How to Winterize your Garage Door!

Tis' the Season! For broken springs, worn operator gears or worse it's 7:30am you need to be at work by 8:00am and your garage door won't go up! As much as we would love to help everyone right away our office is swamped with service calls and when the weather really drops we will be lucky to get to you the next day! 

Here are some thing you can do to help lengthen the life of your door as well as prevent costly repairs:

The first line of defense is to lubricate the moving parts. As shown in the diagram to the right, apply a silicon based spray lube to all rollers and hinges. There are end hinges which hold the rollers in the track, as well as center hinges which pivot as the door moves.  Lubricate all pivot points. DO NOT lubricate the track itself.

While lubricating, you should also check the garage door hardware parts.  With repeated use, the hardware on the garage door will tend to loosen over time. If you notice any loose screws, bolts or nuts, tighten them so hardware parts won't fall out of adjustment.

Garage door springs should be coated about once every season.  Allow the oil to drip down and coat the cables on the side of the garage door.

There are two types of spring systems see below diagram to determine which system your door has.

Extension Spring

Torsion Spring

NOTE: springs are under very high tension due to the loads they must lift

and can be very dangerous.  Do not attempt to adjust spring tension yourself.

The extension spring system will run along the tracks of the door, torsion spring system will run above the actual door itself.  When lubricating the springs be sure to get a good amount on there but not so much that it drips off the spring, you don't want the oil to drip on your door when its open.

You also want to lubricate the Operator Rail, which is the bar that connects to your Operator hanging from the ceiling, again being careful with the amount so its lubricated well but not dripping.

We use SLIPIT Mechanic's Spray Lubricant with Silicone you can find it online or at your local hardware store. 

I hope you found this Blog helpful, please feel free to comment with any questions or any other topics you would have questions on.  As always call our office with any questions you may have at (309)691-8121.  Thanks and look for our next blog 'Things to look for if your door isn't working correctly'!