Spring Time...Garage Door Tune-Up

It's that time of year when most people ignore their garage doors....but you shouldn't. It's a perfect time to give your garage door and garage door operator a little love and attention.

 

After a long winter it's a good idea to go over your garage door and electric opener to make sure everything is working properly. It will also help to extend the life of both and reduce service call costs. Here's a check list to get you started:

1. Outside of Door: It's a good idea to wash down the outside of your garage door if it's a steel door (which most doors manufactured and sold in the last 20 years are). This is especially important if you live in the Northwest or Northeast where road salt is used and can be very damaging to doors. Don't use a power washer...they can damage the paint coating of the door. The easiest thing to do is wash the door just like you do when you wash your car. Use a sponge, some car wash soap and the garden hose. Wipe the door down with the sponge and hose it off....nothing to it. This will help keep your door looking new and from rusting.
2.  Inside/Bottom of Door: Take a wet rag and wipe down the inside sections and bottom of the garage door. Sometimes leaves and other debris can be stuck to the bottom seal....this can cause a problem if a leaf passes in front of the opener safety sensors (mounted on either side at the bottom of door) while the door is closing. The sensors will detect the leaf & reverse the opener. So cleaning the bottom seal will keep from this from happening. If the bottom seal is old, hard and no longer flexible then this would be a good time to replace it. Most doors have a retainer that the bottom seal slides into...just slide the old seal out & slide the new seal in. The key is to get the right seal...not all seals are made the same. Contact the dealer or installation company that installed the door & they should be able to fix you up. If you don't know where the door came from then contact the manufacturer and they'll put you in touch with a local dealer.
3. Garage Door Hardware: One of the most overlooked maintenance issues with garage doors is lubrication but it one of easiest things a homeowner can do. A little lubricant can go a long way in making the door work better and the hardware lasting longer. First you'll need to get a good lubricant. Lubriplate makes a petroleum based penetrating oil lubricant called Chain & Cable Fluid. Don't use WD-40...this will get tacky and attract dirt & dust. If you have torsion springs (springs mounted on a bar above the door) spray the spring coils from one end to the other. If you have extension springs (springs mounted above the horizontal track that stretch from the front to the back of the garage) then spray the four cable pulleys around the bearings. Next, spray each individual door roller around the roller bearings. Finally, spray a small amount of lube on each of garage door hinges. Take a rag and wipe down any over spray or drips that you see.

This is a good start to getting the garage door in shape. Later, we will go over garage door opener maintenance and how to look for wearing or damaged hardware. A little preventive maintenance can save you a lot of money (and headaches).