Should You Lubricate Your Garage Door to Avoid Garage Door Repair?

During the winter time, the elements in your garage door expand and contract. As a result, your garage door needs to be lubricated and maintained. When your garage door is properly lubricated, it prevents grating which impedes your garage door from being damaged and needing garage door repair.

Although it is important to contact your garage door technician for major and minor repairs, there are some things you can do to maintain the health and function of your garage door. One of those things is lubricating your garage door. When you lubricate your garage door, you reduce the friction of moving parts. It also ensures that your garage door is working properly and is quieter.

How Often Should the Garage Door Be Lubricated to Avoid Garage Door Repair?

It is important to lubricate your garage door regularly. You should lubricate your garage door every three months. This includes lubricating the springs, hinges, and rollers of the door. You should lubricate the track once a year.

What to Do Before Lubrication

There are a few tasks to do before lubricating the components in your garage door. First, you want to make sure all the nuts and bolts are tightened. They shouldn’t be too tight, though. If you see any worn parts, replace them. Check out the rollers. Rollers usually break down over time as a result of their unsealed bearings collecting dirt. As they break down, they will start to make noise due to wobbling on the track. Next, you want to look at the hinges. You will notice that the hinges are worn because they will be noisy and the door will bind different sections as it is opening. You also want to tighten the chain of the garage door opener. If the chain is too loose, it will make slapping noises, and the door will jerk. Now, that you have done these things, you can start to lubricate your garage door.

How to Lubricate the Garage Door Components

When it comes to the tracks, lubricating them once a year is just one part of maintaining them. You also want to wipe them down every few months so that there is less dirt buildup. Dirt buildup can cause malfunction, which may result in the garage door not working properly.

The torsion springs lift the garage door. The more you open and close the garage door, the less lubrication there is. This may cause squeaks and squeals every time you open the garage door. You want to add just enough lubricant for the springs to move easily. However, you don’t want to add so much that residue is dripping on the floor.

Although these springs require regular lubrication, these springs are under a lot of tension and can be a safety issue. Perhaps it may be wise to have a garage door technician lubricate the springs instead.

Depending on what kind of hinges you have on the door panels determine if they should be lubricated or not. Plastic hinges do not require lubrication. You can damage them if you lubricate them, and you will have to replace them. If you have steel hinges, you need to lubricate them in the location where they open and close.

The rollers are responsible for the door coming up and down. You should take extra care with rollers with nylon wheels. You don’t want to lubricate the nylon wheels, just the bearings. If your rollers are made completely of metal, you can be a little bit more liberal with the lubricant. However, you don’t want to overdo it as the residue can drip onto your car.

If you find the lock on your garage door hard to open, spray some lubricant. You may also need to do so if your key is sticking in the lock. It is not necessary to do this often.

What Is the Right Lubricant?

Not only do you have to know how often to lubricate your garage door components, but you also want to choose the right lubricant to do so. Some people may think to use WD-40 since it helps parts made of metal move smoothly. However, it is not a lubricant. It is actually a degreaser. Instead, you want to use a silicone spray. You can also use lithium spray so that the components in your door move smoothly. Aerosols are very useful in lubricating spaces that are hard to reach.

The Wrap Up

It is important to lubricate your garage door regularly to avoid major issues. For the most part, you can lubricate metal components in the door. However, you may want to leave the lubrication of the torsion springs to the professionals. Also, if upon inspection you find any major or minor issues that need to be repaired, contact a garage door technician.