Garage Door Maintenance

Garage door maintenance is an important part of owning a garage door a bit like owning a car. A door needs regular maintenance to keep the door running efficiently and smoothly.

The maintenance that is required is usually very simple. For any mechanical door whether it be a one-piece door such as a canopy door retractable door or sectional door “if it moves oil it.” The only exceptions are if the door is automated or the door is a roller door, modern operators work on a belt drive system and require no maintenance at all. In fact, oiling the belt will bring you nothing but problems! The belt can slip and change the open and close preset values in the operating settings.

Things such as the door not closing fully or trying to open too far can directly result from oiling the belt drive!

If you are the proud owner of an order garage door motor with a chain drive this type of motor may be lubricated as you would with a bicycle chain.

Roller doors generally require no oil but certain rollers such as single-skin roller doors do require a dry silicone Lubricant in the tracking system.

The main parts to lubricate

Torsion springs
Tension springs
Cables
Pivot points
Hinges
Rollers
Torsion spring tube support brackets
tracks

Ninety percent of garage door issues arise from a lack of maintenance! And as we live in a coastal area maintenance is vital and becomes all the more important! As we all know the wind on the west coast predominantly blows from the sea and travels inland.

All manufacturers have clauses within their warranty conditions for alkaline solutions and they say that salt air travels as far as 2 miles inland. Salt is not good for any garage door or bare metal parts associated with your garage door. And measures need to be taken to prolong the life of your door. Unfortunately because of the salt air maintenance does not end at just lubricating the door periodically!

The outside face of the door also needs to be maintained, the salt that is carried in the air will undoubtedly deposit on the face of the garage door. You’ll notice white deposits on your garage door. similar to winter driving conditions when the roads are gritted and you can see the salt on your car.

These deposits have a detrimental effect on the surface finish of your garage door. And will start to potentially rust the door prematurely. The easiest solution to this problem if you have a window cleaner is to add the garage door to the window cleaners job. This way you know the door is being washed frequently. Or if you wash your car on your driveway wash the door at the same time. Car products should be perfectly fine to use on a garage door.

spay oil is the easiest of all methods of maintaining your garage door. simply spay any of the moving parts.

Springs
rollers
cables
hinges
wheels
tracks

The beauty of the spay oil is that it lands on everything helping to prevent rust on any of the steel lifting gear.

The gold old-fashioned oil can is probably the best method of lubricating a garage door. But unfortunately the most messy!

Make sure to wipe off any excess oil so as not to get any on the driveway or the face of the garage door. best used on.

all mechanical doors but not roller doors.

Springs
rollers
cables
hinges
wheels
tracks

Silicone spray is an excellent dry lubricant for garage doors. but offers little protection against salt air corrosion. the primary uses for silicone are.

non-insulated roller door tracks
bottom latches that are close to the floor and may pick up unwanted debris.

Springs
rollers
cables
hinges
wheels
tracks

Grease should never be used in the maintenance of a garage door.

The reasons for this are.

grease does not penetrate areas that need lubricating instead it sits on the surface and prevents correct future maintenance.
grease thickens over time and becomes sticky causing the door to become stiff.
grease collects debris and acts as a grinding paste wearing out parts of the door prematurely.