How often do you have to check your garage door? Or do you really have to think about the condition of your
garage doors at all? Actually, one of the factors that could make or break your
day is the moment you go out and encounter problems with your garage door opener. Don’t wait until there is a problem before you call your garage door maintenance service provider. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure; hence, schedule a regular maintenance check especially during weather
changes.
1. Listen to your door. A well-maintained and functional garage door is relatively
silent and it smoothly moves up and down without jerkiness and sounds of
scraping and grating. This is because all parts are in good condition such as
the pulleys, cables and springs.
2. Clear the tracks. Check the tracks on both sides of the door and clear it from
rust and debris. Make sure that the tracks are perfectly vertical along the
vertical sections. You do some minor adjustments but leave the major
adjustments to a professional technician.
3. Fine tune the
hardware. For your
regular residential garage door maintenance, tighten the door and track hardware including the brackets
that hold door tracks to the ceiling and wall, the fasteners that keep the
garage door opener unit to the framing. You can use a socket wrench to tighten
up loose bolts.
4. Check and change the
rollers. Inspection
of rollers should be done twice a year and they should be replaced every five
to seven years. Rollers that are cracked, worn, or chipped must be replaced to
avoid accidents and jerkiness. However, care should be practiced when changing
rollers, don’t remove the bottom roller bracket on both sides of the door
because these are connected to the lift cables and are under great pressure.
5. Inspect cables and
pulleys. Look
carefully at the lift cables and pulleys linked to the bottom brackets on your
garage door. Springs in between connection vary in each part and are
responsible for smooth movement. For your safety, you are advised not to touch
the springs, let the experts handle them. Contact commercial garage door maintenance experts to solve any concerns in this area.
6. Oil the moving
parts. When moving
parts and rollers are well lubricated there is less stress on the door openers
and this lengthen their usefulness. Apply white lithium grease on the hinges
and rollers twice a year and
wipe them clean.
7. Assess the door
balance. If the
garage door is no well-balanced, it will not work well and will eventually be
broken. You can do the testing by pulling the release handle of the automatic
opener and then manually lifting the door to about halfway open. It should
remain in place if it is properly balanced. Immediately call for your garage
door technician if something is out of place.
8. Check
the auto reverse system. You can test if this feature is
functioning well by putting a scrap board flat of 2x4 on the ground in the path
of the door. When the door touches the board, it should reverse direction and
go up. If your door doesn’t have this feature yet, replace it by calling your
technician because it is mandated by building code that this feature should be
installed.
9. Replace
or repair the weather-stripping. This is found at the
bottom of your door whose function is to keep out dust, water, cold, and dirt out
of your garage. You have to check this part twice a year too. You can change
broken parts or the whole stripping depending on its condition.
10. Tidy
and repaint the door. Regular cleaning keeps your steel
door from rust and your fiberglass door maintains its sleekness. Wooden doors
must be examined for any presence of mold or dirt brought about by water
damage. Wooden doors must be repainted after removing of old paint and sanding
to keep it in good working condition.
In order to make sure that your garage
door is properly working and in order to lengthen its life, you have to keep a
regular consultation and checking by a garage door maintenance Phoenix AZ technician at least two times a year. Cookson Door Sales of Arizona specializes
in giving you high quality doors and expert installation and repairs by our
technicians. Our clients have built a lasting partnership along with
continuously equipping our staff with the more recent techniques and skills. With us through the years as we continue
to update our technology and upgrade our system and equipment
