In this blog entry, the professional Charleston garage installation service and Charleston garage repair service team here at A1 Garage Door Charleston will detail the best maintenance tactics to implement to keep your garage door adequately prepared for the Autumn and Winter season.
Visually Inspect Your Garage Door
Visually inspect your garage door for signs of peeling, fading, cracking, dents, gouges, scratches, and other structural / cosmetic issues that can allow moisture to enter the garage door. If heat and sun has lightened your garage door during the past Summer, refinish it. Check to see if rain has caused your wooden garage door to contract or expand, which can negatively affect your gaarage’s insulation value as well as its security.
Garage Door Sensor Inspection
High temperatures often cause garage sensors to experience issues and malfunctions. Test your automatic garage door’s opener safety features, like auto-reverse functions. Check that your photoelectric infrared safety beam system is properly working as well, triggering a motion reversal when the beam is broken by an obstruction.
Weather Stripping Inspection
Ensure that garage weather stripping on the tops and sides of your garage door is not ripped or torn. Additionally inspect the astragal stripping at the bottom of the garage door. When your garage door is closed, look for gaps in weather stripping on the bottom, slides, or top of the garage door – and keep in mind that weather stripping should always be flexible, rather than stiff, which can happen when it is exposed to very hot or very cold weather for a long time.
Garage Door Balance Testing
If your garage door is not balanced, your automatic garage door opener will have to work and strain much harder, which can cause expensive repair issues down the line. Test your garage door balance by pulling the release handle or cord on the automatic garage door opener, and manually lifting the garage door until it is halfway open. Then let go of the garage door – if it stays in the same place, it is properly balanced – if it isn’t you will need to get a professional to help replace your garage springs.