Garage Door Lubrication

The garage door is probably one part of your house that experiences maximum wear tear. It needs regular preventive care and maintenance for smooth operation and lasting performance. A neglected garage door with failing health can pose a tremendous safety and security risk to your family, particularly your kids. 

Garage door lubrication is one part of that preventive maintenance. Garage door has many inter-connected metal components, that support its heavy weight and make it run efficiently. With regular usage and exposure to strong weather elements, wear and tear to these part is a common occurrence. And a noisy garage door is a warning sign that you need to pay attention.

While squeaking and grinding noises can also be a sign of some other underlying problem, most of the times oiling the parts with a relevant lubricant does the trick and put a stop to all the racket. Yes, don’t have to live with a noisy garage door. Keeping garage door parts greased is important for quieter operation as well as high performing garage door.

Lubricating your garage door is one part of the maintenance that you can safely do on your own.

Right Lubrication for the Garage Door

Before you start:

• Move your vehicles and other stored items away from the site.
• Deactivate your automatic garage door opener
• Inform your family that you are going to be in the garage.

First, clean the garage door surface with a mild detergent and wipe off any visible grime using a sponge. Move onto other parts such as nuts, bolts, springs, rollers, rails, hinges, pivot points and don’t forget the locks.

Tips to garage door lubrication

• Don’t use WD-40 lubricant. Instead go for a silicone spray or white lithium grease to lubricate the moving parts of the garage door.
• Lubricate the hinges, springs and bearings. For more details, refer to the garage door owner’s manual.
• Lubricate the metal rollers but only enough so that excess oil doesn’t drip. Be careful with nylon rollers. Make sure you only lubricate the bearings without getting any oil on the nylon rollers.
• Lubricate only steel hinges and not the plastic ones.
• To lubricate the metal springs evenly, spray down the springs and close and open the garage door a number of times. You don’t want extra lubricant dripping out. You don’t need to oil powder coated garage door springs.
• Parts like garage door opener, motor, track and bottom parts of chain rails should not be greased. You can lubricate the top of the chain rail, however.
• Don't oil the roller tracks to prevent the door to slip and become unbalanced. Ensure that the tracks are clean by wiping the dirt and grime using a soft cloth and brake cleaner. Use a dry cloth to soak the superfluous moisture.
• Open and close the garage door a couple of times once you have lubricated all the relevant parts. It allows for even distribution and also makes sure the garage door is working smoothly and without bothersome noise.