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Your garage doors are one of the most frequently used parts of your residential homes.
It is used on a daily basis and is open and closed for, more or less, a thousand times per year or even more.
From this alone, we can infer how much hard work our individual overhead garage doors do on a daily basis.
And on top of all that, we still expect it to keep our homes safe and protected from a lot of other different factors.
With all this being said, how are we supposed to keep our overhead garage doors functioning well and properly?
Well, if you really want to know, the best way we can do this is to properly take good care of our own garage doors.
But what does it mean when we say ‘take good care of our garage doors’?
Taking good care of your garage doors means that you do not take their welfare and condition for granted.
You make sure that you provide them with the necessary services that they need to keep them up and running.
These services include but are not limited to, repair and maintenance activities.
But what kind of activities should you include in our maintenance checklist in order to provide the best care for your overhead garage doors?
Well, let’s find out together.
Why is Garage Door Maintenance necessary?
Before we get into detail regarding the different activities that you should include in your garage door maintenance checklist, let us first start with answering the most basic question of all.
Why exactly is garage door maintenance necessary?
Proper garage door maintenance is necessary because it is during such an activity that we are able to find out and identify the different problems that your respective garage doors are having.
Because of this, we are able to act accordingly and properly address the problem at hand right away before it gets worst.
This is good as this means that you will not have to experience sudden breakdowns on days outside your scheduled maintenance activity.
Aside from that, this activity is important because it gives us the opportunity to clean our garage doors thoroughly and have its different moving parts lubricated as well.
And lastly, this activity is necessary as it allows us to prolong the expected life span of your overhead garage door just by simply having them maintained from time to time.
Imagine how much you can manage to save from not having to change your door’s different components on a more frequent basis.
Plus, what is there to lose?
If you do maintain your garage doors regularly, then you wouldn’t lose anything at all from doing so.
However, if you take your garage doors for granted, this can result in your doors’ different components wearing out a lot faster than they normally should.
What should you include in your maintenance activity?
When it comes to maintaining your overhead garage doors, there are two different options from which you can choose from.
You can either do the maintenance activity yourself or you can have it done by a trained professional near your area.
However, do note that of the two options that you have, the latter is the best recommended one.
This is to ensure your safety as handling your garage doors can be dangerous if you do not have much knowledge about it and to get things done right the first time.
If you insist on providing your garage doors with simple maintenance activities from time to time, then here are some things that you should definitely include in your garage door maintenance checklist.
Checking your garage door’s general condition
One of the most important things that should definitely be done during maintenance is checking the present condition of your garage doors.
By doing so, you are able to gauge exactly what could be done to improve its performance and efficiency.
Aside from that, this activity will also allow you to pinpoint the areas in which your overhead garage doors might be having trouble with.
When doing this step, make sure to thoroughly inspect your garage doors from top to bottom.
See if there are any parts or components that need to be replaced and also look out for those which are about to break.
You can start this activity by first inspecting your garage door panels for any signs of damage such as the formation of cracks and the like.
After doing so, you may proceed to the other parts of your garage doors such as the springs, cables, rollers, hinges, tracks, sensor, etc.
If there are any minor problems that are found during the inspection, you may try attempting to fix them yourself with the guide of any DIY tutorials that you can find online.
However, if the problem found is more complicated than it seems, then it is recommended that you seek assistance from a professional garage door repair company.
Checking your garage door’s balance
After seeing to it that your door’s parts are in perfect shape, you may now proceed to the next thing you should do – checking your garage door’s balance.
When we say check your door’s balance, we mean that you have its balance checked literally.
After all, your garage doors were made and designed to be balanced and symmetrical on both sides.
Garage doors were made symmetrical because this is the best way to distribute the load effectively to all its different parts and components without overloading any of them.
As such, if your garage doors start to appear unbalanced then this can only mean one thing – there must be something wrong with your garage doors.
To check on your door’s balance aside from simply eyeing it, you may try lifting your garage doors manually halfway through.
If your door’s balance is as good as you’d expect it to be, they should be able to hold their own weight just fine.
Lubricating your garage door’s moving parts
Another thing that you should definitely include in your checklist is having your door’s moving components lubricated.
This is, after all, one of the best ways of taking good care of your garage door’s moving parts.
Simply having your doors lubricated from time to time can bring you a lot of benefits and no harm at all.
It minimizes the stress being exposed on your door’s different parts and improves the overall performance of your respective garage doors.
Doing so can even extend the expected life span of your garage door’s different components.
Now, if you plan to have this activity done for your overhead garage doors, just make sure you get the right kind of oil for the job.
There are, after all, a lot of different kinds of lubricants that are available in the market such as oil-based lubricants, lithium-based lubricants, and silicone-based lubricants.
Keep in mind that there is no one type fit it all option if you want the best effect for your garage doors so make sure you get one that is compatible with it.
If you are not sure regarding which type you should get, then try asking for the professional opinion of a garage door technician near your area.
Checking your door’s safety features
Another thing you should consider doing for your garage doors is checking if their safety features are working just fine.
After all, your garage door’s safety features are there for a reason and if they are not working as they should, then it can potentially expose you and your family to some risks.
And this is why you should never skip checking the functionality of your garage door’s different safety features at hand.
Now depending on your garage door, the safety features that come with it might vary significantly so the first thing you should do is find out exactly what these features are.
You can do this by consulting the garage door repair company that managed the installation of your overhead doors.
Once you find out what these safety features are, make sure to test each one by one to confirm if it is still functional or not.
Testing your garage door’s basic functions
Last but not least, make sure to wrap things up by testing your door’s basic functions.
This is mostly done in order to make sure that everything is perfectly running and functioning well.
Doing this also makes sure that you did all the repairs and adjustments needed correctly as your door would not be working properly if that were not the case.
For these tasks, all you need to do is check the basic functions of your garage door one by one and making sure that all of them are operational.
Conclusion
Maintaining your garage doors is indeed necessary in order to keep them running well and efficiently.
Without proper garage door maintenance, you will never be able to tell right away what’s wrong with your doors before it gets worse.
Hopefully, with this short garage door maintenance checklist, we are able to help you out better perform maintenance activities on your overhead garage doors.
If you are in Austin and are looking for a garage door company near the area, then Austin Garage Door Services is the one you are searching for.
We provide all sorts of residential and commercial garage door repair services so whatever may be the problem with your garage doors, we surely will be able to fix it for you.
Know more about us and the different rates and services that we offer by giving us a call or visiting us at our main office located in Austin.
Our company will always be more than happy to help you out with your problems.
What are you waiting for?
Give us a call now and allow us to see how our company can be of service to you.
Choose Austin Garage Door Services now!
