Tips to Extend the Life of Your Garage Door
Yes, you can! You CAN extend the life cycle of your San Pedro, CA garage door. How? We are about to tell you. First of all, know that there is no “one size fits all” set of standards for garage doors. Each one is different in its own way. From garage door brands to installation methods and consumer use, each garage door goes through its life cycle in a unique way. Some doors are used quite a lot and others very little. Some garage doors are well maintained, and others, not so much. It’s up to you to follow our advice and treat your garage door like the valued appliance that it is. With proper care and maintenance your residential or commercial garage door can last longer and work better.
What are the numbers?
People love statistics, so here are a few. The average garage door will last about 30 years or so. Torsion springs tend to last for about 20,000 cycles while their extension spring counterparts make it about half of that. Garage door opener units, on average, last about 10 to 15 years with regular, daily use. Why are we telling you all this? Because San Pedro Garage Door Repair wants you to know that these numbers can be extended with a small bit of care and maintenance.
What maintenance does for your garage door
It might seem obvious but a little bit of regular maintenance goes a long way in keeping your garage door working right and looking its best. Poor or no upkeep can make your garage door look worn and work sporadically. It can even lower your property values! Here’s an example. Let’s say that you put your home up for sale. The realtor comes over to make the listing and to take pictures. One problem though - the poorly maintained garage door. Even from the street, you can tell that the home’s occupants didn’t spend the care or money on their garage door. It is missing panels and badly needs a paint job. It even hangs a little tilted to one side. Buyers will notice this and correctly conclude that poor maintenance was involved. They won’t want to pay asking price for a property like this! When the home is appraised, the numbers will be lower due to the state of the garage door. Poor maintenance also sends a message to people that “where there is smoke, there is fire” and most likely there are other parts of the house that need work, too.
Your garage door is an appliance
Yes, your garage door is an appliance, just like your water heater or washing machine. You clean and maintain those items so why not your garage door? If your San Pedro, CA garage door faces south, why not have it insulated to reduce the heat transfer into your garage? Hot summers and cold winters do much to provide wear and tear on your garage door and its parts. Who knows? Maybe later you’ll want to make your garage into a game room, office or extra bedroom for guests and having an already thermally insulated space with a high PR value and steel skinning can put you that much farther ahead.
Cleaning your garage door
You clean your refrigerator (at least we hope you do!) so why not clean your garage door? Sure, you don’t store food on your garage door but you do pass through it several times a week and others see it from the outside on a continuing basis. We recommend that you don’t wait until your garage door is so dirty that the clean-up job becomes a major task. You might have dirt, mud, bird droppings, spray paint and other things on the outside of your garage door while inside you might find spider webs, leaves and dead insects galore.
Just use water and a gentle detergent to clean the inside and outside of your garage door. If you want to better protect your garage door during cold weather, you can apply car wax to your dry, steel or aluminum garage door. If your door is made of wood; paint it. Wood composite doors obviously just need periodic cleaning.
Safety sensor cleaning
Be careful with these; they do an important job! Your photo electric safety eyes need to be clean in order to work right. If the lenses are dirty the beam may not transmit and your garage door won’t work. Also, a buildup of spider webs, leaves and dead insects can block your sensor beam, as well. Clean with a dry, soft cloth and keep your safety sensors unblocked, and always aligned correctly for maximum benefit.
Lube job
While it’s not like changing your car’s oil, lubricating your garage door is just about as important! Our San Pedro Garage Door Repair experts recommend that you lubricate your springs, hinges and rollers on a regular basis. Use a light spray lubricant and do this roughly every 3 or 4 months if you use your garage door every day. Just be sure to lightly spray as overdoing this can result in a messy clean up job that you don’t need!
Other maintenance tips
Make your rounds and inspect your garage door every so often for loosened bolts, frayed wires, missing parts or anything else that looks or seems out of place. While you are at it, try handles and check for looseness. Look at springs, cables, pulleys and hinges and see if all looks normal. You don’t have to go over everything with a fine tooth comb; just give it a monthly or so inspection to see if anything looks or acts out of place. We also recommend a yearly garage door check-up from a licensed, full service San Pedro, CA garage door repair shop. This is an affordable “insurance policy” that can provide valuable information regarding the operational status of your home or business garage door as well as peace of mind for you as you know that you have a safely working door that is reliable and always dependable when you need it to be.