With the leaves turning and swirling in the wind – it’s clear that winter is just around the corner in Southwest Michigan. If you’re anything like us, you are clearing space in your garage so that your car will fit – because who wants to clean the snow off it every morning? With some garage door winter maintenance, your garage door will get through the cold months seamlessly.
- Lubricate Moving Parts: As the temperature changes so does the contraction on the moving metal pieces of your garage door. To prepare for winter, simply lubricate your garage doors rollers, hinges, and springs with a silicone-based garage door safe lubricant. This will help prevent the metal parts of your garage door from freezing or sticking. As a bonus, it will also keep your door working quieter and reduce wear and tear. Need help with that? No problem! We can have one of our five–star service techs out for a routine maintenance check.
- Inspect Weather Stripping and Seals: Do you see light or feel a breeze coming from your door? Yeah, that shouldn’t happen. Checking all your seals and changing old ones can help keep cold and moisture out while keeping your energy bill down. Prefer someone else to do it? No problem! Our service techs will have you energy efficient in no time.
- Clean Safety Sensors: While the leaves have been blowing around there is no doubt that some have made their way into your garage. An easy way to make sure the sensors can do their job is to clean all debris (leaves, grass, bugs, webs) around both. Ice and snow may build up during the winter so always keep a watchful eye on the sensors. It may seem obvious, but the amount of calls we get for this makes it worth an honorable mention.
- Replace Remote Batteries: Don’t get caught out in the cold with dead batteries! It’s always a good idea to replace them while doing your winter maintenance. If you want to go above and beyond, make sure your backup battery for the operator is in working order! Heavy snowfall can mean power outages and that battery backup will help keep your door moving through it all. Don’t have a backup battery? Let’s get you on the books before the weather gets worse.
- Clean and Clear Around the Door: Just like the sensors, the garage door often has debris clinging to it. Sometimes that debris is the culprit in the garage door refusing to shut. Grass and leaves can get caught on the bottom of the door and hang just low enough to make the sensors pop the door back open. To keep the door functioning properly and without frustration, always be sure to wipe down the entire door, tracks included, before temps drop.
Winter might be unpredictable — your garage door doesn’t have to be. A quick garage door tune-up can save you time and money in the future. Want to do it yourself? Visit our YouTube page for step-by-step DIY videos. Prefer to keep it to the pros? Schedule a winter tune-up with Fawley Overhead Door today and rest easy knowing your door will work perfectly, no matter how cold it gets.
