Your garage door is an important part of your daily life. It offers seamless access to your home, provides security and heightens curb appeal. One of the best ways to extend the life of your garage door is to lubricate it regularly.
If you haven’t lubricated your garage door in some time, you’ll likely start noticing squeaks and groans when it opens or shuts. Keeping elements like the rollers, pins and bearings lubricated will extend their life span and help your door move quietly.
Follow these comprehensive instructions to learn how to lubricate your garage door.
Garage door lubrication is simple and doesn’t take long to complete. However, the benefits can make an incredible difference, empowering your door to open quietly and protecting its moving parts from excess friction.
To get started, gather the following tools:
When you’re selecting a lubricant, stay away from WD-40 and oil-based treatments.
It’s important to choose a lubricant can with a straw so you can easily treat the tiny spaces around your garage door’s pivot points. When you spray the lubricant, it may splash back a little, which is why safety glasses are a must.
It’s essential to disconnect the power for your garage door before you start working on it. If someone in another location uses a controller to open or close the door, they could catch your fingers in the door or create another safety hazard.
The most significant safety hazard on a garage door is the powerful torsion spring that carries the weight of the door when it opens or shuts. Lubricating the spring shouldn’t be dangerous as long as you don’t try to remove it from the door. Garage door springs are extremely powerful and can cause serious harm if you’re not trained on how to remove them.
Once you’ve disconnected the door and donned safety glasses, take the lubricant in hand and treat each pivot point on the door. Key parts to lubricate include:
When you lubricate the hinges, rollers and bearings, spray enough lubricant that you can see it. Treat both sides of the rollers and any places where metal is rubbing against metal. You can wipe away excess lubricant as you go.
To clean the vertical tracks on your garage door, there’s no need to use lubricant. Simply wipe them down with a clean rag to remove any dust or dirt.
When you lubricate the overhead track and the torsion spring, don’t worry about lubricating the entire exterior. Just spray an adequate amount of lubricant on top and leave it. When you open and close the door, the spray will spread through the spring and allow the door to open more smoothly along the overhead track.
There’s no need to overdo it with lubricant on your garage door. If you can see the lubricant coming out of the can when you spray, and there’s a little you have to wipe away, you’re using enough.
After you finish lubricating the door, you can manually open and close it a few times to spread the lubricant into the pivot points. Another option is to hook it back up to power immediately and use your controller to run the door up and down.
If your door is still squeaking and groaning after you’ve lubricated it and run the door several times, there could be a problem with alignment or your torsion spring. Try lubricating again in a few days. If you’re still experiencing trouble, call a professional to look over your door.
It’s a good plan to lubricate your garage door at least every six months. If you can lubricate it every three, that’s even better. While lubricating your garage door this often isn’t required, it helps keep everything running smoothly and quietly.
Households who don’t use their garage door frequently may not need to lubricate it as often. However, it’s still a good idea to schedule maintenance for your garage door — that way, you can be sure it will open and close when you need it to. You can ask your garage door specialists to lubricate your door as part of regular maintenance.
For busy families, lubricating your garage door may not feel like a priority. However, there are many benefits to lubricating your garage door regularly. Here are just a few:
By taking care of your garage door today, you’re investing in its future. Maintenance is more affordable and less of a hassle than replacing your garage door or its various parts. By scheduling regular maintenance, you can extend your garage door’s functional life span for very little trouble.
If you already have a long to-do list or would rather spend time with family, no worries — there are many professional services that can lubricate and service your garage door at an affordable price.
If your garage doors are ready for a tune-up, reach out to King Door Company. We’ve served families and businesses in Kern County for over 40 years. Our business is marked by quality, innovative products and trustworthy service.
Our clients love working with us because we put their needs first. We offer same-day service so you can have issues with your garage door opening and closing fixed quickly.
All of our technicians go through extensive training so they can offer the best service in the area. We’re intentional about every hire, building a team of reliable, capable professionals who take pride in their work and treat your family like their own.
Caring for your garage door has never been so convenient. Reach out to King Door Company today for a quote!