At Pacific Experts, there’s nothing that we love more than a properly installed and well-taken care of garage door. It’s something that we take pride in. But as with all machinery, natural wear and tear from usage can naturally degrade the integrity of your garage door. Luckily there are ways to prolong the life of your garage door and all of the nuts and bolts that keep it working. That’s where garage door preventative maintenance comes into play.
Look and Listen
The first step of preventative maintenance is inspecting your garage door to spot any signs that may lead to a potential garage door repair. Take a minute every time you open and close your garage door to look and listen to all of the moving parts. Do you hear grinding, squeaking, and scraping, or does everything appear to be running smoothly?
Additionally, look for any hardware that may have come loose over time.
Tighten up the Hardware
Garage doors open and shut thousands of times between major repairs. That’s a lot of moving and vibrating that can cause nuts and bolts to loosen up. If notice that a few nuts and bolts could use some tightening up, go ahead and tighten up the hardware.
Lubricate the Moving Parts
If you noticed any squeaking, it is likely due to worn-out hardware and rollers. To prevent this, you should lubricate all of the moving parts to ensure that they do not wear out from excessive friction.
Inspect and Replace the Rollers
Rollers are one of the easiest parts of your garage door to wear out. Rollers keep the garage door moving smoothly along the track and they can easily wear out with all of the friction created by lifting the garage door. If you notice that the rollers on your garage door look worn out, chipped, or cracked, do not hesitate to call Pacific Experts for a speedy replacement.
Replace the Weatherstripping
Another common aspect of the garage doors that tend to get a lot of use is the weatherstripping. This is the rubber seal that keeps the elements out of your garage door. This rubber tends to dry up and crack over time which is a sign that it needs to be replaced. Garage weatherstripping can make your garage more efficient and keep your energy bills low as well.
Test the Auto-Reverse Safety Features
One of the most important safety features that your garage door has is photo-eyes. These sensors are designed to identify any object that obstructs the garage door and reverse the garage door to prevent the door from crushing the obstruction. This is very easy to test on your own, simply close your garage door and obstruct the photo-eye to activate the auto-reverse feature.
If the auto-reverse feature fails to work, contact us today to inspect and repair your garage door sensors. Test the Garage Door Balance