Garage Door Maintenance Check List

Garage doors are an investment that requires light maintenance to ensure their longevity and safety. Maintenance can ensure your garage stays in good working order for its lifetime. In fact, you can even perform some of these maintenance tasks yourself. If you are not comfortable performing the tasks, have them performed by a trained service technician. Following is a garage door maintenance door checklist from Garage Door Care (perform in the corresponding order).

Monthly Visual Inspection

Stand inside the garage with the garage door closed. Look over the garage door springs, cables, rollers, pulleys and mounting hardware, such as hinges, for signs of wear or damage. Look for cable wear or fraying. Is the mounting hardware becoming loose? If something doesn’t look quite right – or doesn’t sound quite right – it could be the symptom of a more serious issue. Have the garage door system inspected by a trained service technician.

Monthly Door Balance Test

If your door is equipped with an automatic opener system: close the door and disconnect the automatic opener. Once you are able to lift the door manually: Lift the door. It should lift smoothly with little resistance and should remain fully open. If it is difficult to open or does not remain open, the door may be out of balance and should be serviced by a trained service technician.

Monthly Reversing Mechanism Test

(if your door is equipped with an automatic opener system) With the door fully open, lay a piece of wood such as a section of a 2 x 4 on the floor in the center of the garage door opening where the door would touch the floor. Push your garage door opener’s transmitter or wall button to close the door. When the door strikes the wood, the door should automatically reverse. If the door does not automatically reverse, the door should be serviced by a trained service technician.

Monthly Photo Eye Test

(if your door is equipped with an automatic opener system) With the door fully open, push your garage door opener’s transmitter or wall button to close the door. Wave a long object, such as a broomstick, in front of one of the door’s photo eyes so it “breaks the beam.” The door should reverse.

If it does not reverse and reopen, pull the broomstick out of the path of the closing door. Close the door. With the door in the closed position, clean the photo eyes with a soft, dry cloth. Gently adjust the photo eyes by hand if they appear to be out of alignment. Open the door and repeat the photo eye test. If the door does not reverse and reopen, the door should be serviced by a trained service technician.

Monthly Force Settting Test

(if your door is equipped with an automatic opener system) With the door fully open, push your garage door opener’s transmitter or wall button to close the door. As the door is closing, hold up the bottom of the door with your hands outstretched and stiff. If the door does not easily reverse and continues to close, pull your hands away immediately. The closing force is excessive and the door should be serviced by a trained service technician.

Semi-Annual Lubrication

Apply a small amount of spray lubricant to the door’s hinges, rollers, and tracks.

Learn more about garage door repair.

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