Garage doors are valuable, and important, aspects of your home and should be treated as such when they start acting out of the norm. Would you take the time to fix your front door if it was busted? Keeping your garage door repaired is at least as important for the security of your home, and all those that reside within. 

Over time, garage parts naturally break down, resulting in hiccups. While it’s easy to ignore minor issues, you should keep an eye out for strange rattling noises that arise when you open or close your garage door. These common “minor issues” can cause other parts to undergo additional strain and cause larger, potentially dangerous, issues further down the line. 

Why Is My Garage Door Rattling? 

A rattling noise is hard to ignore, especially if you’re used to your garage door opening and closing smoothly. Don’t ignore the noise – it could be  signalling a major issue that needs to be resolved in the coming days. That’s also not mention how the rattling sound is disturbing you and your neighbors.  

Your door can be rattling for a variety of reasons, though it’s most likely that your overhead garage door opener’s rails or chains are loose. Other reasons include key components loosening over time. A quick DIY repair is tightening up any screens or bolts that don’t feel tight. When was the last time you lubricated your garage door’s tracks? 

WD-40 works fine here, as it works to remove any unintended grease/stickiness that may have accumulated on your tracks over the years. Be sure to avoid spraying any into your rollers though, as they require other proper lubricants to work properly which WD-40 may remove. 

If tightening things down and lubricating your tracks don’t work, see if your garage door has jumped the track. This can be caused by a number of issues, but likely the tracks themselves have been damaged in some way. If it’s a minor dent in them, you may be able to straighten them yourself. 

However, it’s a bit of a complicated DIY repair job if the damage requires a total realignment, as the doors are quite heavy and may need some amount of dissasembly. If this is the case, stop using your door immediately and contact an overhead door repair service to take a look at the tracks..  

Your Garage Door Opener Might Be Causing the Noise

One of the telltale signs that your garage door opener needs to be repaired is through the sound of rattling. Do you know what type of overhead door opener you have? If you have a chain-driven opener and you hear a rattling sound, there’s a likelihood that the chain is loose. Lubricate, again WD-40 is perfectly acceptable in this case, the chain and see if that makes a difference when opening or closing. 

If that doesn’t make a difference, this could mean the door’s chain has worn out or become damaged in some way. Contact a garage door repair professional. They’ll be able to quickly diagnose the issue at hand, and give you a list of options to take care of the issue.