The amount of neglect every garage door faces is common knowledge to all homeowners. If you live in a home with an automated garage door, you know what we refer to. We waste a lot more than we otherwise would have had we been more vigilant to save money and time.
Spending an hour or two during early spring and late autumn on maintaining your garage door can benefit your wallet.
Therefore, if you are looking for ways to self-service on your garage door, you have come to the right place. We have compiled together a 10-Step Routine you can follow.
Table of Contents
What Are The Steps To Maintain Your Garage Door?
1. Watch and listen
The best way to spot problems with your garage door is to watch for any jerky movements and listen to any scraping sounds it may be making while moving. A perfectly functional door moves quietly.
Observe on both sides of the door. The pulleys, springs, and other movable parts should be symmetrical.
2. Keep the tracks clean
Observe and inspect your garage door tracks to ensure they are free of debris. A level can help you determine whether the tracks are plumb or not. The person can make minor adjustments.
However, major repairs and adjustments are the work of a technician. It’s better to refer to one than try anything yourself.
What Are The Steps To Maintain Your Garage Door
3. Tightening any loosened hardware
Given the hundreds of movements a door makes throughout a year, it is no surprise that some hardware can get loose at times. The brackets holding the tracks to the wall and ceiling should be checked out now and then. So should be the fasteners anchoring the garage door to the framing,
A socket wrench is a perfect tool for tightening up such loose bolts.
4. Replace any damaged or broken rollers
Checking the rollers located along the edge of your garage door at least twice a year is mandatory. Even if they keep working well, they should be replaced once every 5 to 7 years.
However, replace them straight away if you find any broken, chipped, or cracked rollers during your inspection. Removing the brackets holding them allows you to remove them too.
5. Inspect the pulleys and cables
The cables and pulleys attaching the springs of the bottom roller brackets to the door to help lift and lower it should be inspected regularly.
The two different types of springs in garage doors are extension springs and torsion springs. However, such high-tension parts should not be touched or otherwise hampered by the homeowners. They can be dangerous.
Therefore, you should refer to a technician if you spot a damaged or broken pulley or cable.
6. Lubricating the mobile parts
Applying a good-quality lubricant such as lithium grease to the mobile parts of your door can prolong their lives. Do this twice a year on rollers, hinges, etc., and remove any excess that remains on them.
If any part seems stuck in one position, use a penetrating solution such as WD-40 to loosen it up.
Also, the pulleys on extension-spring openers and bearings on torsion-spring openers must be lubricated regularly. However, while applying grease on the Garage Door Opener, do not apply on the belt-drive opener.
Lubricating the mobile parts
7. Test the balance of the door
An imbalanced garage door means more effort by the door opener to keep it open. You can test this by releasing the handle on the Automatic Opener. Then, pull the door halfway up. If it can stay up without your support, it is balanced.
However, the door is improperly balanced, and the springs need to be replaced if it does not. A professional should be called in such a scenario.
8. Test the auto-reverse feature of the door
Modern-day garage doors have either a pressure sensor or a photocell sensor installed. Therefore, it allows them to reverse direction if something comes in their path.
To test this feature, place a log in the door’s tracks and let it touch the log. If it reverses, the pressure sensors work fine. Start closing the door and bringing your leg in its path to test the photocells. With available photocells, it should detect your leg and move in the opposite direction.
Garage doors lacking this feature should have this feature installed. If that cannot be done, the door should be replaced.
9. Inspect and replace any damaged weatherstripping
Weatherstripping at the bottom of your garage door keeps the cold, water, and dust out. Therefore, if you spot damaged weatherstripping, get it replaced immediately. You can get it from any nearby hardware store.
Inspect and replace any damaged weatherstripping
10. Cleaning and painting the door
Whether your garage door is composed of steel, fiberglass, or wood, you should inspect it thoroughly. Look for any worn-out or rusty areas, and make repairs. A new coat of paint can follow this to give the door a fresh look.
Therefore, whenever you need any kind of garage door maintenance, you can contact Best Garage Door and Gate Repair without any hesitation. They will be at your doorstep in no time.
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