Your garage door is the largest moving piece your home has. You use it many times every day, and it gets used through all times of the year. A large amount of use means your garage door gets worn down over time. If you want your door to last a long time, performing the proper care and maintenance is of utmost importance. Here are six residential garage door maintenance procedures you can follow to keep your door in top shape.
Look And Listen
The most crucial preventive measure you could take is to watch your door and listen for unusual sounds. Does the door move smoothly, or does it jerk? Does it move silently, or does it make grinding noises while moving? Part of residential garage door maintenance is knowing when things seem out of the ordinary.
Tighten Up The Hardware
Most garage doors move more than one thousand times every year. This movement can cause hardware to loosen over time. Make sure you tighten your bolts and roller brackets using a socket wrench.
Test the Garage Door Balance
If your garage door isn’t balanced right, it’ll put more of a strain on your opener. Residential garage door maintenance requires you to check if the door is balanced. To do this, move the door up manually until it’s halfway up (do this after you disconnect your garage door opener). If the door doesn’t stay up, the springs aren’t balanced right. That job is best handled by professionals.
Inspect And Replace Rollers
The rollers have to get inspected twice per year and should be replaced around every seven years. If you use your garage door several times per day, you should get your rollers replaced more frequently. To replace rollers, remove any roller brackets that aren’t connected to the cable system and then reinstall them.
Replace Weatherstripping
Residential garage door maintenance includes observing your weather seal strip. If it cracked or brittle, you need to get it replaced immediately. This keeps harsh weather from harming your garage. You can buy weatherstripping by the foot at home improvement and hardware stores, and cut it to the size you need.
Lubricate Moving Parts
Another part of thorough residential garage door maintenance is keeping the parts of your garage door greased up. This helps add many years to the life expectancy of your door. The beautiful thing is that you only have to take ten minutes every year to do it. White lithium grease is best for the chain or screw of the garage door opener, while a spray lubricant is more ideal for overhead springs.
Let First Choice Garage Doors Find The Right Door For You
Since 2004, First Choice Garage Doors has been providing quality service in Maryland, Delaware, Northern Virginia, and Pennsylvania. We offer services like garage door installation and replacement, as well as maintenance and repair. We specialize in the repair and maintenance of garage doors and their accessories. Here at First Choice Garage Doors, we work with top manufacturers in the industry, including Amar Entrematic, Clopay, Wayne Dalton, and Artisan.
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