Garage Door Preventive Maintenance Checklist

Garage doors have become widely used due to a lot of reasons and this is evident most especially in residential areas.

Wherever you go, you can see one in almost every home.

Overhead garage doors are one of the largest moving parts of your entire home, and not only that, but they are also being used multiple times a day.

This translates to almost a thousand open and close cycles in a year.

When something is as frequently used as your garage doors, they tend to break down faster most especially if they are not well-taken cared for, and one of the best ways of taking care of your garage doors is through preventive maintenance.

But what exactly needs to be done during maintenance?

Well, to help you out, here are 10 things that you should definitely include in your garage door preventive maintenance checklist.

1. Observing your garage doors

Before anything else or before you can do anything about your overhead garage doors, you need to actively observe them during operation.

Try to check and see if it is moving smoothly or if it does not make any noises during operations or if the doors are balanced.

Doing these will allow you to know and infer if there is anything wrong with your overhead garage doors.

And on top of that, you are able to identify exactly which component is causing the problem.

It’s basically like hitting two birds with one stone.

2. Tightening your garage door’s loose hardware

If nothing seems to be wrong with your garage door, then you may proceed to this next step which is checking for loose hardware and retightening them.

Since your garage door moves a lot daily, its different components are being subjected to a lot of vibrations and the like.

When this happens, it tends to loosen up the screws holding it tight in place.

Look for any loose hardware on your garage doors and if there are any found, make sure to tightly secure them in place.

3. Testing your garage door’s balance

Another thing you should look out for is your garage door’s balance.

Overhead garage doors are designed to be symmetrical and balanced.

If your doors are not balanced, then the different components holding your overhead garage doors together will be subjected to a lot of tension and stress, causing them to break down faster than they normally would.

To test your garage door’s balance, all you need to do is disconnect your opener from your garage door and try to manually lift them open halfway.

If it is unable to hold itself up, then your garage door’s balance may be compromised.

When this happens, make sure to contact your local garage door repair company and ask for assistance.

4. Inspecting and replacing your garage door rollers

Moving forward, another spot on your checklist should go to your garage door’s rollers.

Garage door rollers, no matter which material it is made of, must be checked at least twice a year for any damages and/or deformation and replaced every seven years or so.

This is done to ensure optimal efficiency and performance of your garage door rollers.

In order to tell if your roller already needs to be replaced, check for cracks, chips, and deformation along their surface.

When you get yourself in a situation like this, make sure to have them replaced right away as prolonging it will only make matters worse for your garage door.

5. Weatherstripping replacement

In order to keep your valuables and belongings safely protected, your overhead garage doors have weatherstripping seals around the edges of the door that makes sure that it is properly and tightly closed.

If you leave your worn-out, brittle, and damaged weatherstripping seals on your garage door instead of having them replaced, it exposes the inside of your garage to factors such as heat, cold, and rain, things that can potentially damage your belongings.

In order to prevent this from happening, make sure to replace it right away once the signs of wearing out start showing.

Weatherstripping seals can be purchased in your local hardware and home improvement stores.

Just make sure that you get one that is perfect for the size of your garage doors.

6. Applying lubrication on moving parts

In order to ensure flawless operations on your overhead garage doors, make sure you lubricate all of its moving parts regularly.

Lubricating your moving parts can help a lot in prolonging your overhead garage door’s total lifespan plus they prevent rust formation on your different parts that are made of steel.

For more information on the type of grease or lubricant you should be using for your garage doors, you can search for it online or you can consult with your local garage door repair company.

7. Checking the cables

Your garage door cables are one of the things that makes it possible to lift open your overhead garage doors.

In order to make sure that they are in good condition, examine your cable’s physical condition and performance.

If there happens to be any problem with it, make sure to have it replaced right away.

However, do not carelessly attempt to replace your garage door cables by yourself as doing this can possibly lead to accidents and injuries.

Contact your local garage door repair company if you need garage door cable repair services.

8. Testing your garage door’s safety features

Your overhead garage doors come with safety features.

These so-called safety features are triggered in two different ways, mechanically or by a photocell.

For the mechanical safety feature, all you need to do is place an obstruction like a brick or wood on the bottom of your garage doors then close your garage doors.

Once the brick or wood is hit by your door, it should automatically open and go back up again.

While for the photocell safety feature, try closing your garage doors then while it is closing, pass your leg through the beams emitted by your garage door’s photoelectric system.

As a response, your garage door should reverse and go back up again right away.

If by any chance your garage door is an old model, it may not have any of these features so do not worry if nothing happens when you do the test.

Instead, you can check with the garage door company that installed your garage doors for you if such a feature is included for your garage doors.

9. Cleaning the tracks

This one speaks for itself.

When doing preventive maintenance, make sure to have your garage door’s tracks cleaned and cleared out.

Sometimes, due to everyday use, dirt and debris tend to gather in this area obstructing the function and operations of your overhead garage doors.

Make sure that your door’s operations are not compromised by cleaning your garage door tracks from time to time.

10. Grooming your overhead garage doors

Last but not the least, make sure that you check your door’s panels for any physical damages and the like.

You should do this because if there are indeed damages, this could affect your garage door’s ability to safeguard your belongings and protect it from unwanted factors.

Make sure that there are no chips, cracks, breaks, or rust on your garage door’s surface and you should be good to go.

Conclusion

With this garage door preventive maintenance checklist, you are now able to better take good care of your garage doors and make sure that all of their components are in the best condition possible.

By following this checklist, you are now able to spot whatever may be wrong with your overhead garage doors before it gets worse.

If done properly, you will surely benefit a lot from preventive maintenance practices.

However, these alone are not enough.

You will also need tune-up services and general maintenance services for your overhead garage door’s welfare.

If you are looking for a garage door repair company in Edmonton that can help you out with your maintenance concerns, try out Legion Garage Doors.

Aside from maintenance services, we also offer garage door installations and emergency garage door repair services 24/7.

What are you waiting for?

Pick up your phones and contact us now!

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