Garage Door Maintenance Checklist: Keeping Your Door in Top Shape Year-Round
A garage door gets used more than ANY OTHER entry point to your house, so it gets beat up. It is in proper working order to prevent costly repairs and make it last for years. Keep your garage door humming along with a few maintenance checks.
The professionals at Affordable Garage Door Repair suggest that you take a preventative approach to maintaining your garage door. As a result, we created in this guide a detailed checklist that can be used every season to keep your garage door running well.
Visual Inspection
Inspection is the first step in garage door maintenance. Checking the door and its components frequently can prevent you from more considerable damage.
What to Look For
Inspect the door panels for cracks, dents, and noticeable warping.
Check for rust on metal elements such as springs, hinges, and tracks that can weaken the components and cause breakage. Loose or Lost hardware Check all bolts, screws, and brackets to be sure they are tight and in their proper position.
Three months to six months
Test the Door’s Balance
When a garage door is balanced, it requires less pressure to lift properly and will open, close, and operate more smoothly with the opener. An unbalanced garage door can cause the opener to work unnecessarily hard and promote uneven wear in parts.
Grasp the manual release handle and pull it to separate your garage door from the opener.
Use your hands to lift the garage door to its midway position and let go. If it stands still, the door is properly balanced. When you lower the door, if it falls to the ground or lifts into the air, your springs might need tightening.
Yearly at a minimum
How to Test
Lubricate Moving Parts
One of the simplest ways to extend the life of your garage door and keep it running smoothly is easy lubrication. Good lubrication is important to reduce friction and prevent rust and corrosion.
What to Lubricate
Lubricate the pivot points of these. Rollers: Use a lubricant on the roller bearings, do not use it on nylon rollers.
You will want to lightly spray the springs with lubricant along the length of the torsion or extension spring. When it comes to the tracks, you should keep them clean without directly lubricating them and attracting dirt and dust. Tri-Flow is a silicone-based spray perfect for garage doors while WD-40 and your overrated teflon spray lubricant do not work.
Twice a year
Inspect and Tighten Hardware
All that moving your garage door does, will eventually loosen nuts, bolts, and screws. Misalignment: Loose hardware often results in misalignment of the various system parts, which compromises the structural integrity and places added stress on other areas.
Inspect and tighten the brackets that hold the rollers in position.
Make certain that the hinges holding the door sections together are secured.
Check the bolts and screws of the tracks, frame, and opener if they are getting loosened up or not.
Check every three months
What to Tighten
Inspect the Garage Door Safety Features
This is included in the safety mechanisms incorporated into modern garage doors such as the auto-reverse feature (which prevents a closing door from colliding with human beings, pets, or objects). Use the safety features and test them on a regular basis to ensure the operation remains safe.
How to Test Auto-Reverse
Slide a block of wood or something else under the door and attempt to close it. When it contacts the object, the door should reverse automatically.
Pass an object in front of the downside photo-eye sensors while the door is closing. The door must stop and travel upwards immediately when the beam is broken.
Every four months.
How to Clean the Tracks
Cleaning the Inside of Tracks
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Examine the alignment
Guarantee that the tracks are well aligned. However, if you experience some gaps or if your door does not slide seamlessly then you may want to get a professional call-in for adjustment.
How often to clean
Every six months.
Clean and Inspect the Tracks
If the garage door is stuck or making noise, then dirty or unequal tracks are one of them. For smooth operation, it is critical that you keep the tracks clean and in proper alignment.
Test the Garage Door Opener
If the garage door is stuck or making noise, then dirty or unequal tracks are one of them. For smooth operation, it is critical that you keep the tracks clean and in proper alignment.
What to Test
One type is the usually less responsive garage door opener
just press the remote or wall switch to open and close the garage door. Check that the door is responsive and it moves rather quickly and is not sluggish or jerky.
Replace remote battery
Ensure to replace the remote battery if required since this can possibly bring a barrier to your operation.
Frequency
Every 3 months.
Replace Weather Seals
These make your garage more energy-efficient and comfortable by keeping drafts, moisture, pests, and debris out. Seals can crack and can become easily worn over the years or might get loose allowing some unwanted elements in your garage.
Where to Check for Seals
Check Bottom seal
Pipe or rubber seals under the door. If it is cracked or broken, then it should be replaced.
Inspect side and top seals
Examine the side and top seals of your door to ensure they are still in good condition.
Replaced
Annually, or when necessary.
Inspect Cables and Springs
Garage door cables and springs work under very high tension at all times so they can be dangerous to the inexperienced hand without the proper tools. These components are still subject to wear and tear as you can visually inspect them for signs of wear (e.g. rust, fraying).
What to Look For
Damaged cables
You should have a professional inspect severely frayed or damaged cables and replace them if necessary.
Rust or springs with gaps
If you can see rust, or there are gaps in the springs — it will be time to get a professional in to replace them.
Check how often
6 months
Schedule Professional Maintenance
Even though most garage door maintenance can be managed by you at home, it is essential to have a professional maintenance service every year as well so they can spot some unseen issues. A skilled technician can inspect, lubricate, and adjust your garage door to help keep it in top shape.
The Importance of Professional Maintenance
Prevention
A professional can spot any early signs of wear and tear and fix them before they develop into major problems.
Increase the life of the door
No different than a car, regular tune-ups will allow your garage door system to last longer which in turn means delaying very costly repairs or replacements later on.
How often to schedule them
Annually
Conclusion
Garage door seals are vital to ensuring your home is protected against the humidity, pests, and punishing weather for which Houston is known. A good seal can help reduce moisture damage and save you money on energy costs while also protecting your garage and home from the elements.
At Affordable Garage Door Repair, we provide expert garage door seal installation and maintenance services to help you protect your house. Need to swap out those worn-out seals or upgrade your existing setup? We give free estimates so call us today and we will help you protect your home from the ruthless climate delivered by the city of Houston.
