Garage Door Maintenance tips!
While most homeowners wrap pipes and check gas tanks for the cold winter months ahead, most overlook simple garage door maintenance that could prevent being stuck out in the cold. Getting your garage door ready for winter now will save time and expensive repairs later.
What needs to be done then? Start simple, cleaning the outside of your doors will prevent any debris from clogging parts such as hinges and also prevents rust. Close the garage doors and make sure there are no gaps. Gaps are caused by the vibrations from normal opening and closing of the doors thus loosening the hardware. If you notice a gap, a quick tightening of all the bolts in the door and hardware with a socket wrench should fix it.
Make sure all the moving parts are lubricated. This will help prevent the door from sticking or not opening at all. It also provides protection against the elements including the yearly snowfall, which is a common thing the cities of North Carolina, particularly Raleigh, Durham and Cary.
Check the weather stripping at the bottom of the door. Does it appear cracked, brittle, damaged or loose? It’s time to replace it. Weather stripping keeps not only the elements, such as snow and rain, out of your garage, but also helps keep vermin out. Make sure to check the stripping around the windows if your doors have windows in them.
Replace the batteries in your remote. There’s nothing like coming home on a cold winter night only to find your batteries in the garage door opener are dead. Batteries will drain over time and should be replaced regularly, especially before winter when they don’t need to fail and leave you in the cold.
Manually checking the balance of your doors is another simple check. Pull the release lever to disconnect your door from the opener then open the garage door halfway by hand. If the door stays open, it means your counterbalance system is working properly. If not, you will need to call garage door technicians to rebalance the garage door spring.
Check your rollers. A good quality garage door can last many years, but rollers will have to be replaced every ten to twenty years. It’s a good idea to have them professionally checked after every five to ten years to see if they need to be changed. If you notice the rollers popping out of track frequently, it means they’re worn down and no longer fit properly in the track and so, need to be replaced. If you notice a lot of wiggling or debris in the roller or if the roller doesn’t move freely, it will need to be replaced.
Some garage door preventative maintenance measures before winter can save you costly repairs or even the cost of a new garage door installation later. If you’re not comfortable doing this on your own, call a professional to check the doors. A preventative service call before there’s a problem can save you hundreds of dollars later.