Your Garage Door is one of the largest moving parts of your entire house! Maintaining and taking care of a garage door can be the difference in how long it will last for you. In this article, I will be going over what is needed to make sure your garage door will be working perfectly for years to come!
Check the Garage Door Balance
Over time, with everyday use, your garage door springs can lose tension or not be as strong as they once were, which can cause extra wear on your operator. Extra wear on your opener can cause premature problems, which can add up to a large $$$ repair. Making sure you have the proper springs and balance on your garage door can prevent these costly repairs.
First, if you have a garage door opener, you are going to want to make sure your door is in the closed position. You want to disconnect the garage door from the Operator by pulling on the string by the arm that connects the operator to the door. Now that the Door is disconnected, you should be able to lift the garage door. To check if the door is properly balanced, you want to move the garage door. What you should be looking for is how heavy the door is on the floor (0-5lbs), bringing the door halfway, and seeing if the door stays by itself, as well as bringing the door all the way to the header, and seeing if it stays above the opening. This is what we call the 3-point balance test. If it does not balance, your garage door’s counterbalance system is off (springs)! We recommend leaving adjusting spring tension up to garage door professionals, or replacing the springs if the garage door springs have not been replaced in 5+ years (Because who wants broken springs when it can be prevented!!)
Inspect Rollers and Hinges
One of the most common issues with a garage door is having worn-out Garage Door rollers or hinges. They are also some of the easiest parts of a garage door to lubricate or replace. When you have worn-out rollers or hinges, your garage door can get all out of whack! I went to someone’s house one day, and the garage door rollers kept popping out of the track, causing the garage door to get stuck in certain areas. This was caused specifically because the garage door roller and wheel came off, so the shaft of the roller was rubbing a groove into the track… not good :(. So, I got the track replaced and got a new roller installed, and the garage door ran so much better!
Garage Door Rollers are rated to last around 10,000 Cycles and should be checked once or twice a year. You do not want to skip out on this.
Garage Door Hinges are required to be replaced once they start to look bent. One bent Hinge can cause the whole door to squeak or even get stuck! When they break, they usually cause a disconnection on the door, and your panels start to act like they are coming apart, or you start hearing noises coming from your door that sound like creaking or popping.
Tighten Garage Door Hinges
Over time, your garage door moves from left to right, causing wear and tear on the door. When you check your garage door, check for any loose Nuts or Bolts on the Garage Door Hinges. Tightening the Garage door hinges will increase the longevity not only in the hinges but also in the rollers as well. This is a lot more common on wood garage doors, as they are through-bolted, and the nuts do not hold onto the bolts as much. To tighten these up, you are going to need a 7/16 impact socket or a 7/16 wrench on most garage door brands. Some brands, like Overhead Door or Raynor, will use a 3/8 impact socket or wrench to tighten the bolts.
Lubrication
Lubrication is a key component of keeping your garage door running smoothly. We recommend using a garage door-specific lubricant that you can pick up from your local hardware store. You should be lubricating your garage door at least once a year. You will want to spray this onto all moving parts. This includes the garage door rollers at the bearing of the roller, the garage door hinges, the cables, the bearings by the headplates, the center bearing between the springs, and the entire spring(s) themselves.
How To –
First – You want to start with lubricating the garage door rollers (the part where the shaft and the wheel meet) to improve the smoothness of the rollers. You should be able to see the ball bearings on the Z bearings if it is not sealed rollers. If you have sealed rollers, lubrication of the roller will not do anything. You will know if your rollers are sealed if you see a black circle around your roller’s shaft and wheel.
Second – You want to lubricate 2 Parts of the Hinge, the opening on the left sleeve, and the opening on the right sleeve, through which the roller goes, to reduce friction between the garage door hinge and the roller. Next, you want to lubricate the points of the hinge that bend. On every hinge except the bottom bracket, top bracket, and #1 hinge, you will see a second sleeve. You will want to lubricate that, as it is the pivot point of the hinge.
Third – Lubricating the Loop on the Bottom of the Cables (Without Touching) to increase the longevity of the garage door cables. You will also want to lubricate the drum that the garage door cable goes up to, and get it in the grooves, with one straight line across. This will make sure that the cable is not grinding on the drum and causing wear.
Fourth – Lubricate the spring line. You are going to want to lubricate the bearings behind those drums you just saw, which are holding up the shaft. You are also going to want to spray the springs in a line all the way across. This will get rid of some noise and binding your garage door spring may have if you have not lubricated them in a while.
Test your Auto-Reversing Features
The garage door openers have built-in safety features, including the Auto-Reversing Features, to prevent injury. This should be checked once a year to see if they are working properly. This is especially true if you have little ones at home. You do not want your children getting injured due to your garage door.
To check the Reversing Feature on the Garage Door, start by placing a 2×4 on the ground underneath the door. You should then be able to close the door on top of the 2×4, and when it hits the 2×4, the door should automatically go back into the up position. IF the garage door does not go back up to the up position, the opener is applying too much force before reversing, and you should contact a professional for further assistance.
Garage Door Openers now require your garage door to have Safety Sensors (Photo eyes). To check if your Safety Sensors are working, when you close the door, you can cause any type of movement in the line of them underneath the door, and the door should start to reverse. If they do not reverse once tripping the Safety sensor, you should contact a professional for further assistance. You will know if you have photoeyes on the bottom of your door if you have the two lights at the bottom of the tracks, about 6″ from the ground on both sides of the garage door.
