Garage Door Maintenance: Keep Your Door Running Smoothly

Regular maintenance of your garage doors can keep them operating properly for years after installation or after you purchase your home. Many simpler maintenance tasks are well within your grasp if you have a basic toolkit and ladder at home.

Keeping up with seasonal garage door maintenance and regular inspections can help to avoid the cost of a full replacement, which generally cost between $750 and $6,325. If you’re looking for maintenance tips or service quotes from professionals, Garage.com has you covered

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Garage Door Maintenance Essentials

Certain garage door tune-ups and maintenance tasks, like spring replacement and full track replacements, should always be handled by a professional. That said, there are plenty of items on this list that you can handle with your home toolkit:

  • Visual Inspection Guidelines: Routine inspections each year can help you to spot issues like misaligned tracks, weakened springs and rust buildup.
  • Lubrication Fundamentals: Applying lithium grease to tracks and rollers can repel water and keep your garage door rust-free for years.
  • Hardware Tightening Basics: Chain and garage door tightening can keep your opening mechanism from straining or damaging your door or tracks. 
  • Balance Testing: Regularly having your garage door’s weight distribution checked will help ensure that your springs don’t wear quickly or snap unexpectedly.
  • Obstacle Detection Testing: Some door systems come with built-in obstacle detection features; routine garage door safety checks are a vital part of DIY maintenance. 
  • Weather Seal Checks: Testing the bottoms and sides of your doors for drafts or water leaks can keep your garage and possessions free from damage and away from the elements.
  • Remote Testing Protocol: Fully testing your open, close and reverse features are an easy DIY garage door maintenance task.
  • Seasonal Maintenance: This is a catch-all for DIY maintenance which includes cleaning all components, lubricating tracks and checking your weather stripping before and after winter.

You can check out our expert’s guide to DIY garage door repair for more advice on maintaining and servicing your garage door.

Garage Door Lubrication Guide

Proper garage door lubrication can repel water and some debris. This can prevent rust build-up on the tracks, roller damage and strain to your overall system. While this is a relatively simple DIY task, there are many components in your garage door system that require cleaning and lubrication, including the springs, belt drive and rollers.

garage repair service provider repairing a garage door track
new garage door opening

Garage Door Weather Seal Maintenance

Functional PVC weather stripping on the sides and bottom of your doors is a vital component in garage door winterization. If you have HVAC components in your garage, these affordable components can conserve energy and prevent interior damage.

Expert Advice >>>Garage Door Seals

Garage Door Spring & Hardware Maintenance

Beyond routine inspections, any work or maintenance on garage door springs is best left to professionals. If you’re in the market for garage door spring replacement, we’ve got plenty of recommendations for qualified technicians near you. We’ve broken down the types of spring maintenance here:

  • Spring Inspection Safety
  • Hardware Tightening Guide
  • Bracket & Fastener Checks
  • Cable Inspection Tips
  • Roller Maintenance
  • Professional Spring Service
Garage service worker repairing garage door track and springs
garage door opening, view from outside after garage door opener repair

Garage Door Opener Maintenance

Beyond simple balance checks, garage door opener inspections include remote battery replacements, chain maintenance and more. We recommend getting a quote from a qualified pro for full garage opener replacements, but you can handle some of the other smaller maintenance tasks on your own:

>>Expert Advice: Find The Best Garage Door Openers

Common Questions About Garage Door Maintenance

Garage door tune-ups include a surprising number of components for many homeowners. We’ve answered a few common maintenance questions here.:

We recommend lubricating your garage door’s moving parts every six months. If you live by a shoreline, or in an area with more extreme weather patterns, you may want to do this every three or four months.

This entirely depends on the type of maintenance being performed. You can handle routine inspections, cleaning, lubrication and minor track repairs on your own. We recommend that you outsource any chain, spring or electrical repairs to a licensed professional.

Precision Garage Door lists the cost of typical maintenance or repairs between $100 and $300, depending on the type of repair required.

Professional tune-ups and preventative garage door maintenance include lubrication and cleaning, balance inspection, opener inspections, weather strip checks and tightening of all hardware. Tune-up packages can vary depending on the repair companies operating near you.

Garage door inspections and routine tune-ups most often take between one and two hours. The exact time will depend on the size, condition and accessibility of your doors.

Tips and Expert Advice for Your Garage

Stay informed with expert advice on garage door maintenance, garage door service, garage door replacement, and upgrades. Explore our blog for guides, troubleshooting tips, and more.

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