Some Helpful Tips on How to Extend the Life of Your Garage Door

Chances are if you own a home with a garage you spend a lot of time in that garage almost every day. It’s where you get in and out of your car as you travel back and forth to work every day, pick up your stored sports and fitness equipment and a place you get your lawn and garden tools out of. Not to mention, there is often a spare fridge in there with some good eats and it serves as a convenient entry point for your muddy dog too. Hopefully, some of the time you spend in your garage is because you are doing some maintenance on your garage door too. These garage door maintenance tips will help your garage door last well into the future.

DIY Garage Door Maintenance Tips

Here are some of the important maintenance steps you can do to keep your garage door working well long into the future.

• Test your safety sensors on a monthly basis

Your garage door will not last very long if it comes down accidentally when your car is only halfway out of the garage. Scenarios like this can be avoided simply by testing your garage door safety sensors on a monthly basis.

This is not only a good idea, but it’s also a must do in order to prevent damage like was just mentioned and worse yet someone getting hurt by a garage door which failed to stop closing because of a broken safety sensor.

• Periodically visually inspect your garage door and its working parts

Every once and a while, instead of getting in your car right away to leave, stand outside your vehicle and watch how your garage door opens and closes. It is a great way to identify small garage door problems before they become much bigger ones.

Pay particular attention to make sure your garage door goes up and down straight and that it does not seem to hesitate in a certain spot. You also want to observe how the springs are operating and the chain or screw system that drives your automatic opener.

• Lubricate rollers, hinges and other moving metal parts

There are several places on your garage door that you should lubricate every 3 to 4 months. These include your garage door springs, rollers, and door hinges. Spraying a little silicone lubricant on them will work wonders. The silicone lubricant will not wash off either when you go to clean your garage door.

It’s also a good idea to lubricate the chain or screw mechanism on your opening system if it has them. White lithium grease will do the trick nicely here.

Lubricating your garage door working parts will also give you the added benefit of cutting down on the noise when your garage door opens and closes.

• Keep your garage door and working parts clean

It’s a great idea to clean your garage door and its track on a regular basis. Things such as spider webs, dust clumps, dirt, and mud are not your friends when it comes to garage door longevity. Over time they will build up and cause part breakdowns.

So keep your garage door clean at all times. Pay special attention to the track. If you do this in conjunction with the lubrication steps mentioned above, it will go a long way towards helping your garage door and its working parts last longer.

• Check your garage door balance on occasion

A garage door that’s out of balance will eventually impact many parts on your system as it opens and closes awkwardly. This causes more pressure on some parts than there should be. Checking your garage door balance can be done simply and quickly too. All you have to do is open your garage door half way and then place a level on the center lip at the bottom of the garage door.

• Blow off the area around your opening motor

Take a leaf blower or a shop vac on exhaust and blow air around your opener motor. This will keep dirt, cobwebs, dust, and harmful particles from building up in and around the opener motor.

• Keep your ears open when the garage door is operating

Not only will your eyes help you maintain your garage door in a proper working condition so it last longer, but your ears will play a big part here too. That’s because noise is often the first indicator of a garage door part about to go bad.
So take some time to listen every once in a while when your garage door opens and closes. Make sure you investigate any noises during the process that seems out of the ordinary for your type of garage door. If you can’t resolve a garage door noise problem yourself, it’s never a bad idea to call a garage door professional to come to take a look.

• Tighten loose bolts and nuts

It will never hurt to tighten the nuts and bolts on places such as the hinges and tracking either. This will prevent loose nuts and bolts from causing bigger operational problems later.

What to Do if You Don’t Want to Do Your Own Garage Door Maintenance?

Not everyone has the time, tools or know-how to do their own garage maintenance and that’s understandable. So what do you do in that case? The best advice we can give you is to call your local garage door professional. Garage door service companies like Tucker Garage Door, LLC out of Tucker, Georgia are always ready, willing, and able to do any garage door maintenance service you need. They will also make sure your garage door is operating safely which is hugely important.

Most garage door service companies do garage door maintenance for very reasonable fees. They also tend to catch and correct small garage door problems before they become a bigger and more expensive garage door repair. So it really is worth it to schedule a garage door professional to come to your home on at least an annual basis to do preventative maintenance.