These garage door maintenance tips take a few minutes each and only need basic tools. Your garage door is the biggest moving part of your house, and you probably use it several times a day. A little care keeps it quiet, catches small problems early and helps you avoid a breakdown on a busy morning.
Below is what you can safely do yourself, and when it is time to call a technician.
The first of these garage door maintenance tips is also the easiest: keep the tracks clean. Dirt, leaves and cobwebs collect in the tracks and make the rollers drag. Every few months, wipe the tracks with a damp cloth.
Don’t grease the tracks, though. Grease holds dirt and turns into sludge. Instead, keep them clean and dry.
While you are there, look down each track. It should be straight, and the brackets should be tight against the wall. If a track is bent, or the door rubs or sticks in one spot, call a technician. Bending a track back by hand usually makes it worse.
Twice a year, spray the rollers, hinges and the spring with a garage door lubricant or a silicone spray. A light coat is enough. Then wipe off the extra so it doesn’t drip on your car.
Skip heavy grease and regular WD-40. WD-40 is a good cleaner, but it doesn’t last as a lubricant. Also, if the door still squeals after you lubricate it, the rollers or hinges may be worn out. In that case, see our roller replacement page.
Your garage door opens and closes hundreds of times a year, and the vibration slowly loosens the bolts. So a few times a year, check the bolts on the hinges and track brackets with a socket wrench. Snug up any loose ones, but don’t overtighten them.
Next, look at the rollers and cables. Rollers that are cracked, wobbly or worn flat need replacing. Cables with rust or broken strands are a warning sign.
However, don’t touch the cables, springs or the bottom brackets yourself. They hold a lot of tension and can cause serious injury. Instead, call us for cable repair.
A balanced door is easy on the opener and safe to use. Test the balance every few months. It only takes two minutes.
First, close the door and pull the red release cord on the opener. This lets you move the door by hand.
Next, lift the door about halfway and carefully let go. If the door feels very heavy, stop, because a spring may be broken.
Then watch the door. If it stays put, the balance is good. If it drifts down or rises, the springs need adjusting.
Finally, close the door and reconnect the opener. Most openers reconnect the next time you run them.
An unbalanced door makes the opener do the lifting that the springs should do, and that wears the opener out early. Don’t adjust the springs yourself, because they need special tools and training. Instead, call us for spring repair.
Your opener has two safety systems: the auto-reverse and the photo-eye sensors near the floor. Test both once a month.
Auto-reverse test. Lay a 2×4 flat on the floor where the door closes. Then close the door. When the door touches the board, it should stop and go back up. If it doesn’t, stop using the opener until it is fixed.
Photo-eye test. First, check that the two sensors face each other and their lights are steady. Next, start closing the door and pass a broom handle through the beam. The door should stop and reverse.
If it doesn’t, wipe the lenses with a soft cloth and line the sensors up until both lights are steady. Then test again. If it still fails, call a technician.
Also, openers made before 1993 don’t have these safety features at all. If yours is that old, it is time for a new opener.
The rubber seal on the bottom of the door keeps out rain, drafts, dust and bugs. Check it every few months, and again before the rainy season. If it is cracked, flat or leaves a gap, replace it.
On most doors, the old seal slides out of a channel on the bottom and a new one slides in. A little soapy water helps it slide.
Look at the door itself too. On steel doors, sand small rust spots and touch them up with paint. On wood doors, repaint or reseal peeling spots before the wood starts to rot.
Also wash the door with mild soap and water twice a year. Near the coast, wash it more often, because salt air speeds up rust. Our guide to coastal rust prevention has more on that.
Once a year, run the door a few times and listen. If the opener strains, grinds or jerks, it may need service. For example, the chain on a chain drive may need adjusting.
Also replace the batteries in your remotes and keypad once a year, or when the range starts to drop. If the opener light burns out, use a bulb made for garage door openers. Some standard LED bulbs can interfere with the remote signal.
New openers in California have a backup battery. Test it by unplugging the opener and running the door. These batteries wear out over time, and most openers beep or flash when the battery needs replacing. Read more about the California battery backup law.
These garage door maintenance tips cover the basics, but some jobs need a technician. A yearly tune-up covers the parts you shouldn’t handle: spring tension, cables, bottom brackets and the opener’s force and travel settings.
During a tune-up, we lubricate every moving part, tighten the hardware, check the balance and test both safety systems. As a result, small problems get fixed before they turn into a stuck door.
After all, it is much easier to replace a worn roller or a fraying cable on your schedule than to deal with a door that won’t open on a Monday morning.
Questions about any of these garage door maintenance tips? Or would you rather not do them yourself? Call Olive Garage Doors. We are a local, licensed and bonded company, and we serve the whole Bay Area.
Book a maintenance visit, and remember: never adjust springs yourself. Call us at (888) 403-6161.