Your garage door is the single largest and most-utilised movable part of your house. On average, they complete about 3 to 5 cycles, 1500 times a year. Since most parts are mechanical, it stands to reason that these parts would wear down with time and that the door itself would require regular maintenance to stay in optimal form. Most homeowners neglect this crucial necessity and end up having to pay a large amount of money to fix the door later on. This demonstrates that as a homeowner, garage door servicing should be of utmost priority for you.
Contents
Why Does My Garage Door Need Servicing?
For all its prosaism, garage doors are one of the most impactful parts of your home. There are so many reasons why having a functional one is in your best interest. The matter of convenience is one; most people do not even notice the point of routine service until the door stops working. A secure garage door also keeps you and your vehicle safe from burglars.
Garage doors have a lot of axles, wheels, rotors and high-tension wires. Ensuring that all these parts are functioning properly lessens the risk of injury within the home.
How Often Do I Need To Service My Garage Door?
Casting aside regular and NECESSARY routine maintenance, you need to service your st Louis garage door services at least once a year – you should service your door more than that if it undergoes more than 2000 cycles on average per year. Routine maintenance includes simple things like oiling the rollers and hinges, clearing debris from the tracks, tightening loose nuts, and monitoring for visible problems. Annual servicing by a technician would include:
- Inspection of all the mechanical parts
Garage doors consist of many movable parts; axles, rollers, hinges, pulleys, and much more. All of these work in tandem to perform two simple functions: the opening and closing of the door. When even just one of these parts fails to do its job, it strains the other parts and causes the door to act up. Inspection during checkup would enable the technicians to restore parts that are wearing out to their optimal state, lengthening the life of the garage door.
- Tightening loose parts
It stands to reason that after continued use of the door, the screws and bolts and nuts would not be as tight as they originally were. The last thing anyone would want is to have the parts finally give out on a random day; preemptive measures to re-tighten them during maintenance are in order.
- Replacing worn-out parts
Not all parts of a door would remain salvageable after a year. Some parts of the door would need to be replaced with new, functional parts.
- Lubrication
Machine work output is dependent on efficiency, and efficiency is reduced by friction. Oiling the doors after an inspection increases the efficiency at which it works, and prevents the door from wearing down easily.
- Testing electrical connections
Most garage doors are electrically or remotely controlled and have no manual way to open. Ensuring that these connections are working properly prevents the door from getting stuck later on.
Other things done on the door include checking the photo sensors, aligning the tracks, and checking the high-tension wires for faults.
N.B. The annual check-up is more or less a standard guide to garage door maintenance. Immediately one notices undesirable signs of fault from the door, a technician should be called immediately to find and fix the problem. You do not have to wait for the annual checkup to keep your door in prime condition.
Signs That Your Garage Door Is Due for Servicing
There are telltale signs any observant homeowner can pick up that alert to potential defects within a garage door’s construction. A few of these include:
- A garage door that refuses to close
- Grinding or creaking noises during operation
- Broken glass around the doors
- Response to unauthorized manipulation
- Bent tracks
- Damaged rollers, etc.
Routine maintenance is necessary for every homeowner but it is important to know the limits to your ability, so as to prevent injury from parts of the garage door that requires a skilled labourer. If your garage door needs servicing, make sure you contact a specialist, such as Chase Garage Doors, the leading providers of Garage Doors Walsall.