Your garage door plays a big role in keeping your home warm and safe from intruders. It keeps your cars, yard tools, and children’s toys safe from theft. In addition to these tasks, the door may be opened several times a day under all types of weather conditions. It’s possible to keep your garage door operating reliably for many years with the right care and preventative maintenance.
- Observe Your Garage Door
From the moment the pflugerville garage door installation is completed and every time it’s used until it stops, simply pay attention to how it looks and sounds. There are specific things that indicate the need for repairs:
- Jerky movement up or down
- Grinding or scraping sounds during operation
- Asymmetry in the springs, cables, or pulleys
This third sign of trouble indicates that the door isn’t properly balanced which can cause heavier wear and tear on the system.
- Tighten Hardware and Lubricate Parts
If your door gets as much use as most garage doors in the United States, it’s moving up and down about a thousand times each year. Understandably, this can jiggle and loosen the hardware and use up any lubrication around the moving parts. Of course, dirt and other debris may find their way where the grease or other lubrication used to be. You can safely tighten roller brackets and bolts. It’s also safe to grease the opener chain and lubricate the overhead springs.
- Replace the Weather Seal Strip
There’s usually a rubber weather seal located at the bottom of the door. This keeps pests and water out of the garage and your house. Once a year, or more if necessary, pick up some weather-stripping from a home improvement store. You can cut this to the appropriate length to replace the old, cracked, or brittle seal.
When you complete this maintenance step, give some attention to the tracks on the sides of the door. Wipe out any debris or grit that could damage the moving parts. Don’t make adjustments to the tracks. This is a dangerous task that a garage door mechanic should complete.
- Contact Professionals for Further Maintenance
The cables that lift and control the downward motion of the door are under a lot of tension. If you attempt to adjust the cables, you could be seriously injured or worse. Instead of putting yourself at risk, contact a garage door maintenance professional to inspect the rollers and cables. Have a local mechanic, such as those at Austin’s Greater Garage Doors, operate the door up and down.
There are some gadgets you can purchase to make older garage doors safer, but when you consistently carry out these four maintenance tasks, you’ll improve the performance of the door and encourage safer operation.
