How Often Should Garage Doors Be Serviced And Why

It doesn’t matter if your garage door is residential or commercial, one day, something may go wrong, and it might break. To avoid this hassle, you should regularly have your garage door serviced. As you read ahead, you’ll start understanding what you can do on your own to keep your garage door in working order, how often you should do it, and when you’ll likely have to contact a garage door specialist.

The reason you have a garage door is to protect your home, your car, and other property. Regular inspection and service will help ensure that it is safe and secure. By performing regular service, you can prevent all sorts of minor garage door malfunctions and, in some cases, even stop a garage door catastrophe from happening.  

Commercial garage doors are used much more often than residential ones and tend to be more expensive because they are usually made to withstand constant use. Because of this higher usage, we recommend that commercial garage doors receive regular maintenance several times a year. 

Residential Garage Doors are smaller, less durable, and are not meant to go up and down constantly. Most garage doors put on homes are meant only to go up and down two to four times per day. For this reason, your door should only need servicing and maintenance once or twice yearly. Keeping a regular servicing schedule is very important because if your door fails, it could leave your home, car, property, and, most importantly, your family at risk. 

Regular garage door service allows you to identify potential breakdowns and prevent them as early as possible. Visual inspections and simple tests are things that you can do on your own. Check for obvious things like abnormal sounds when opening and closing the garage door or broken glass if your garage door has windows.

Next, check the photo-eye sensor, which looks like a mini video camera that sits on both sides of the garage door frame about 6 inches from the ground. This sensor detects objects like cars, animals, or children in the path of the closing door and will immediately return the door to the open position if something is seen. To test it, place a box in the garage door's path and try to close it. If the closing door continues to close on top of the box, there is some kind of problem.

Follow that up with a check of the door alignment. The garage door should move evenly, meaning both sides of the door should be the same distance from the floor when it goes up and down. To check this, disconnect the garage door opener, then manually raise or lower the garage door. The door should move smoothly and evenly. Open the door to the halfway point and release it. You want the door to be able to say in place. If it doesn’t, there is a balancing issue, and a broken torsion spring might be the culprit.

Finally, lubricate all metal components of the garage door with a silicone or lithium lubricant, which will help prolong the life of all the parts and keep the garage door running smoothly. This includes the rollers, hinges, gears, and springs. Lubricate these parts a few times per year, especially in the winter. Do not lubricate plastic parts because this can damage them. If the lubricant gets on any plastic components, wipe them off.

A common question from homeowners is, “How often do garage doors need to be serviced?” It is generally recommended to service a garage door at least every 2,000 to 3,000 cycles. Each time you open and close your door represents one cycle. Since most people aren’t keeping an active tally of how many cycles they perform each year, we recommend having your garage door checked by a pro at least once, ideally twice, each year. 

Weather conditions can greatly impact the state of your garage door. If you live in a place with dramatic weather swings, you should have your garage door serviced three times per year. You need to inspect it before winter, which brings the onset of severe cold weather. The next inspection is recommended when it starts warming back up at the beginning of spring. An increase in moisture and humidity levels, along with changing temperatures, can cause parts of your garage door, like the springs and gears, to fail.

As we mentioned above, you can do several simple things as a homeowner to protect your garage door and prevent a breakdown.

Money: While repair comes with a price tag, there are many points of value that this price covers. For one, you are paying for their experience and expertise. You are also paying for their professional-grade tools and parts, which would be expensive to buy for yourself.

Safety: There are parts of your garage door that a homeowner must never repair because of the risk of severe injury or even death. Springs, tracks, and other parts fall into this category. To maintain safety standards, you should enlist the help of a professional garage door repair company.

At Door Gators, we have extensive experience in commercial and residential garage door maintenance services as well as new door installation. We provide a no-commitment consultation and can repair anything from the tiniest screw to the entire door and opener system. Our highly trained technicians can perform a comprehensive diagnostic of your garage doors and, if necessary, offer to repair or replace faulty parts. If you have a garage door emergency, we are ready at all hours to handle your needs. Contact us today to schedule your regular service or get a quick repair estimate.