The garage may not be as crucial to your home as your kitchen or bathroom, but it sure is very useful for various other reasons. Having a place where you can store your stuff or park your vehicle is just not enough. Keeping it clean and tidy as well as regular maintenance are necessary if you want to fully utilize that space, or, in extreme cases, prevent an injury. Below you will find some tips and hints on how to take care of your garage door.
Pay attention to what you see or hear
The most important thing you need to do is to pay attention to what you hear or see when you use your garage door. You need to make sure everything runs smooth, and if not, ask yourself what the things you find odd are. Are there shrieking or scratching sounds or do you notice it is taking more time for the door to open or close or is there is something blocking or slowing down the process?
Making sure hardware is tightened up
Doors on your garage are used very often. That involves a lot of motion and can cause the hardware to go loose. In order to prevent that, you can use a socket wrench to make sure that all bolts and roller brackets are tight.
Check the balance on the door
For this one, it is actually recommended to use the help of a professional. What you need to do is check if the opener is properly set-up and well balanced.
In order to disconnect the opener, we need to pull the release handle (red chord in most cases). Then you can raise the doors up carefully for about a half the length and we would do all that to test if doors would stay in place if not, they are not balanced properly.
Roller inspection and replacement
It is important to check on your rollers (nylon/steel) at least twice a year and changes them around every 7th year of use, even more often if used frequently.
Splintered and timeworn rollers should be removed ASAP by replacing or reattaching any of those not directly connected to the cable system
Replace the Weather Strips
The rubber weather seal strip located on the base of your door can be damaged and needs to be replaced immediately to make sure garage is kept safe from outer elements.
Grease the moving parts
You need to dedicate about 10 minutes per year to keep your garage doors greased up. You can use white lithium on the opener’s chain or screw and make sure overhead springs are covered in lubricant.
Keep an eye on cables
Dabbling with cables can be very dangerous and potentially lead to injury or death. You can look for broken strands or any impairment by the bottom roller bracket before seeking help from a professional.
Analyze the auto-reverse safety features
We need to test the two mechanisms on the garage door: the mechanical and the photocell mechanism. We can test the mechanical mechanism by placing an object on the floor in the path of the door Then we try to close the door which should go right back up when they touch the object.
To test the second mechanism, the one with beams on each side, what you can do is close the door and just move your leg in door’s direction which should cause them to open.
It is strongly recommended to buy a new door opener if the one you have is more than 20 years old.
Keep the tracks clean
Any rubble found in the tracks on either border of the door could cause a problem. You can learn more about the importance of getting a new garage door opener here: https://rsgaragedoorservices.com/garage-door-openers
Take regular care of your garage door
Whether you have wooden or steel doors, you need to make sure they are well maintained. Wooden doors can be checked for any damage caused by water and steel ones can have some rusty spots which need to be painted, sanded and primed. You can wash your garage door and keep it clean at the same time you would wash your car.
Contact Rockstar Garage Door Services at:
4455 Murphy Canyon Rd Ste 100, San Diego, CA 92123, USA
619-930-9854