It’s no secret that your garage door is the door on your home that sees the most traffic. Besides your front door, your garage door is opened and closed the most. In fact, it’s estimated that an overhead door opens and closes over a thousand times a year. And because it’s mechanical, there are many causes for error. It’s not a good day if your garage door won’t open or close…
This is where garage door maintenance comes in!
In order to avoid garage door failure, you’ll need to have the door serviced at least once a year, which is what we here at Thompson Doors do every day! Here are a few regular maintenance tips you can address yourself, and tips for when to call us!
Table Of Content
1. Why Garage Door Maintenance Is a Must?
2. Is the Service Garage Door Opening and Closing Smoothly?
3. Maintenance for Garage Door: Tighten the Hardware
4. Garage Door Maintenance: Check the Rollers and Lift Cable
5. Maintenance for Garage Door: Lubricate Garage Door Springs, Chains, and Screws
6. Garage Door Maintenance: Replace the Weatherstripping
7. How to Service Garage Door?: Consider Safety Feature Upgrades
8. Thompson Garage Doors | Garage Door Maintenance, Garage Door Repair
Why Garage Door Maintenance Is a Must?
Regular maintenance of your garage door is an indispensable responsibility for homeowners, crucial not only for its longevity, but also for ensuring the safety it provides. Below, we delve into the significance of garage door maintenance, shedding light on its multifaceted advantages:
Prevents Costly Mechanical Issues: Performing annual inspections stands as your first line of defense against potentially troublesome glitches. By catching minor problems early, you save both your hard-earned money and the long-term ownership costs that could accumulate.
Maximizes Your Door’s Longevity: A meticulously maintained garage door can gracefully serve you for 15 to 20 years, if not longer. Regular servicing extends the time between replacements and guarantees that your door reaches its full potential in terms of service life.
Safety Assurance: A malfunctioning garage door, particularly if it involves damaged springs or a faulty auto-reverse mechanism, can pose a serious safety hazard. Annual inspections serve as a proactive measure to detect and address potential safety issues before they lead to accidents or injuries.
Warranty Protection: Many reputable garage door manufacturers, such as Clopay®, offer extensive warranty coverage for their products. Partnering with a knowledgeable garage door company like Ingstrup Garage Doors enables you to identify the components under warranty and replace them, if necessary, before the warranty expires.
Preventing Future Inconveniences: Dealing with a malfunctioning garage door that refuses to open or close properly is an unwelcome inconvenience. Regular maintenance checks uncover and rectify issues, ensuring the consistent functionality of your garage door, allowing you to access your vehicle without disruptions.
All in all, investing in garage door maintenance is a prudent choice for homeowners, safeguarding your investment, and your family’s safety while providing peace of mind and convenience.
Is the Service Garage Door Opening and Closing Smoothly?
Make sure the garage door track is free of debris, rust, and the bars are straight. Your garage door should open and close easily with a smooth motion, not jerky, which signals that something is obstructing the system (check all pulleys, springs, and cables). It’s a good idea to give garage doors a good wipe-down after a long winter or summer season that sees both spectrums of extreme weather.
When it comes to making sure the service garage door track is straight, it is best to have a professional make sure the bars are plumb or vertical. Whether someone hit the garage door with their car or bike, or the tracks somehow got misaligned, call us to make sure it is fixed properly.
Maintenance for Garage Door: Tighten the Hardware
When anything mechanical is opened and closed as much as a garage door, the nuts and bolts are bound to get loose. And the last thing you want is the garage door to be falling on the car or worse, on someone, causing serious injury. The brackets and fasteners should be checked often to make sure loose bolts are tight!
Garage Door Maintenance: Check the Rollers and Lift Cable
Rollers on brackets are either nylon or steel but both can show significant wear and tear, affecting the reliability of your garage door. While you can get a replacement roller at a hardware store and replace it yourself, it might be best to call us for help. If you do decide to do it alone, make sure you are careful replacing the bottom roller bracket as that’s what holds the most tension.
Another important piece of hardware to check every year is the lift cable. You’ll be able to see damage or broken strands on the cable and if there is corrosion or deterioration, call Thompson Doors to replace it. This is a part of your service garage door that holds a high amount of tension and is not safe to replace yourself.
Maintenance for Garage Door: Lubricate Garage Door Springs, Chains, and Screws
Again, the garage door sees a lot of wear and tear! To ensure all the moving parts are working as well as they should, make sure to keep them well-oiled. That includes the overhead torsion springs or the extension springs, and the screws, and chains that operate your opener. By maintaining the parts of your garage door that make it work, they will last longer, operate smoother and quieter, and prevent corrosion.
While using Thompson Oil spray or white lithium grease as lubrication on components is an easy DIY maintenance project, replacing high-tension springs is not. Call us to replace a spring in your garage door!
Garage Door Maintenance:Replace the Weatherstripping
The rubber weather seal at the bottom of the door does a lot! Not only does it take the brunt of the garage door every time it closes, but it also serves as an important tool to block draftiness and the elements. If the weather seal is brittle or cracked, odds are your energy bill is noticing. Replacing the weatherstripping on your door is easy enough. The rubber strip is also called a U-shaped astragal which you can buy from a garage door dealer or a hardware store.
How to Service Garage Door?: Consider Safety Feature Upgrades
Make sure your garage door is operating safely. Test the auto-reverse function frequently, which is the reverse feature on your garage door. If the door is closing and there is something obstructing it, it will reverse its course thanks to the photoelectric system. You can test this feature by putting something in the way of the door and the ground to see if it goes back up when it hits the object.
Another safety improvement is to add a containment cable to the extension springs. The containment cable will act as a safety measure if the extension spring ever breaks, reducing the recoil.
Thompson Garage Doors | Garage Door Maintenance, Garage Door Repair
As garage door professionals, we help homeowners and business owners alike with all their garage door needs. By keeping up with garage door maintenance, your garage door will stay functioning for years to come. A well-maintained garage door is essential to everyday life and leads to a safer home. Call anytime for questions, help in solving a problem, or to schedule a maintenance appointment at 775-356-6601.
