How Often Should Your Garage Door Be Serviced?

To keep your garage door functioning properly, you need to perform regular maintenance calls. How often these need to be done will depend on a variety of factors, such as the type of garage door, its usage, and the current condition of the garage door. 

In general, it’s often recommended that homeowners should call reputable garage door installers in Arlington Heights and Mundelein at least once to twice a year to inspect and service their garage doors. Suppose you can keep track of the opening and closing cycle of your garage door; it’s recommended that garage doors be serviced at least every 3,000 cycles. This could take a couple of months for some homeowners and years for some users.

Regular service of your garage door will ensure that the door works efficiently and effectively every time. There are many reasons why you should maintain the integrity of your garage door, and we’ll discuss them in this post. Additionally, we will also enlighten you about the warning signs that indicate when to get professional help to service your garage door.

Reasons Why It’s Important To Regularly Service Your Garage Door

Safety

Typically, a garage door can weigh anyway between 100 pounds to over 400 pounds; this means it can cause serious harm if handled inappropriately or maintained poorly. After consistent usage of a garage door, the bolts, springs, and pulleys can wear out and weaken. This makes the overall support system of the garage door unreliable, and this could lead to serious injury in the event that someone or a vehicle gets caught in between the closing doors. If you don’t want to put yourself and your family at such risk, be sure to service your garage door regularly.

Increases lifespan

A garage door’s lifespan varies between 10 to 15 years, but it can increase or decrease depending on its usage and maintenance practice. If you service your garage door regularly, the door could last up to 20 or 30 years. 

On the other hand, if you don’t regularly service your garage door, the metal parts will begin to rust and corrode, which will eventually shorten its lifespan considerably. 

Saves money

Routine maintenance of your garage door will help you detect impending damages early, which will cost less to fix. When minor issues are left unchecked, you’ll end up paying more to repair or replace the garage door when it completely breaks down.

Signs That Indicate When Your Garage Door Should Be Serviced

Strange Noises

Hearing strange noises from your garage door is one of the most common reasons to call your local garage door company for inspections. The sound can be caused by many things, and oftentimes, the type of sound it produces can be a pointer to the source of the noise. For instance, if you hear a squeaky sound, it means the hinges need to be lubricated. Clicking sounds mean that there’s a problem with the garage door tracks. If you hear a grinding sound, the noise is coming from the motor. 

If your garage door sounds like it’s rattling when you open or close it, there could be a loose piece of hardware that needs to be tightened up. This is often due to weather, age, and wear. If it’s been raining for a long time, moisture can accumulate on the hardware causing it to loosen up over time. 

Whichever sound you hear, make sure to call an expert to check and fix the problem properly.

Difficult to Use

If your garage door is getting harder to use every time you go through it, this could be an indication that something needs professional attention. If it takes more than one attempt to get your garage door to open and close smoothly, the mechanism of the garage door could be at fault. 

Broken Panels

The most obvious sign that your garage door needs to be serviced is if you see dents, rust, or cracks in the panels. Metal panels are more likely to rust than wood, so if you see rust on the panels, call on your garage door experts to help remedy the problem. On the other hand, when a wooden garage door panel cracks, you might need to replace the damaged wooden panel. 

If you notice any of these signs on your garage door, then it’s best to hire a professional garage door servicing provider. These experts can help with all kinds of repairs or maintenance issues.