Preventative Maintenance
How often do you change the oil in your vehicle? Did you know that your garage door would benefit from regular preventative maintenance, too? When you take a little time today, you can save yourself a potential headache and hefty bill tomorrow. It’s time to follow our preventative maintenance steps below.
A simple cleaning can prevent more issues than you think. So, start with a good cleaning of your whole garage. Power wash the exterior of your door, or use a hose with a mild soap to remove dirt and dust. Scrub the garage floor to get rid of any fluid, dirt from the road, or oil stains. You will want to tidy up the rest of your garage and check for any mold, bugs, and damage.
If your garage door sounds like it is having problems, it probably is. Thoroughly inspect the hardware of the door. This includes the springs, rollers, pulleys, cables, track, mounting hardware, and weather stripping. Regularly lubricating your garage door is one of the easiest ways to add years of use to your garage door. You should use low temp grease on the opener’s chain or screw, and a spray lubricant to coat the overhead springs, hinges, rollers, and tracks. You also want to check that your mounting hardware is tightly screwed in, and that your cables are not fraying. Do not try to adjust cables that lift your garage door; high-tension cables can severely harm anyone who improperly tampers with them. Leave this task to the professionals at Overhead Door of Omaha.
Don’t want to be purchasing a new opener every few years either, do you? Well, let’s test the door’s balance. Use the manual release on your door so that you are operating it rather than it being mechanically operated. Open and close your door several times. If the door is difficult to open, is not smooth to operate, or does not stay open during this test, your door may need servicing.
Last but not certainly not least, you probably don’t want to find your door closing on a toddler or pet. Perform a reversal test if your garage door has this feature. Place a block of wood flat on the ground in the center of the door. Press a button to close the door. Your door should immediately go into reverse once it hits the block of wood. If it does not, your door will need servicing.
It’s important to perform preventative maintenance at least once per year! Call us at Overhead Door of Omaha for professional advice, assistance, and service.
