Garage doors are the kind of thing you only think about when they let you down. That’s fair enough. There’s nothing wrong with ignoring something that works. The problem is that ignoring a garage door for too long means the first sign of trouble is usually a failed component rather than something you could have caught earlier. Most failures have warning signs. Most warning signs are easy to spot if you’re occasionally looking. Proper maintenance of garage doors doesn’t have to be a big job. It’s mostly just knowing what to check and doing it twice a year. This post covers exactly that.
Lubrication
Everything that moves needs lubricating. Springs, hinges, rollers, tracks. Twice a year, run a proper garage door lubricant or silicone spray over all of it.
Not WD-40. It seems like the obvious choice because it’s already in the garage and it does loosen things up temporarily. The issue is that it’s a water displacer rather than an actual lubricant, and it evaporates fast. The creaking stops for a few days and then you’re back to square one. Spend a few pounds on the right product, apply it to the moving parts, wipe off the excess. The whole thing takes ten minutes and buys the door another six months of quiet operation. Lubrication is one of the simplest parts of the maintenance of garage doors, and it makes more difference than most people expect. If you’re unsure which product to use, our repairs team can point you in the right direction.
Actually Look at the Mechanism
Once a year, open the door fully and spend a few minutes looking at the parts rather than just walking past them. This is the most important part of the maintenance of garage doors and the one most likely to save you money. It catches problems before they become expensive.
Start with the springs. The torsion spring runs horizontally across the top of the opening. Extension springs, if fitted, run along the sides. Look for gaps in the coils, rust, or anything that looks under more stress than it should. Springs that are starting to fail often show it before they go. Finding it at this stage is a very different situation to finding it when the door won’t open. If you spot anything, our garage door repairs team can take a look before it becomes a bigger problem.
Cables next. Bottom corners of the door, running upward. Fraying, kinking, or uneven wear are all signs they’re on their way out. Cables tend not to give much notice when they go.
Rollers. Cracked or visibly worn rollers make the door travel unevenly and put extra stress on the tracks and springs. Much easier to replace them before they cause secondary damage than after.
Tracks. Dents, bends, anything that’s pulled away from the wall mounting. Minor damage can sometimes be carefully eased back. Significant damage will eventually cause the door to jam, and forcing it past a damaged section makes everything worse.
The Balance Test
Disconnect the opener using the red manual release cord. Lift the door by hand to halfway. Let go.
If it stays, the springs are balanced. If it drops or rises on its own, they’re not. An unbalanced door means the motor is working harder than it should every single time it operates. The test takes thirty seconds and the result is useful. Spring adjustment is a professional job, but knowing you need it puts you ahead of the problem. If the door fails the test, get in touch and we’ll sort the adjustment.
Seals
The rubber strip along the bottom of the door gets compressed, cracked, and generally knocked about over time. It won’t last forever. Check it once a year and replace it when it starts to go. Not expensive. Keeps water out, keeps cold air out, keeps small things from getting under the door. The seals around the sides and top of the frame are worth a look too. Gaps there undermine the insulation value of the door considerably. Seal checks are a small but important part of the maintenance of garage doors that often gets skipped, and they’re one of the quickest fixes on the list.
Cleaning
Steel and GRP need almost nothing. Soapy water once or twice a year is enough to deal with the road salt and general grime that collects on the lower panels. Salt is corrosive and there’s more of it hitting the door than most people realise, particularly through winter.
Timber is a different matter. Check the surface finish every year. Any areas where it’s cracked, lifted, or worn through need attending to before water gets in. Exposed timber and moisture don’t coexist peacefully for long. If your timber door is beyond a surface fix, take a look at our installations page for replacement options.
Automated Doors
Sensors at the bottom of the tracks: both should have a solid indicator light. If either is off or flickering, check for anything obstructing the beam and verify both sensors are still aimed directly at each other. They don’t need a hard knock to go off-line.
Auto-reverse: place a flat piece of wood on the ground under the door and run the close cycle. The door reverses on contact. If it doesn’t, the sensitivity needs adjusting. A door that doesn’t reverse correctly is a safety issue, not just an inconvenience. If you’re unsure how to adjust it, our automation team can help.
Remote batteries: replace them once a year before they die rather than after. Being locked out because the remote went flat at the wrong moment is the kind of thing that happens once and gets sorted permanently. These small checks make up the automation side of maintenance of garage doors and take about five minutes in total.
When to Call Someone
Springs and cables are not DIY territory. Both hold serious tension and adjusting either without the right tools is dangerous in a way that isn’t worth finding out. If anything in the checks above looks wrong with either, leave it and call someone. That’s not a cop-out. It’s the sensible approach to maintenance of garage doors that involve components under load.
Same goes for anything else that’s making noise it didn’t used to make, operating slower than normal, or not sitting evenly when closed. Garage door problems don’t resolve themselves and they’re usually cheaper to deal with early. If you’re unsure whether something needs attention, it’s worth a call. Routine maintenance of garage doors is far less expensive than emergency repairs, and most emergency repairs were preventable.
Bullet Garage Doors has been servicing and repairing doors across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire for 25 years. We cover Luton, Dunstable, St Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Watford, Milton Keynes, and surrounding areas.
01582 932025 / 07880 542433 / damien@bulletgaragedoors.com / get in touch here