An expert guide to maintaining your garage door

Over time grease and grit build up in your garage door's moving parts and form an abrasive sludge. If left alone, this sludge eats away at your door's rollers. Thankfully, cleaning and oiling your garage door's moving parts can clear out this sludge. Here's an expert guide to doing so.

When your garage door won't open smoothly it usually means one of these four factors is to blame.

1. Hardware

• Have the bolts or screws on the rollers worked loose?
• This could cause the door to get stuck or to wobble in its track.

2. Rollers

• Have the rollers left the overhead track?
• The track may be bent.

3. Lubrication

• Are the hinges, rollers or other moving parts of your garage door corroded?
• Try oiling them lightly.

4. Springs

• Have your garage door's springs lost tension?
• If so, get your door professionally serviced.

• Spray solvent
• Cloth
• Machine oil or powdered graphite
• Petroleum-based lubricant

• For a garage door to run smoothly, the tracks have to be clean and clear.
• To do this, simply dissolve the grease and dirt inside the tracks with a spray solvent then wipe the grime away with a cloth.

• Next, lubricate all of your door's moving parts with light machine oil or powdered graphite.
• Your lubricant should be applied to metal axles, door-roller bearings and the pivot points and seams of all hinges and pulleys.
• If sticking or squeaks persist, replace the problematic parts.

• Finally, oil the extension springs to prevent rust and squeaks.
• A time-tested way to do this is to first close your garage door to stretch the springs.
• Then spray each spring with an even coat of petroleum-based lubricant.
• To finish, open and close your garage door a few times to help distribute the lubricant.

• Once or twice a year, switch your garage door into manual mode and open and close it slowly by hand.
• If there are any emerging problems – if the springs are losing their tension or the rollers aren't running smoothly in their tracks – you'll feel it then.

Keep this expert guide in mind when you're maintaining your garage, and you'll be sure to keep grease and grit from destroying your garage door.