winter garage door maintenance
Garage Door Maintenance

Winter Garage Door Maintenance Tips

Have you ever had a garage door that stopped working in the winter months? As temperatures drop, your garage door becomes vulnerable to the harsh winter elements. You want to follow the right winter garage door maintenance measures to ensure that you don’t get left out in the cold.

Keeping your garage door in good condition matters all year, but you especially have to watch it in the winter months.

#1: Clean the Tracks, Rollers and Door

The winter season requires proper cleaning of the tracks, rollers and door. Dirt and grime accumulate as you use the garage door. When the winter season rolls around, the dirt attract moisture, which can cause it to freeze.

As the moisture freezes into the dirt and grime, it can cause your garage door to stick. The garage door may freeze altogether making it impossible to open.

#2: Tighten up the Hardware

Homeowners open their garage door an average of 1,460 times each year. After a while, the components in the garage door wear and loosen.

Not tightening the parts from time to time, you may lose essential components or nuts and bolts holding it together. You can use a socket wrench to tighten up the bolts and brackets.

However, don’t mess with anything related to the spring. The spring has a lot of pent up energy, and you don’t want this breaking on you. Call a professional if you want to do anything with the spring.

#3: Lubricate the Metal Parts

Cold weather can cause the tracks, rollers, springs and hinges to stick. An oil-based lubricant evenly spread over all the working parts lowers the risk that it will stick.

Wipe away excess lubricant. On average, you want to lubricate the garage door every three months. You may want to seek a lubricant that does well in the colder climates for good winter garage door maintenance.

#4: Wipe Down the Weatherstripping

You use the garage door each day, which subjects it to wear and tear. The weatherstrip even freezes to the pavement in some cases if it has begun to crack.

The other risk of no winter garage door maintenance comes from when you don’t fix the weatherstrip. It can unleash a breeze of cool air and moisture into the garage. Cracked weatherstripping requires immediate fixing.

You want to inspect the weatherstripping twice a year. Once before winter and once before the summer season picks up. Look for tears, loose pieces or leaks.

#5: Organize the Garage

Before winter arrives, you may want to take the time to organize your garage. After the snow falls, movement can be tricky in the snow.

Having a cluttered garage can make reaching for the snow shovel, snow blower or winter tools more difficult.

Put them in an easy-to-access location near the front of the garage. You can install shelving and hooks so that it doesn’t interfere with anything.

#6: Check the Cables

Especially with the winter months, fraying becomes a special cause for concern in the bitter cold. The cables can suffer further damage that makes them brittle in the cold.

Never mess with the cables yourself. They have a lot of pressure behind them, which can be dangerous if they break. Call in a professional if you spot any fraying or signs for concern but don’t mess with the cables.

#7: Understanding the Winter and Your Keypad

The winter season drains your external keypad’s battery faster because of how cold temperatures cause a slower chemical reaction.

If you don’t replace the keypad battery, you could find yourself stuck out in the cold weather. A keypad that looks like it has begun to suffer the effects of wear and tear may benefit from replacement.

The winter months have a reputation for being hard on garage door keypads. To learn more, read the article we recently published on the subject “7 Tips for Fixing Garage Door Keypad Issues“.

#8: Test the Balance of Your Garage Door

One of the great winter garage door maintenance tips, you want to inspect the balance of your garage door from time to time. An imbalanced garage door must work harder, which means that you’d have to replace it sooner.

To test the balance, pull the release handle to disconnect the opener. As you move the door halfway up, if it doesn’t stay in place, this indicates a balance problem.

Don’t try to fix this yourself. It requires an expert’s understanding to do it correctly. Contact a garage door professional like Pros Garage Door if this happens.

#9: Listen and Watch

Ideally, you want to eliminate a problem before it has the chance to materialize. Look and listen to the door. Does it make screeching noises or jerky movements?

That could mean that you have a problem with the internal mechanics of the garage door. Screeching noises indicate that you need to apply more lubricant.

Winter garage door maintenance matters because a broken down garage can make you late for work, an appointment or any number of things.

Through proper garage door maintenance, you lower the risk that your garage door will have a breakdown. Many people like to do this before the winter season kicks off, but you can get started any time.

The key to proper maintenance is through being observant and staying on top of things. Good winter garage door maintenance makes your garage door last longer.

It costs anywhere from $800 to $1,500 to install a new garage door, so you want it to last as long as possible.

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