Garage Door Maintenance and Tips

Garages are an integral part of many homes. It’s the most needed place of every home, and it has a multitude of benefits. Along with its uses, comes its maintenance that needs to be made at regular intervals to keep the doors active, clean and in a good state.

Not just for vehicles, garage consists of many essential things that a home needs, it’s a secondary go-down for all the storage needs and things. We do not open the doors exactly once, but multiple times and they tend to wear down sooner than any other part.

Though there is a multitude of reasons for this wearing of the door, maintenance is the root cause. If you take care of them well, when it’s fresh and neat, the durability is increased in multiple folds. If you happen to just take care when they are not doing well, then the durability is decreased.

Below are some tips in maintaining your garage doors, so that they are as fresh as a new one, over decades.

• Watch, Look, hear and sense it:

  Yes, it may sound a little weird, but the fact is that once you closely observe the doors, you can surely tell if it needs maintenance or they are doing well. Observe when you open them when there is a slight change in the regular noise of the doors. Check if they are smooth or jerky and make the crackling sound when they are opening or closing. Sometimes even the grinding noises come out, screaming for some work from your end.

• Check for the hardware components:

  Garage doors as we said are opened more than the home main door, hence require more maintenance work at regular intervals. Checking for the hardware components of the doors will also help you in getting them working in great condition and for a longer time. Look out for those bolts and screws which might loosen up and fix them as you see a fault.

• Check the balance of the door:

  When you manually lift the door and when it’s up halfway, if it doesn’t stay there, then the balancing has been impaired. If this balance is not maintained properly, then the door doesn’t long much, because it needs to work harder than usual making it more worn out.

• Weather-stripping needs a timely check:

  There is a weather strip at the bottom of the door. If you find it cracked and seal stripped out, we urge you to take immediate action, replace it right away. Finding a weather stripping isn't difficult, you find them at almost every hardware and home improvement stores. Cut it to the required size and insert with the wide angle, inside of the door.

• Keep the moving parts going, lubricating regularly:

  The basic health maintenance of any door is lubricating it regularly . It adds life to the pieces. Imagine to the one that is more frequently used, it needs a regular health check-up. All it takes is just 10-15 minutes of your time, and hardly twice in a year. For the chain and screws and bolts use white lithium; to coat the overhead springs, try to use a spray lubricant. (Many More tips here: https://facts-homes.com/ )

• Investigate and change the rollers:

  The rollers that are present in the garage doors, which enable smooth movement of the doors must be regularly inspected and changed too. They need to be inspected at an interval of every 6 months, and replacement for every 7 years. In case you use it as more than 10-20 times in a day, then even the frequency of changing the rollers or even inspecting must be done at a faster interval.

• Cable check:

  The cables that run are high-tension and fiddling them in a casual way is never encouraged or even advised. They are so powerful and strong that they could prove fatal to you. Check for any broken strands and any damage near the roller and call upon a professional, who has expertise and experience working.

• Auto-reverse features should be working:

  An auto-reverse feature has 2 mechanisms, one is the mechanical and the other is a photocell. In mechanical, you can test its working by placing a piece of wood or any small object in the door path. If the door touches the object and moves back, then the function is working fine. Photocell has a sensor system, which reflects using beams. Just close the door and once its half down, move your legs in the path, and the door should roll up. This needs a change in 15-20 years, and no hassle until then.