Best practices for top Garage Door Maintenance

Factory Recommendations

When you think about it, the garage door is the most used door in your home. Therefore, it is always important to keep up with factory recommendations and garage door maintenance. Perform a visual check at least once a week for any loose bolts or screws.

Every door and opener should come with an owner’s manual. The manual will give you specifics like which type of lube to use and how often to use it. The owner’s manual will also tell you when to call a professional to do bigger jobs like replacing the chain or springs.

Keeping it lubed

One of the most important things that you can and should do yourself is keeping the rollers and springs lubed. The garage door has many moving parts that all work in sync with each other and all the moving parts need to be well lubed. The springs should have the right tension as well but that is best left to a service professional.

Spring back test

Newer garage doors, that is, any built after 1990, have a safety feature where the door will spring back and reverse its motion if any object impedes it from closing. This spring back feature should be tested once a month. To do this, place a 2×4 on the floor directly in its path preventing the door from closing fully.

As soon as the door touches the 2×4 block it reverses and springs back up. It will begin to reopen instead of close. If the door fails to spring back and start opening, this feature is not working properly and a service professional should be called in.

Electric eye sensor test

The electric eye is that little lens on either side of the bottom of your garage door. This sensor is in place to detect if any object passes the eye’s line. Usually, there is a light that indicates when both eyes are in line. To test if this safety feature is working, just run your hand or foot in front of the sensors’ path and the door should reverse the closing to opening operation. This test should be done at least once a month or suggested by the owner’s manual.

If you find that this safety feature not working properly, always make sure that the light is on. This will indicate that both eyes are aligned. If they fail to show alignment, you should call in a service professional.

Calling the pros for true Garage Door Maintenance

Doing all of the suggested maintenance will help extend the life of the most expensive door in your home. Even if you religiously perform these simple tests, sometimes you will need to call in a service professional. The tests they perform can be more technical and hiring someone who is familiar with it all is the smartest thing to do. It is a safety factor because a 200 pound door can kill you or a family member if it comes crashing down, even the four legged kind.