Your garage door is one of the things that gets over looked when it comes to home maintenance. It is important to properly maintain your garage door to keep it in the best possible condition and last a long time. Your door has many parts that have to move when it is opening and closing.
• Check the tracks, rollers and hinges: It’s important to give your garage door a once-over every once and awhile.
There are a lot of moving parts on a garage door — from the chain that moves it up and down, to the rollers that bring it up, to the hinges that allow it to bend. All of these items need to be inspected for wear and tear. All it takes is for one of these items to break or go off track for the entire system to fail.
• Tighten all screws and bolts: It’s worth paying attention to all of the moving parts of the garage door, but specifically loose bolts and nuts, which can cause larger problems. The opener is likely loud on its own, but if things are loose, such as the connection from the motor to the ceiling, the sound is likely going to be amplified. Check all the connecting nuts and bolts to be sure that they are tight.
• Apply lubrication liberally: The biggest preventive maintenance task a homeowner can do is making sure that all the moving parts of the garage door are well lubricated.
Obviously, the less friction you have when the door opens, the less work the opener has to do, and the longer that motor will last. It’s worth noting that not just any lubricant will do, so be sure to invest in one designed specifically for garage doors.
“(Homeowners) want to use a spray grease, and if they go to the garage door section of the big-box stores like Home Depot or Lowe’s, they can usually find a good garage door lubricant,” said Jon Jacobs of Sound Door Services in Seattle.
“WD-40 should not be used on garage doors.”
Be sure to lubricate all the moving parts, such as the hinges, rollers and the bearing or pulleys.
Thanks for the article from Leader Telegram.
