Your garage door is a key security feature and entrance to your property so needs maintenance. Routine inspections and maintenance can and should be completed by the homeowner.

The mechanism that operates your garage door needs to be visually inspected every couple of months. With the garage door closed check the hinges, springs, cables, rollers and pulleys. If the cables are frayed or anything looks out of place then it would need to be inspected by a trained technician. It’s also important to keep the rollers, hinges, latches and roller tracks lubricated. Spraying with a penetrating solvent such as WD40, wipe clean and then a light 3-in-1 oil should be applied. 

At least once a year, cleaning your door will eliminate the build-up of any dirt and grime. The front of the door should be thoroughly cleaned with a sponge and soapy water, before rinsing with clean water.

When a garage door is used regularly, and the owner does not carry out regular maintenance, the lifting and weight-bearing parts, the door can become damaged.  This damage can cost a significant amount to repair and mean that your garage is out of action whilst you await an engineer.

To prolong the life of an up and over garage door, the owner needs to undertake essential regular maintenance.  This can include using grease and oil on the levers and bolt, ensuring dust and debris are removed from the moving parts and cleaning the door of grime. These small steps can help avoid a hefty bill for replacement parts.

Of course, things can go wrong with the garage door that requires a repair, including rusted nuts and bolts, levers become slightly bent, or wires could snap. Regular maintenance of these areas can, of course, help to identify issues before it becomes a major repair.

Over time it is inevitable that your garage door paint will start to fade and chip. When this happens it if very important that you freshen it up with new paint to keep the material below from rusting or degrading. When choosing the paint to use on your garage door, it is not advised to choose just any old outdoor paint, but a paint or enamel that is specifically designed for garage doors. Garage doors are exposed to the elements and have to endure heavy usage.

Best Recognised Garage Door Paints

1. Rust-Oleum Universal Paint is a paint and primer all in one and is ideal for wood and galvanised or ferrous metal.

2. International 10 Year Enamel is a long-lasting and less expensive option that is formulated for metal garage doors.

3. Hammerite Garage Door Paint is another excellent option designed for metal or wood garage doors.

There are of course other options out there but these three are some of the best in the UK and highly recommended for when it is time for your to give your garage door a refresh.

If your electric garage door is beginning to play up, you may want to get it checked over before it becomes a big issue. Electric garage doors certainly do require servicing over years, even when they don’t have any obvious issues. A regular service will help to reduce the risk of faults occurring throughout the year.

Faults with garage doors could be due to an electrical issue within the doors sensor or remote system, but it could also have mechanical faults too. Mechanical faults can include faulty springs, worn runners, or alignment of the tracks. There may be dirt and debris build up over time that can also reduce the correct functioning of the garage door.

Hiring a professional to take a look at your garage door may save you a great deal of money in the long term, as they will be able to spot a potential problem before it occurs, reducing the cost of repair considerably.

The unfortunate news with certain types of Garage Door paints is the tendency to degrade over a long period of time, meaning that the cost of maintenance increases. he manufacturer’s standard garage door paint will eventually, after some time, peel off and chip off due to constant exposure to the elements, making it a hassle for home owners to continue to repaint it each year.

Typically this occurs on mainly steel garage doors and if the paint hasn’t been applied in the appropriate fashion then this can also peel off. Even worse results would be seen if the wrong type of paint was used to cover a garage door. Unlike the typical wooden garage doors, steel doors do not have the typical porous surface that readily absorbs paint. Steel is a non-porous material that does not absorb paint like wood does and it will need to be lightly roughened in order to make microscopic grooves to which the paint adheres.