While they may not be the flashiest things in the world, garage doors are pretty great.
After all, most of us use them just about every day.
When you want to get your vehicle in or out of the house, it’s up to your garage door to save the day.
But when something goes wrong with the door?
That’s when garage doors go from super convenient to massive headaches.
Without proper care, you’ll start to see tons of problems come up. You might even feel like you’d be better off without one.
But worry not, because there are some easy steps you can take to ensure that your door runs smoothly all-year-round.
Here are five tips you can use to avoid hefty garage door repair fees down the road and keep your door lasting longer.
To make sure your door runs smoothly, you’ve got to keep an eye out for any problems that come up.
Catching any issues with your garage door early can help you avoid further damage that’d be caused by letting it go unchecked.
Here are a few key areas to regularly inspect to make sure your door stays in great shape.
The cables on your door are one of the most essential pieces of the whole operation. So make sure you’re looking for any wear and tear on them. Don’t mistake this for us telling you to work on the cables yourself, though. Doing your own maintenance on garage door cables can end in disaster if done improperly, since they’ve got enough force to seriously injure or kill you if you don’t know how to handle them safely. Make sure you’re visually inspecting the cables on a regular basis, but if you start to notice damage or fraying, call in professionals to do the repair work for you. Don’t risk your safety by trying to do it yourself.
Unmaintained rollers can lead to rough operations with your garage door.
When the rollers go bad, it can lead the garage door to stop running smoothly, which can cause further damage to the rest of the door over time.
Make sure you’re keeping an eye out for any damage to the rollers so you can get them replaced right away when something comes up.
Just like worn-out rollers can lead to rough garage door operations, so too can your tracks if they aren’t maintained properly.
When you check the tracks of your garage door, you should look out for two things:
Debris in the tracks – If you notice any debris build-up in the tracks, it’s important that you clean it out.
You should do a quick checkup on your tracks every month or so to make sure that nothing is getting in the way of the door when it opens and closes.
Proper track alignment – If your tracks get unaligned, it’s best that you realign them as soon as possible. If left on their own, unaligned tracks will cause lots of unnecessary wear on the rest of the door.
2. Tighten All of the Components
Anything with moving parts will start to loosen up as time goes on.
This is just as true for garage doors, especially since they’re full of different moving parts.
Make sure you’re attending to any nuts and bolts on your door and tightening them up a few times a year to make sure everything’s in top shape.
3. Lubricate all of the Moving Parts
Looseness isn’t the only thing you’ve got to be worried about when it comes to garage doors.
Moving parts also cause quite a bit of friction, to stop this friction from causing more wear to the door, you need to make sure everything is greased well.
It doesn’t take much to keep all of the moving parts lubricated either; a simple garage door lubricant will do.
Just go through and take a couple of minutes to spray all of the moving parts with lubricant. You don’t need to do it often either, a few times a year does the trick.
4. Clean Your Garage Door
Keep gunk from building up on your door by washing it regularly.
This not only helps you keep areas like your tracks clean, but it also just makes your door look better.
Just a quick wash every few weeks or so will do wonders for keeping your door looking and working great.
5. Make Sure It’s Still Balanced
A balanced door is essential because it reduces the load that your garage door opener has to deal with.
If your door becomes imbalanced, your opener will have to handle more of the weight, so it’s important that you ensure your door stays balanced.
A good test to check whether your door’s become imbalanced is to disengage it from the opener and then try to open the door a bit by hand.
Lift the door a few feet off of the ground and then watch what happens.
If your door stays open or moves slightly, it’s balanced, so you’re all good.
But if the door slams open or shut when you let go, it’s time to call in a professional to take a look at your spring.
Just like with cables, never try to operate on garage door springs by yourself. Improper technique can lead to massive disasters down the road, so let trained professionals do it for you to minimize your risk.
Notice anything wrong with your garage door?
At Jacob’s Garage Door Repair, we specialize in diagnosing and fixing any issues that come up with your garage door.
We provide our services in the areas around Gilbert, Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler.
If you’ve found any problems that need fixing, let us take care of it for you. We’d love to help!
Don’t hesitate to give us a call today at (480) 531-8358
Jacob’s Garage Door Repair
2540 S Val Vista Dr Unit B5,
Gilbert, AZ 85295
Phone: (480) 531-835
