This page contains answers to garage door related FAQs that our professionals provided. Check them out to learn how to keep your garage door in excellent condition.
Include your garage door in your spring cleaning routine
Your garage door can get just as dirty as the rest of your home. When you decide to do some spring cleaning, don't neglect this trusty system. Wipe the panels down with a piece of dry cloth and consider repainting it with a protective coat. While you're at it, give the different mechanical parts a look to make sure they're all in great shape. You can also lubricate the rollers and the hinges, as well as the torsion springs, to improve the performance of the door.
Check garage door hinges for rust
We hardly give much attention to our garage door hinges but it is important to remember that it's your hinges which keep sectional doors together. We recommend checking them frequently for rust and checking and tightening them on a fairly regular basis. Lubrication can also help to keep rust at bay.
Detecting worn out pulleys
Worn out pulleys are some of the most common garage door repair problems we encounter. They usually manifest at first as a difficulty in opening and closing the door. To check if your door has pulley problems, check for wobbly movement - if the wobble is only minimal, it's unlikely they're struggling too much.
Should I lubricate my garage door?
According to our experts in North Hollywood, homeowners should take great care while lubricating garage door parts. First, never use a WD-40 to do this. Instead, a light lithium or silicone-based spray is the recommended lubricant to use. Not every part of the door should be lubricated. Only the metal rollers, hinges, and torsion springs. You can also apply some of this substance to the opener's main drive gear, as long as it's not made of plastic.
Do extension springs always come in pairs?
Yes. Since they are responsible for counterbalancing the door's weight, one unit is installed on the left side of the door and the second one is installed on the right side. This way, they keep the door balanced as it goes up and down, and support its weight evenly. When one unit breaks, both should be replaced, as the second one can't be too far behind.
Which type of garage door springs are better, torsion or extension?
Better is not exactly a qualifying term, as the two types are often used for different situations. But in terms of durability and longevity, the torsion spring takes the cake. Not only is it more flexible and capable of withstanding more wear and tear, due to the way it works, it is also considered safer, as it is far less likely to whip around when it breaks.