Garage Door Tune-Up What You Need to Know

Garage door can start to show signs of wear after just a few years of use. Especially if they’re used on a daily basis and aren’t properly maintained. However, with some simple tune-ups you can extend the life of your garage door and avoid costly repairs in the future. This guide provides several tips for garage door tune-up that will help you keep your garage working smoothly for many years to come.

Why Tune Up Your Garage Door

An important component of your garage door is its torsion spring. Although you can visually inspect a garage door for any obvious physical problems. Checking out your garage door’s springs should be part of your regular maintenance routine. If they are in good shape and function properly, they won’t produce much noise or vibration. But if they are old or damaged in any way, it will affect how well your garage opens and closes. Moreover, how long it lasts. Garage doors with broken springs can make lots of noise when opening and closing. And sometimes get stuck halfway through a cycle. 

Step 1 – Safety Check

It’s always a good idea to perform a safety check on your garage door. If you haven’t already done so, test all of your door’s lights and open and close it manually a few times while looking out for any problems. Garage doors can spring up or down unexpectedly when they malfunction. So be sure your family is aware of these potential safety issues before starting with any maintenance process. And don’t forget about ceiling height when performing manual tests. You don’t want to get hurt during inspection!

Step 2 – Lubricate All Moving Parts

If your garage door isn’t opening or closing smoothly, try lubricating all moving parts. The wheels on a door can sometimes become stuck due to a lack of grease. If you have an older model garage door that still uses metal rollers and metal tracks to operate. It is essential that you lubricate these metal pieces regularly.

Be sure to spray silicone lubricant lightly along all sliding metal joints (the tracks where your doors go) as well as any joints with hinges. Also, be sure not only to wipe down your tracks with a dry cloth but also shine them up by taking a piece of wax paper and rubbing over it with a candlestick until it shines bright again like new.

Step 3 – Check for Misaligned Locking Bars

Use a ladder or step stool to get above your garage door and look for any misaligned locking bars. If you can see them, they need to be tightened or adjusted. Your door should close without resistance and without excessive shaking when properly aligned. If it doesn’t close smoothly or closes unevenly, or makes a loud thumping noise when doing so then that’s an indication of misalignment which can cause damage to other components of your garage door over time.

Step 4 – Test the Operation

Once you have made your adjustments and are sure everything is secure, check to make sure your door operates correctly. If there is a section of your garage door that will be difficult or impossible for you to reach when it is operational, now would be a good time to adjust it before you’re standing on top of a ladder. Check for freedom of movement and proper operation by opening and closing your garage door several times. Make sure there is no binding in any section of the track as well as no sign of sagging in either spring or hardware. Get up close and look for any tension marks or worn spots on your springs from improper stretching earlier on. And that’s it!!