Imagine being late for work and finding out that you can’t take your car out because your garage door has stuck. Needless to say such situations are extremely frustrating and there isn’t much you can do besides curing your luck and arriving late at your office. However, if you take proper care of your garage door, maintain it regularly and lubricate its hinges, you can prevent your door from ever being stuck.
The problem with most garage doors starts when they start to make loud noises and squeak as you open or close them. When you hear your door making such noises, it is clear that your door has to be greased with a lubricant.
Lubricating the garage door regularly can prolong its life and save it from any serious damage. In this article, we will discuss how to lubricate the garage door properly.
Before lubricating your garage door, it’s better to clean the tracks first, which are at the outer edges of your garage door. After that, you can follow the technique below to lubricate your garage door properly.
Use a Lithium-Based Lubricant
To lubricate the garage door properly, you must buy proper solutions to make the doors flexible again. Most homeowners use degreaser such as WD-40, which might not be the best option for lubricating garage doors.
Ideally, you should use lithium-based grease or a lubricant designed for garage doors. Besides that, you also avoid using oil on the hinges. The problem with oil and other options is that they are dense and they make buildup dirt and dust, which damage the door. Lithium-based grease is available in aerosol spray cans and is not dense enough to promote buildup.
Spray Lubricant on Garage Door Hinges
Once you have bought the right lubricant, open the garage door and spray it every hinge of the door. While you do this, you must lift the garage door manually and spray the hinges as they meet the bends of their tracks. Slowly lift your garage door up manually and spray lubricant on each hinge as it meets the bend of the track.
As a result, you will be able to lubricate the moving parts of the door and, thus, make the door’s movement much smother. However, you must apply at least one or two sprays on each of the hinges to lubricate it properly
Lubricate the Rollers
The rollers are components attached to the hinges of your garage doors. The lubricant spray will have a hose like attachment to lubricate difficult to reach parts of the garage door. You can use it to lubricate the small ball bearings, which are inside these rollers. With that said, you should avoid trying to lubricate nylon rollers.
Spray the Lubricant Beyond the Springs and Bearing Plates
The springs of the garage door are found at the top of the garage door and needs to be lubricated completely. Similarly, you also need to lubricate the bearing plates, which are the movable circular parts on both sides of the spring. Doing so will help you make your door move more efficiently.
However, you might need a stepladder top to reach that part of your garage door. Also, notice if the springs are making strange noise when you move the door. If it does, check how damaged it is and replace it if it is bent.
You can use the techniques below to lubricate the garage door properly. Please remember to wash your hands thoroughly if you come into contact with the product.
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