Most homeowners use their garage doors daily to safely and quickly leave and enter their homes. Still, temperature changes and constant exposure to extreme weather can impact how your residential garage door functions and looks. Over time, it may feel worn out because of the elements. System failures not only cause delays in your routine but can also cause property damage and even create a hazardous situation for you and any family member who operates the garage door.
The best way to prolong the lifespan of home garage doors is to conduct regular maintenance. Seasonal upkeep improves garage door operations and ultimately prevent costly and inconvenient emergency repairs.
Why Perform Seasonal Garage Door Maintenance?
For many in the US, winter is the harshest season of the year. Your garage door is exposed to frigid temperatures, excessive moisture, and strong wind gusts. Garage door maintenance helps you spot any minor damage on cables, springs, and rollers to prevent worsening them. Fast repairs can also prevent any electronic glitch on your opener, motor, or main switch. In other areas meanwhile, sticky, hot summer months will also cause garage door problems. Too much humidity equals rust, molds, and other issues.
You wouldn’t want to have an emergency garage door repair during seasonal changes – neglected garage doors can suddenly experience hardware and electrical failures. You could be stranded outside a frozen garage door, or worse: the vehicles might be trapped in the garage when you need to use them! Aside from the hassle, any emergency garage door service will also be much more expensive and create more stress if you aren’t prepared for them.
6 Garage Door Maintenance Seasonal Tips
Here are key ways you can prepare your garage door for harsher seasons:
Inspect and Adjust Hardware
Average homeowners use the garage door as often as 1500 times in a year, and with garage doors lasting seven to ten years, you can do the math on how much wear and tear the hardware will sustain. Constant movement and vibrations loosen the hardware over time.
It’s a big help to regularly inspect the doors’ nuts, bolts, hinges, and rollers. Consistently examine your garage door components to safeguard against any loosened parts. Check the springs, cables, tracks, and any connective parts – any sign of corrosion or loosening means you should call for a garage door maintenance check. And if you see damaged parts, it’s even more urgent that a professional team inspect your unit.
Observe Sounds
Since you use garage doors daily, you can pay attention to electronic and hardware characteristics. Any unusual. loud noises, jerky movements, and delays in the opener could mean a problem with your doors. A quick garage door service check can guarantee that your doors won’t act up during extreme heat in the summer or harsh months of winter. It’s better to have them addressed sooner than later.
Test the Balance
Garage door balance is crucial to securing your garage; an off-kilter door can be off-track and create problems with exposed gaps in your garage doorway, and it could mean that your heavy doors could crash or get stuck anytime.
Test the door balance by disabling the opener and manually lifting the garage door halfway on the track. If the door stays in place, it is working correctly. But if it sags one way, flies open uncontrollably, or gets stuck, it is off-balanced. You should call a garage door repair team immediately to inspect the issue thoroughly.
Replace the Weatherstripping
The black rubber bottom of the garage door is weatherstripping, a humble but important part of the garage door. The material keeps the door insulated and protects the door from moisture penetrating inside and causing molds and mildew.
Get new weatherstripping before your area experiences summer or harsh winter times because any brittle or cracked part could allow extra moisture inside.
Lubricate Regularly
It’s such an easy step to take, but most homeowners neglect lubricating and then suffer the consequences come summer or winter! Keeping the hardware well-lubricated and rust-free ensures that it moves smoothly each time you operate the door. Consult your local garage door service for a spray lubricant that they can recommend (silicone-free!) for your home. Once you have the lube, apply it liberally after every few months.
Clean Dirt Buildup
Dirt is off-putting on any surface; but aside from that, dirt can also contribute to making hardware worn out. In addition, dirt could seriously affect how the garage door sensors work – any debris buildup on the photo eye sensors could make the detection system inaccurate!
Make sure your garage door is wiped clean of dust and debris. It’s going to look better, and it will keep your garage door working in optimal condition.
Garage Door Seasonal Maintenance Tips
Extreme temperatures like summer and winter can bring a lot of issues for your residential garage doors. Extreme heat, direct sun exposure, and harsh winter storms can cause rust, molds, and wear out your garage door hardware.
Inspect and tighten any loose parts to ensure your garage door functions smoothly. Pay special attention to the springs, cables, and rollers, as they are a pivotal part of its performance. It takes only a few minutes to enjoy reliable operations down the road!
If you want to leave these tasks to the experts, call our garage door maintenance team. We are available 24/7, even on holidays, to assist homeowners with garage door emergencies. Damaged or weak garage doors can seriously affect your security, so call us before any significant problem occurs!