Garage Door Maintenance & Tune-Ups

What Our Garage Door Tune-Up Includes

Every tune-up covers:

• A balance test with the opener disconnected: the door should hold about halfway and move with light effort.
• Spring inspection for gaps, rust and signs of wear, plus a check that the springs are the right size for the door.
• Cable inspection along the full length, especially at the bottom brackets and where the cable meets the drum.
• Roller condition and bearing play, and hinges checked for cracks around the screws.
• Track alignment, bolt tightness and ceiling hanger security.
• Bearing plates and center bearing checked for noise and play.
• Lubrication of springs, bearings, hinges and rollers with the right product. WD-40 is a solvent and strips off what should be there.
• Opener force and travel limits, chain or belt tension, and drive gear condition.
• Safety sensor alignment and a hands-on reversal test.
• Side, top and bottom seal condition.

How Often to Service Your Garage Door

Once a year suits most households. Doors that get heavy use, with two or three drivers or the garage as the main entrance, do better with twice a year, because springs and cables wear with use, not with the calendar.

Homes near the coast also have salt air working on the hardware, which is reason enough to have it checked on the shorter schedule.

A Garage Door Safety Test You Can Do at Home

Lay a solid, flat object on the floor in the door's path (a piece of 2x4 works) and close the door onto it. The door must reverse when it touches it. Then wave something through the photo-eye beam while the door is closing. It must reverse then, too.

Both are required safety features, both are easy to check, and a surprising number of doors fail one of them. If yours does, stop using the opener and call us. We'll adjust the force settings or sensors, and we can do a full tune-up on the same visit.