How Frequently Should My Garage Door be Serviced?

To keep your garage door in tip-top condition you need to keep it well maintained and ensure that it’s serviced on a regular basis. An annual garage door service serves to prevent future issues from cropping up and typically consists of preventative maintenance such as lubricating moving parts, checking that any bolts and screws are properly tightened, and checking and adjusting the door spring tension if necessary. Generally, your garage door should be serviced once a year providing no additional issues arise. Much like anything that requires servicing, your garage door might work fine without its annual check-up but this doesn’t mean that it should be skipped.

Semi-Annual Check-Ups

In addition to annually servicing your garage door, it’s also worth carrying out your own simple visual checks in Spring and Fall to help spot any potential problems with your garage door before they become bigger issues. These checks only take a few minutes and don’t require any specialized skills or knowledge.  Visual garage door checks include watching to see if the door operates smoothly without binding or jerking motions and listening for any strange or unusual noises.  Do a visual inspection of the lift cables on each end of the door to be sure they are not fraying or corroding.  Be especially sure to open the door and look for corrosion on the bottom loops of the cables (where they attach to the door) as in snowy climates snow-melt from vehicles tends to be very corrosive and is the cause of most cable failures. Also check to make sure that any screws or nuts on the hinges aren’t visibly loose. Visual checks could also include more obvious things like checking for cracks in glass or any tears in perimeter seals. Conducting simple visual checks can help you catch any garage door issues before they develop into bigger, and costlier problems.

Advanced Checks

While still relatively simple, these tests could prove to be quite useful to garage door service technicians when diagnosing and repairing any issues with your garage door.

Safety sensors can be checked by simply placing a long solid object 1-1/2” thick under the garage door as it or closes. If it reverses, then the safety sensor is working fine, however, if it closes onto the object you are using to test it with, then that’s a sign that the garage door poses a serious safety hazard and should be adjusted by a qualified garage door technician.

Checking the garage door operation is slightly more complicated, but still perfectly doable by most. This is done by disconnecting your garage door from its opener by pulling the emergency release rope and opening and closing the garage door by hand. If it operates with little to no resistance, then everything’s fine.  If it sticks or requires a significant amount of force to operate then calling a qualified garage door technician is highly recommended.  A balanced door should lift easily with one hand and stay open ½ way without pulling up or falling down on its own.

While these monthly checks are extremely beneficial to your garage door’s overall health, there’s simply no substitute for getting your garage door serviced properly by qualified garage door experts. At the Door House we’ve been installing, repairing, and servicing garage doors for over 25 years, and are dedicated to meeting and exceeding customer expectations. Contact us today to schedule your next garage door service.