A Quick Homeowner’s Guide to Garage Door Maintenance

A faulty garage door can reduce your family’s safety, be frustrating to deal with, and even leave your home vulnerable to break-ins! That’s why you need to put time and effort into maintaining your garage door.

There are many things that you can do to improve your garage, but one of the most important is to simply maintain your garage door properly. Taking care of your garage door will help ensure that you have easy access to your home but can also increase safety as well.

In this quick homeowner’s guide, we’ll tell you what you need to know about garage maintenance.

Check Tracks and Hardware

One of the main things that you need to do when maintaining your garage door is to clean and inspect the door’s tracks. You should also check all hardware for damage or functionality issues.

Be sure to remove debris from the tracks on either side of the garage door and check that all pulleys and cables are working as they should be. Check that the brackets and fasteners are secure and that the tracks are in good condition.

If rollers have been pushed off of the tracks, then you need to get them back into place. You might be able to do some of this yourself using pliers but may need to hire a professional to fix damaged or bent tracks and doors.

Lubricate Moving Parts

Another essential part of garage care is to lubricate any moving parts that are on your garage door. Be sure to lubricate rollers and hinges at least two times per year to ensure that the garage door keeps moving easily and functions well.

Using a lubricating product that has silicone or lithium grease is ideal. Be sure to use a good amount to ensure that your garage door is lubricated adequately.

Keep in mind that you may also need to tighten the nuts that are holding the track to the wall with a socket wrench to ensure that it’s staying in place properly.

Test Auto-Reverse Features

When maintaining your garage door, one of the things that you’ll want to check regularly is whether all of the safety features of your door are working as they should be.

You should test the auto-reverse functionality of your door and ensure that it quickly reverses the movement direction if it detects an obstacle. You’ll want to place a small object on the pavement under your door to test the auto-reverse features and ensure that the door goes up a couple of seconds after touching it.

You may need to call a professional if the auto-reverse and safety features don’t work correctly. In some cases, if the safety sensors aren’t working, cleaning the lenses is all that will be necessary. If the sensors are misaligned, you may just need to follow the instructions in your garage door manual to realign them.

Check Door Balance

Another thing that you need to test when maintaining your garage door is the door balance. A door may be unbalanced because the springs might be worn down.

You’ll want to test the balance by closing the garage door and then pulling the release handle to disconnect the garage door opener. You’ll then want to lift the door on your own until it’s at the half-open mark.

The door should stay in place by at least one foot once you let go of it. If the door falls a considerable distance or goes all the way to the ground instead, then you’ll need to fix the issue. You may want to call a professional to help repair the garage door and ensure that it’s balanced.

Inspect and Replace Weatherstripping

To maintain your garage door, you should also inspect the weatherstripping and replace it if necessary.

The weatherstripping is located at the bottom, top, and sides of the door and works to prevent water, debris, and cold air from getting into the garage. This weatherstripping may become worn out or get torn as time goes by. If it doesn’t seem to be in good condition, it may not do its job properly.

In this case, you’ll want to replace it. You can easily do this yourself by prying the old weatherstripping off and installing the new weatherstripping using a nail gun.

Keep the Door Clean

In addition to making sure that your garage door components are working properly, you should also be sure to take care of the garage door itself.

Be sure that you’re taking measures to protect and preserve the garage door while ensuring that it looks its best. You’ll want to look out for warping and expanding on wooden garage doors and be sure that you repaint them every few years.

You’ll also want to maintain metal garage doors as well. Be sure to sand steel garage doors and prime and paint them to prevent corrosion and rust.

Schedule Professional Inspections

While there’s a lot that you can do to take care of your garage door on your own, it’s best to hire a professional to inspect your door regularly.

You should be sure to get your garage door checked before you’re actually experiencing problems, so get an inspection once or twice a year. If you’re in Tampa, you’ll want to find a great Tampa bay doors company to hire.

A professional can perform all of the important checks on your garage door and can discover any issues that there are with rollers, hinges, pulleys, and other components. It doesn’t cost too much to hire a professional but can allow you to keep your garage door in great condition. You’ll avoid experiencing issues and needing a significant garage repair later on.

Taking Care of Garage Maintenance With These Tips

If you want to take good care of your home, be sure that you’re prioritizing garage maintenance. Keep your garage door in great shape by testing functionality, checking the tracks, and getting professional inspections periodically.

Need more useful home maintenance tips? Read through our blog now to find more helpful articles.