A garage door maintenance checklist does not need special tools. You need a rag, a socket wrench, a can of garage door lubricant and a piece of scrap wood. In New England the best times are late October, before the cold, and April, after the salt.
1. Watch and listen
Run the door up and down once and just observe. It should move smoothly, without jerks, and both sides should rise together. Note any new sounds. Our guide to noisy garage door causes explains what grinding, squealing and popping each mean.
2. Look over the hardware
With the door closed, check these from the floor. Do not touch anything on the spring shaft.
- Springs. Look for rust, stretched sections or a gap in the coil.
- Cables. Look for loose strands and rust, mainly in the bottom six inches.
- Rollers. Look for cracks, chips, flat spots and wobble.
- Hinges and brackets. Look for cracks and missing bolts.
- Tracks. Look for dents, and for brackets pulling away from the wall.
3. Tighten what is safe to tighten
A door vibrates every time it moves, and bolts work loose. Snug up the hinge bolts and the track bracket bolts with a socket wrench. Do not overtighten. Leave the bottom brackets alone, along with the cable drums and anything painted red. Those are under spring tension.
4. Lubricate the moving parts
Use a spray made for garage doors, such as a silicone or lithium-based lubricant. Apply a small amount to the hinge pivots, the roller bearings and stems, the bearing plates at each end of the shaft, and along the top of the torsion spring coils. Wipe off the excess.
Do not grease the tracks. Rollers should roll in the track, not slide, and grease there collects grit. Wipe the tracks clean with a rag instead. Nylon rollers without exposed bearings need no lubricant on the wheel.
5. Test the door balance
This is the most useful test on the list. With the door closed, pull the red emergency release. Lift the door by hand to about waist height and let go carefully.
- If it stays put, the springs are doing their job.
- If it sinks, the springs are weak or worn.
- If it shoots up, the springs are wound too tight.
A door that fails this test makes the opener do the lifting, and openers do not last long that way. Balance is set at the springs, which is a job for garage door spring repair, not a home adjustment. If your spring has already gone, read what to do when a spring breaks.
6. Test the safety reverse
Reconnect the opener. Lay a piece of two-by-four flat on the floor in the door's path and close the door. It should touch the wood and reverse straight away. Then close the door again and wave a broom through the sensor beam near the floor. The door should stop and go back up.
If either test fails, stop using the opener until it is fixed. See why a garage door won't close for sensor checks, or our garage door opener repair page.
7. Check the seals
Look at the rubber seal along the bottom and the weatherstripping down the sides and across the top. Cracked, flattened or torn seals let in wind, water, snow and mice. On a bright day, stand inside with the lights off. Daylight under the door means the seal is worn or the floor has moved.
8. Clean the door and the threshold
Wash the door with mild soap and water once or twice a year, and rinse the bottom section well in spring. Road salt left on steel causes the rust that ends a door's life. Sweep and rinse the floor along the threshold, where salt collects against the cables and brackets. Touch up chips in the paint before they rust.
Seasonal notes for Attleboro homes
Fall
Lubricate before the first freeze, check the bottom seal, and look hard at the springs and cables. Parts that are close to failing tend to go in the first cold snap. More in winter garage door problems in Attleboro.
Spring
Wash off the salt, inspect the bottom brackets and cables for rust, and check that frost has not shifted the tracks or the slab.
What to leave to a technician
Anything that holds spring tension. That means the springs and their cones, the cables, the drums, the bottom brackets and the centre bearing plate. Add to that any track that is bent, and any door that is crooked or off its rollers. Frayed cables call for garage door cable repair, and cracked or seized rollers for garage door roller repair.
If your check turns up something on that list, call Johnny Garage Door Service at (508) 709-6644. We have 30 years in business and cover Attleboro and the nearby Massachusetts towns. See everything we handle on our Attleboro garage door repair page.