Do Garage Doors Need Preventive Maintenance?

Preventive Maintenance for Garage Doors

If you’ve wondered, “do garage doors need preventive maintenance,” this is the article for you. Garage doors serve as one of the primary entry and exit points to any American home. These doors provide security, convenience and protection to your family, belongings, and home. Garage doors need to be well-maintained and its components in top shape for it to stay effective and safe to use.  They also keep your vehicles, family, and home warm and protected.

Lack of its maintenance and regular inspections leads to inconveniences in life and can become expensive if ignored for too long. Taking preventative measures help homeowners avoid troubling and dangerous issues. This article will delve into why preventative maintenance for garage doors is crucial, its benefits, and signs to look out for during inspections. 

Why Preventative Maintenance for Garage Doors

Typically, garage door professionals recommend having your door checked out at least once a year. With their multiple moving parts, garage doors are prone to breaking down and malfunctioning. Garage door professionals will inspect several features and capabilities of your garage door, as well as replace and make repairs to any necessary areas of the door. Though you cannot do difficult repairs to your garage door in between these checks, preventative maintenance can ensure a lower bill and maintain your home and family’s safety by solving potential issues before they arise. 

These doors are composed of numerous complex components including springs, cables, sensors, tracks, roller, the door itself, and any software and hardware incorporated into it. Over time and use, wear and tear will occur and lead to potential safety hazards and malfunctions. Preventative maintenance can uphold safety conditions, reduce costs of repair, and increase the door’s overall life expectancy. By taking proactive measures, you can prevent and address issues before they escalate. 

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Benefits of Preventative Maintenance 

From saving money to reduce its noise, regular preventative garage door maintenance has many benefits. Maintenance prevents significant repairs by detecting and solving minor problems before they become severely damaging. 

It maximizes the garage door’s life expectancy and appeal. On average, a garage door lasts a minimum of fifteen years. With preventative maintenance, it can last significantly longer and look aesthetically pleasing during those years. 

Taking preventative measures also ensures everyone’s safety by avoiding potential causes of injury and enhances security through maintained functionality. If all components and software work efficiently and as designed, the garage door will improve the home’s safety and security. 

Signs of Garage Door Disrepair: What to Look For

Regular visual inspections are the basis of preventative maintenance for garage doors. Homeowners need to visually assess all components of the garage door system for signs of wear, rust, or damage and have a few tools to fix minor damage and rust. 

As a homeowner, you should pay attention and be vigilant to the following conditions of deterioration:

• Debris Buildup occurs overtime on your garage door, its tracks and photo eye sensors. The accumulation of dirt impacts the door’s function and can degrade the overall aesthetic of a property. 
• Parts Maintenance is pertinent because every time the door moves, its parts lose lubrication and become loose. Check and make sure these parts remain tight to prolong use. 
• Strange, loud noises like rattling, grinding, and shaking that differ from normal operating sounds can indicate an issue with your garage door and should be investigated to avoid potential serious injury.
• Operation Anomalies like sluggish responses or track derailing, can indicate an immediate issue that will significantly deteriorate the door if unfixed. 

Other signs of disrepair can appear as the door not opening or closing, an off-balance garage door, slower door response time, and if the door comes off its roller tracks. 

For example, a malfunctioning door can cause the door to work improperly and can cause the door to slam unexpectedly, resulting in injuries to people, damages or items in the area. Specifically, an off-balance garage door means the springs don’t have enough torsion tension to counterbalance the door’s weight or the springs exert too much pressure. Continuing to use an off-balance garage door will drastically shorten its life and can cause serious injury or death. 

Another example, a misaligned roller track increases strain on its motor and other components, which will cause more extensive damage over each use. The roller tracks of your garage door are the two metal structures on both sides of the door. It guides the door to open and close at a touch of a button. When misaligned, the 100 – 300 pound door could fall off or crash down randomly, endangering all around it. 

During visual inspections, homeowners should ensure they have a lubricant for rollers, hinges, tracks, and springs to prevent wear from friction, enabling a smooth operation. They should also tighten hardware (nuts, bolts, and screws) and test modern safety features like the auto-reverse mechanism. These procedures will help maintain the door’s function until the annual inspection or when a professional inspection is needed. 

Lastly, when dealing with dirt and debris, cleaning and waxing the interior and exterior of your garage door twice a year should suffice for maintenance.

CONCLUSION: Do Garage Doors Need Preventative Maintenance?

Preventative Maintenance for garage doors is not required, but is highly recommended for its ability to extend the door’s lifespan, save money, and maintain a safe environment for your home. Garage doors provide security, convenience, and aesthetic value as integral parts of our homes. A well-maintained garage door will operate smoothly and quietly with little to no noise disruptions. Neglecting its maintenance promotes safety hazards, costly repairs, and general inconvenience with unreliability.  While investing care into its maintenance will undoubtedly ensure the door’s reliability, longevity, and your peace of mind. 

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In closing, whenever you see your garage door and question, “do garage doors need preventative maintenance” remember that though the doors do not require preventative maintenance, maintaining the quality and functionality of your door and its parts will save more time and money.