These are ten residential garage door maintenance tips that will help keep your garage in peak form.
A garage door is used many times every day, any time of day, any time of year. You’ll want to perform proper maintenance to ensure your garage lasts for decades. These are ten residential garage door maintenance tips that will help keep your garage in peak form.
Look And Listen
Residential garage door maintenance starts with observation. Always be observing your garage door when it’s being used. Does it move smoothly, or maybe it’s jerky in spots? Are there any grinding or scraping sounds being made? Do both sides of the system look the same?
Tighten The Hardware
Most garage doors move up and down over one-thousand times per year. All of the movement can loosen the hardware. When necessary, tighten the roller brackets and bolts using a socket wrench.
Test The Garage Door’s Balance
If the garage door isn’t properly balanced, it will have to work harder, shortening its life span. Once you’ve disconnected the opener by pulling the release handle, you’ll want to manually move the door about halfway upwards. If the door doesn’t stay up, the springs are not balanced properly. Part of residential garage door maintenance can’t be done alone, and having the springs balanced is a task best suited for professionals.
Inspect And Replace Rollers
When you’re performing residential garage door maintenance, you’ll need to inspect your rollers twice a year and replace them roughly every seven years. They might need replacing more often if you use your garage door many times per day.
You need to replace worn, chipped, and cracked rollers as soon as you can. To do this, remove and reinstall the roller brackets that aren’t directly attached to the cable system.
Replace The Weatherstripping
Check if the weather seal strip on the bottom of the door is cracked or brittle. If it is, replace it immediately to keep the elements out of your home. You can buy weatherstripping by the foot at home improvement and hardware stores, and you can cut it to the size you need. Afterward, simply place it into the grooves, keeping the wider angle of the flange inside the door.
Lubricate Moving Parts
Residential garage door maintenance also means greasing the door. This takes only ten minutes every year! You want white lithium grease for the opener’s chain or screw, and spray lubricant for the overhead springs.
Check The Cables
Never mess with the high-tension cables that lift the door. The force they have can get you seriously hurt or even killed. But you can check on them and see if you need to hire a pro. Look for broken strands and damage around the bottom roller bracket.
Test The Auto-Reverse Safety Features
Mechanical and photocell are the two mechanisms. There are residential garage door maintenance procedures for both. For mechanical features, put a brick or piece of wood in the door’s path. The door should touch the object, then go back up. Testing photocell systems, close the door, and place your leg in the door’s path. It should go back up.
Clear The Tracks
Keep the tracks free of debris. If any serious work needs to be done, leave it to a professional.
Groom Your Garage Door
Last but not least, residential garage door maintenance means checking on the door itself. Check wood doors for warping and water damage. Address rusting steel doors by sanding, priming, and painting them. Make sure you wash the door with a multi=purpose cleaner as well.
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 offer a full line of steel doors that are designed and engineered for all your commercial and industrial applications. 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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