program 

Before using the opener’s remote device, you should program it first with the automatic opener. After programming, you should test if the remote device’s button controls the garage door properly. 

Limit Switch Settings

The garage door opener also has limit switches that dictate how far a garage door can open or close. If you set them wrongly, your garage door will refuse to fully open or close. So, you should adjust the limit switches whenever necessary to ensure the garage door’s optimal performance.  

Conduct Preventive Maintenance Work

Inspecting and testing look for a possible garage door issue. But, you can actually avoid a garage door problem through these garage door maintenance activities: 

Apply silicone- or lithium-based lubricant

The moving parts and hinges within the garage door system require silicone- or lithium-based lubrication every six months. It will make smoother garage door movement and prevent damages due to friction. 

If you don’t know how to lubricate garage door parts, check the garage door’s manual or call a professional. 

Tighten loose parts

Over time, garage door parts, like brackets, hinges, and the opener’s drive system may become loose due to the vibration. Thus, if you see loose garage door parts, you should tighten them with the appropriate tool. 

Apply Finishing Treatment

Marks and dents on your garage door are inevitable. Thus, you can repaint the garage door panels if their paint has faded already. 

Furthermore, you can apply a finishing treatment to your wooden garage door to prevent termite attacks. 

Conclusion

Garage door maintenance is an integral activity to extend your garage door’s lifespan. It can save you from costly garage door repair or replacement. Hopefully, you can apply the garage door maintenance tips presented to keep your garage door from damages. 

A well-maintained garage door with a stylish design can actually enhance your curb appeal and increase home property value. So, do not hesitate to conduct garage door maintenance activities.