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Your garage door is probably the part of your home that experiences the most wear and tear, given that it is the largest and heaviest movable part of your house. It is also used many times in a day throughout the year in all weather conditions. To ensure that your garage door operates efficiently and safely, www.homediy.ca advises that you carry out these DIY maintenance tips at least once a year.
To ensure your safety while working on the door, it is advisable for you to unplug the automatic door opener. This will prevent it from being automatically activated. If you are working on a door that uses rollers, clamp locking pliers on the roller track when you are working on the door if it is open. In addition, when the door spring is under tension, never ever remove a lift cable as it can cut you like a knife.
If there is a task that is too challenging for you to do on your own, you are better off leaving it to a professional. This is so that you do not expose yourself to unnecessary danger. Before you start the garage door inspection, remove any vehicles that may be in the garage, so that you can easily access all parts of the door.
- Check all the nuts and bolts. Since the door is movable, it is highly likely that some bolts or roller brackets may have come loose. Tighten any loose bolts and replace any rusted or worn out nuts and bolts.
- Investigate any whirring grinding or scraping sounds from the garage door since they indicate that there is a problem somewhere. Check the motor, sliding mechanisms and gears to see if there is anything wrong with them.
- Lubricate the moving parts. If the door uses a chain drive system, the chain should be greased. This is to make it easy for the garage door to slide open and shut without making loud noises. Other areas you need to oil include rollers, tracks, springs, hinges. Use white lithium grease or household oil or spray silicone. If the garage door has metallic bearings that are unsealed, use an old toothbrush to brush around the bearings and dislodge any loose grease clamps.
- If you have kids or pets, you may want to improve the safety of the door, so that it does not close when a kid or pet is passing under it. You can do this by installing optic sensors. The optic sensors will cause the garage door to reverse its action when movement is spotted under the door.
- Test the balance of the door. You can do this by disconnecting the automatic opener release. This will enable you to operate the door mechanically. When you lift the door, it should open smoothly without any resistance and stay open about four feet above the ground. If it doesn’t do this, then it means that it is out of balance. Call a professional to adjust it.
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