Garage Door Maintenance Saves Money
One of the things most homeowners take for granted is the smooth operation of their garage doors. Your garage doors are the largest moving parts in your entire home, and they must be cared for on a regular basis as they are opened and closed multiple times per day. To ensure that your garage doors remain in tip-top condition, you must have them serviced periodically. While you may think that regular maintenance will cost more than it’s worth, you might want to consider how much it costs to have new garage doors installed.
Regular garage door maintenance saves you in terms of needing to prematurely replace many of the components of your garage door system. Springs, rollers, guides, chains, and panels can all wear over time if not inspected, tightened, realigned, and lubricated. And, if any one of these components is allowed to fall into disrepair, the misalignment can cause many of the other garage door components to fail. So, to keep your garage door opening and closing and otherwise operating smoothly for years to come, we suggest that you have your garage doors serviced every six months or so. Of course, there are some things you can do yourself if you choose, and we’ll get into that later on in this article. But, if you want to schedule a service call, please call or use the form located on this page.
Schedule Garage Door Maintenance Early
If you’re questioning when you should begin scheduling garage door maintenance services after a new garage door install, we’ve got the answers right here. First, most garage door installation companies will provide a complimentary checkup 30 to 90 days from initial garage door installation. This is done to ensure that all the moving parts are tight and working in concert with one another. After that check, we suggest that you pay attention to the operation of your garage doors, noting any change in noises or speed of opening and closing. If you see or hear anything unusual coming from your garage doors, contact us immediately.
You should have your garage doors maintained once every six months, sooner if something isn’t quite right. When we arrive to service your doors, we’ll provide a balance test to ensure that the door rises smoothly and comes to rest about three or four feet above the ground. We’ll then lubricate your components, including hinges, tracks, pulleys, bearings, and rollers. Among the many other maintenance items on our list, we’ll remove any rust, check the weather stripping, provide a reversal test, and check the torsion springs for wear. Contact G & G Garage Door for all your garage door installation and service needs.
Regular Preventive Maintenance For Your Garage Doors
Replace Weather Stripping
Most garage doors have weatherstripping along the bottom of the door to ensure that there’s a tight seal along the floor so that bugs, snakes, and dirt don’t find their way inside your garage. Weatherstripping also keeps out the rain, and extremes of heat. Check your weatherstripping for wear and replace when needed.
Safety Test Auto-Reverse
There are two auto-reverse safety features that you should test. To ensure that your door reverses if there is an obstruction, place a piece of wood on the ground in the path of the door, then attempt to shut the door. When working the door should reverse. Also, test that the photo-eye reverses by passing your leg in front of it.
Refinish Wood Garage Doors
Over time your wood garage doors will need to be refinished. Pest damage, wood rot, weather damage, and fading all combine to slowly wear away the veneer of finish you once had. As a general rule, wood garage doors should be refinished once every three to four years. One thing to consider is that your warranty may be voided by refinishing your door.
Check The Emergency Release
Your garage door comes equipped with an emergency release cord so that you can open your garage manually in case there’s a problem with the opener. While most openers have battery backups there’s still the chance that they battery may fail. To test your emergency release, with the garage door in the down position, pull the cord to release it.
Planned Door Maintenance Program
There are many moving parts with your garage door, garage door opener, and garage door track. So many that you might feel overwhelmed by it all. Rather than letting it overwhelm you, we suggest that you schedule planned garage door maintenance with us. G & G Garage Door’s maintenance program not only keeps your garage door system operating smoothly but also helps prevent damage long before it’s likely to happen. While there are countless opportunities for damages or malfunctions to occur, with pre-planned maintenance and garage door service, you can avoid these altogether. With G & G Garage Door at the ready, we can prevent unexpected and costly garage door replacement and repair needs. Give us a call for a free onsite consultation.
Is Your Photo Eye Sensor Working?
One of the most overlooked safety features of modern garage door systems is the photo eye sensor. The photo eye sensor is in place to ensure that people, pets, and other objects are not in the way of a closing garage door. Most garage doors weigh between 150 lbs and 300 lbs, but the force of the closing mechanism increases the amount of pressure on whatever is in the way if the photo eye is not operating properly. The photo eye sensors are located on either side of the garage door at its base. To ensure that they are operating as they should, you’ll need to keep them clean from spider webs, leaves, and other debris.