How to Properly Maintain Your Garage Door
Important Maintenance Tips For Your Door
Do you remember the last time you performed routine maintenance on your garage door? If not, then you’re past due for some routine tune-ups. While it’s usually a good idea to hire a garage door repair company to tune-up your door, you can also perform some DIY maintenance that’ll help catch problems before they occur. Perform the following garage door maintenance checks regularly:
Starting with a safety check, place a large paper towel roll under the door and hit the switch. It should reverse immediately upon contact. If it crushes the towel, then your door requires immediate service for safety. If you don’t have experience fixing garage doors, your best bet is to contact a professional to assess the situation. While you may consider taking your car out to run errands, note that the crushed towel method is a tell-tale sign that your garage door is a disaster waiting to happen.
After the towel check, examine all the various parts of the door: rollers, track, spring, hinges, panel, etc. Fortunately, you don’t need to be particularly knowledgeable to notice an obvious problem. Rusted, corrosion, damaged cables, loose or worn parts – these are all things that need to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Garage Door Off Track?
You can also balance check the door by disabling the automatic opener and operating the door by hand. It should open and close fluidly. Another maintenance tip is to open your ears for any sounds that can be heard while you open your door beyond the general “whrrr”. If you hear a rubbing or stuttering sound, or anything out of the ordinary, there’s a chance your garage door has jumped off track. This is a common issue with garage doors after general use over the years. Get on top of this as soon as possible, as the last thing you want is the sound getting louder, and the garage door getting jammed.
When It’s Time To Get An Expert
Remember, the door on your garage has plenty of moving metal parts. For most homeowners, maintaining a garage door simply means keeping an eye out for potential issues, not solving them themselves. As tempting as it might be to play hero, the garage door can weigh hundreds of pounds and requites a litany of experience to master. If you’re not sure what you’re doing, ask for help! There are experts and professionals on standby 24/7 to ensure your garage door is working as intended.
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