Introduction

This article covers winter garage door maintenance tips. Your garage door will need special attention to keep it running effectively during winter, just like an automobile. When you let temperatures drop below freezing and snow falls on top of already accumulated piles of salt and sand, your system can be susceptible to damage and wear. Cold weather is hard on the mechanics of your garage door, and often, wear and tear can lead to premature failure of these components. 

Garage doors must withstand a lot of wear and tear to function appropriately, so it’s essential to perform necessary garage door maintenance during winter.

Three properly sealed garage doors

Top 10 Tips For Garage Door Maintenance During Winter

Ready to get your garage door ready for spring? It is an excellent time to perform garage door maintenance during winter. Here are some tips for garage door maintenance during winter to keep it running smoothly:

Look and Listen

Your garage door must be inspected at least once a year and ideally should be serviced twice: once during your spring maintenance and again during the fall before winter sets in. Check for loose or damaged hardware, dents, worn seals, and rust. If you see any of these issues, call a professional to fix them immediately.

Tighten up the Hardware

A garage door should never sag or drag on its tracks when opened or closed. The track where your door glides along should be kept free of debris by vacuuming or sweeping it regularly. In addition, check for loose screws that hold the tracks together and tighten them as needed. If you use automatic opener controls on your garage door, ensure they are working properly by testing them out before heading out for vacation this summer; you don’t want your garage left open all night!

If it looks risky, it is risky so ensure that you get a professional at garageservicepros to come out and fix the issue for you.

Test the Garage Door Balance

The next step in garage door maintenance during winter is to test the garage balance. The garage door balance is the mechanism that keeps it balanced so it opens and closes easily. If your garage door is difficult to open or close, you may need to adjust the balance.

To test the balance:

• Use a level to check if the door is level when closed.
• If the door is not level, adjust it by turning screws on each end of the track until it’s level. You can also adjust the springs that raise and lower your door.
• If you are unsure how to adjust these parts, contact a professional for help.

Inspect and Replace the Rollers

Rollers are crucial to ensuring your garage door opens and closes smoothly.

Check them regularly to ensure no wear and tear and again replace any damaged or worn out. Also, provide enough lubricant to move easily along their tracks.

Replace the Weather stripping

The weather stripping on your garage door should be replaced every two years, and it should be replaced immediately if you notice that it is starting to wear down or fall apart. This will help prevent any unwanted cold or rain from entering your garage. You can buy replacement weather stripping at your local hardware store or order online from Amazon at a very low price.

We see this weather stripping in Australian market but if you are unsure you can always get a professional at garage service pros to install weather stripping.

Lubricate the Moving Parts

Your garage door can start to squeak and stick if it hasn’t been lubricated recently. You may notice this after opening and closing your garage door several times a row, especially during colder months when the weather gets colder and condensation forms on metal parts inside the track system of a two-car garage door opener installation cost. A good lubricant can help prevent this from happening so often by keeping everything moving smoothly throughout its lifespan.

Check the Cables

The cables are the lifeline of your garage door. They can get damaged if the door is opened and closed too often or if they are exposed to extreme weather conditions. If you have an older model, there is a chance that the cables have been worn out by now. To check whether they need replacing, lift one side of the door and let go. If it doesn’t fall immediately, then it’s okay. However, if it falls easily, you should take action and replace them before something goes wrong.

Test the Auto-Reverse Garage Safety Features

These days, almost all garage doors come with auto-reverse safety features that stop them from closing if anything gets in their way while closing down. This ensures that nothing gets crushed by your garage door when it closes down on its own accord in case something comes in between it while closing down. However, this feature also has limitations and can be easily disabled by anyone who wants to do so. Therefore, ensure this feature is working correctly and test it once every few months to keep yourself safe from any potential accidents caused by malfunctioning automatic safety features.

Clear the Tracks

The next step in garage door maintenance during winter is to clean the tracks. The efficient way to do this is with a high-pressure hose and a spray nozzle that can reach down the track. Spray one side of the track, turn off the hose and wipe it down with a wet rag or sponge. Repeat on the other side of the track until both sides are clean. The tightness of your tracks will determine how often you need to do this — if they’re loose, you’ll want to clean them more often than if they’re tight.

Groom Your Garage Door

If you use your garage door frequently, debris can get stuck between two track sections and cause damage over time. To prevent this from happening, use a wire brush on each section of the track and a vacuum cleaner attachment on each roller several times yearly, at least every six months.

Why You Should Ensure Garage Door Maintenance During Winter?

Improving your garage door is an excellent way to increase your garage doors life span. Garage door maintenance has the following benefits:

Increasing the Life Span of Your Garage Door

One of the main reasons why you should prepare your garage door for winter is to increase its lifespan. This will ensure that your garage door stays longer and will not need to be replaced anytime soon. You must perform routine maintenance on your garage door, so it does not get damaged easily or break down prematurely. You should also take good care of it to last longer than expected.

Improve Your Home’s Energy Efficiency

A lot of cold or heat is produced through garage due to floors and no proper insulation, this results in more heat usage during winter weather in the garage.

The goal of improving your homes energy efficiency is to cut down on the amount of heat loss and reduce energy bills. A well-maintained garage door will help improve your home’s energy efficiency by preventing heat loss through cracks and crevices in the frame, seals, and weatherstripping. This will translate into less money spent on heating bills throughout winter.

Protect Your Pipes

One of the most significant advantages of preparing your garage door for winter is protecting your pipes from freezing temperatures. When water freezes into a pipe, it expands and creates cracks that allow air in, which causes more water to freeze. This cycle continues until the pipe breaks or bursts.

If you stay in an area where temperatures drop below freezing during winter months, it’s best to drain all pipes before they freeze entirely. You can do this by slightly opening faucets and letting them run for 15-20 seconds. Any remaining water should be flushed out with boiling water poured down the drains. You can also remove faucets from walls with pliers and pour boiling water down them too.

It ensures items are stored safely

The last thing you may want to find is that your belongings have been damaged or ruined due to the weather. Enhancing garage door maintenance during winter will help prevent any damage from being done to them.

It reduces energy costs

It can get expensive quickly if you don’t prepare properly when keeping your home warm during the colder months. Ensuring that your garage door is insulated and sealed up properly with insulation will help prevent any energy loss so that you don’t have to spend extra money on heating bills throughout the year.

Who Can Help With Winterizing Your Garage Door

You can ensure your home is more comfortable by winterizing your garage door. Winterizing means sealing your garage door from the cold weather and wind that can cause damage to the structure itself.

Winterizing your garage door means covering it with a tarp or plastic sheeting and enhancing garage door maintenance during winter. The sheeting should be placed over the top of the door, covering the entire surface. The sheeting should extend past the sides of the door by at least six inches to ensure that all parts are covered. This will protect your garage door from moisture, snow, ice, and other elements that could cause damage to its structure during winter.

It would help if you cover any windows in your garage with curtains or shades, so they are blocked from any drafts coming in through them. You may also want to consider installing storm windows on these openings and adding insulation around them so that they do not get too cold in winter and become damaged easily by extreme temperatures outside.

Suppose you have an automatic opener on your garage door. In that case, you may also want to consider disconnecting this device during colder seasons since it has been known to fail due to extreme temperatures affecting its mechanics and causing damage to its motor if left running constantly.

Most Common Winter Garage Door Maintenance Problems

Winter is coming in Europe and United States, and you must prepare your garage door for the season. If you don’t, the cold and snow will cause damage to your garage door, which can be expensive to fix. Here are a few common winter garage door problems and how to avoid them:

Metal Contracts

If you stay in a cold climate, your garage door is probably made of metal. This material contracts when it gets cold and expands when it gets hot, which causes all sorts of problems around your home. When the weather gets colder, check to ensure that all your metal components are appropriately lubricated so they won’t crack or break due to expansion or contraction.

Frozen Door

Another common problem during winter months is a frozen garage door opener. Suppose you have an older model without anti-freeze technology and live in an area with temperatures below freezing for most of the year. In that case, you may want to consider replacing your opener with one that has this feature built in so this doesn’t often happen in the future.

Hardened Garage Door Maintenance Grease

A garage door is a crucial element of your home, and it’s essential to maintain it to ensure its long life. If your garage door isn’t working properly, it could have hard grease on the tracks. Grease hardens when exposed to cold temperatures and makes your garage door difficult to open and close. Cleaning off this grease will allow the door to roll smoothly again without sticking or causing damage to your garage door opener.

Worn Weather Stripping

Weather stripping on a garage door should be replaced every two years or after every other seasonal change. The weather stripping helps keep out cold air and provides insulation from heat loss in the winter months. If your existing foam weather stripping is cracked or damaged, replace it immediately with new foam weather stripping that has been treated with an adhesive backing so it will stick on properly without needing nails or screws.

How often do garage doors need maintenance?

Like most mechanical systems, garage doors routine maintenance is required for garage door to function properly. The frequency depends on your doors age and the amount of use it gets.

Newer doors may need less frequent attention, but older doors can get quite worn over time. For example, if your door was installed 10 years ago and you live in a place with high winds, you should probably expect to service it at least twice a year.

Inspections and adjustments should be made every 6 months at a minimum. If you’re using your garage door as an entrance or exit, you should also inspect it before each use.

Conclusion

You can prevent your door from flying off its tracks in numerous ways. Keep the mechanism lubricated, tighten or replace loose springs, ensure that the door closes slowly and gently, and follow any other maintenance tips for winter. Overall, Following these garage door maintenance during winter tips will ensure that your doors can stand up to the elements. They won’t rust, will stay clean, and will be durable through the winter.