Summer care and maintenance tips for your garage door

Garage doors are not exactly the sexiest part of a house but they are one of the most important and most used. They open and close multiple times nearly every day of the year and that kind of activity demands regular maintenance. Ideally, you should have a professional company like D Bar Garage Doors inspect your door a minimum of twice a year to ensure proper function and security, and avoid potential damage.

Between professional visits, there are a number of things you can do to keep yourself familiar with your garage door’s performance and keep it in top shape. Now that summer is here, plan a regular door check-up, starting with the basics:

Is everything still in place?

Right off the bat, check for loose nuts and bolts. All that opening and closing will cause hardware to loosen; tighten anything loose that you find.

In addition, double check the door’s balance. The door system looks simple enough but there is a method to everything involved. Open the door a few feet and stop it. If it doesn’t stay there, you likely have a problem with the door’s balance.

Summertime maintenance tips

You already have a long chore list but adding this one goes a long way in preventing a far more serious and expensive problem in the future. To keep your garage door humming along, make these steps part of your summer routine.

  • Clean it. Keeping your door clean inside and out is easy to do and make a huge difference in the door’s lifespan. Just soap and water usually does the trick.
  • Does your door have rust? Get it off of there and apply an applicable primer to keep it from coming back.
  • Lube! Aside from driving right through it, there’s nothing worse for a garage door than desert-dry moving parts. Apply a silicone lubricant on everything that moves.
  • If yours is a painted door and it is showing signs of wear or paint is peeling or chipping, it’s time to redo it. Sand off the old, add primer, and put on a fresh coat.
  • Clean the photo eyes. Dirty photo eyes are a big contributor to poor door function. Keep them clean with a soft cloth, then test the door by waving a stick or similar in front of the eyes to be sure the door stops.

For more summer garage door maintenance and care tips, contact the experts at D Bar at (503) 553-9933