How to properly maintain your garage door

If you are a homeowner your garage door and door opener are used almost every day and regular maintenance is a good idea to keep them running properly by simply checking nuts, bolts, and screws at least twice per year. While you checking for these parts is a good idea to lubricate tracks and chains from the garage door opener, finally and not least check the sensors as they often get misaligned if there are objects on their way. We have some tips below that will get you started.

Starting the maintenance procedure:

Turning off the power for safety reasons before servicing the garage door is essential. Be sure to unplug the opener if the door opens while working, as it can cause a disaster.

It would help if you also unlocked the opener so that you can manually move the garage door up and down. This provides easy access to the lower rollers and allows the lubricant to spread as you slide the door along the track.

If you are out of reach from the owner’s manual, book a service visit from an All-American Doors technician for expert garage door repair. By doing so, you are leaving the job to the experts, understanding the skill gained through experience in safety precautions, and ensuring effective maintenance and repair from start to finish.

Know the Types of Rollers:

Garage door rollers allow the door to move smoothly up and down the truck. However, if you neglect to perform regular maintenance over time the garage doors will be rough and noisy. Below are some types of rollers so you can identify the maintenance that needs to be done.

Plastic Rollers are very low quality, have minimum performance, and don’t last.

Metal Rollers are low quality, low performance, and very loud

Nylon Rollers 11 Balls are good performance and last 10,000 cycles. (The operation of opening and closing of the garage door

Nylon Rollers 13 Ball (sealed) is better performance at 25,000 cycles

Nylon Roller Z Bearing is the Best performance in the market now, with more than 100,000 + cycles

Roller Control:

Before the maintenance is performed, ensure there are no trades of cracks, debris, or deformations on the Roller control. Poor roller function may cause the opener parts to wear too soon and cause the garage door to pop out from the track. If you notice your garage door is making an unpleasant squeak, contact your garage door expert as soon as possible, as this will require garage door repair or potentially change the rollers.

Starting the maintenance for a garage door:

Before you start your garage door preventive maintenance, turning off the power is essential for safety reasons. Make sure to unplug the garage door opener and unlock it, by doing so you can manually move the garage door up and down for easy access to the lower rollers which will allow the lubricant to spread evenly through the track.

If you have any doubt about your garage door, seek a professional with experience in garage door repair; they will perform effectively with knowledge.

Materials you will need:

Maintaining the rollers is a matter of keeping them lubricated, but you need suitable materials and tools to perform this job.

We often remind Homeowners to contact an experience garage door Technician as they are well-trained as is very common to see mistakes in using oil-based lubricants like WD40. In fact, WD40 is not the appropriate lubrican, instead, use silicone-based oil to lubricate the tracks and chains from the garage door. When you apply the lubricant, prepare a cloth for wiping off the drips. Lightly touch the rollers to lubricate and immediately wipe off excess oil. Garage door rollers must be oiled twice a year, or sooner if the garage door makes a squeaky or grinding noise when opened.

We also recommend to call All American Doors in case you are unsure about the steps to repair your garage door.

Conclusion:

We recommend performing a service to your garage door and door opener twice per year. This inspection should be performed only by train technicians or the homeowner present.

The proper inspection should be documented with the following items on the list below:

1. Garage Door Balance
2. Rollers
3. Cables
4. Drums
5. Center Bearing

6. Center Bracket

7. Spring Bar

8. Hinges

9. Top Brackets

All American Doors can advise the homeowner on the proper garage door repair service for their garage door; we are a local company serving the Miami, Broward, and West Palm Beach areas.