Is Your Noisy Garage Door Keeping You Up at Night

Door opener

If your bedroom is above your garage, then this will probably sound familiar. You’re sleeping peacefully late at night or early in the morning, when suddenly a loud racket wakes you from your slumber. As your eyes fly open and your heart races, you realize that it’s just the noise of the garage door as one of your family members is coming home or leaving. As you try to go back to sleep, you wonder, “Do I have to live with this? Is this really normal?”

Well, it’s not normal, and you really shouldn’t just “live with it.” Instead, follow these tips to diagnose this source of the noise and eliminate or significantly reduce it.

A Noisy Garage Door Opener

  • Is your garage door opener more than 20 years old? Older openers can be really loud and should be replaced.
  • An opener that pulls the door with a chain or a chain and a steel wire can also make a lot of noise.
  • The bolts that hold together garage door trolleys made of three pieces instead of a single piece can become loose and noisy.
  • Your best garage door opener buy:
    • Get a garage door opener with a metal-reinforced rubber belt – they’re quieter than the chain-driven options.
    • With a one-piece trolley, you won’t have to worry about bolts loosening and causing a lot of noise.

Loud Garage Door and Hardware

  • Non-insulated garage doors with steel exterior sides can be very noisy, as can doors that are only partially insulated.
  • Tracks that are bolted together can cause noise as their bolts come loose.
  • If your steel rollers are getting old and worn, and they’re sliding instead of rolling freely, they’ll be loud and squeaky.
  • Either a torsion or extension spring system can cause a lot of noise if it’s not acting as a good counterweight for the garage door.
  • The quietest garage door:
    • Sandwich-type doors have three layers. The insulated layer sandwiched between the two steel layers damps a lot of noise.
    • If a door’s hardware system has anchor plates that are welded to its tracks, the tracks will be stronger and quieter.
    • Steel rollers with a nylon covering and 11 ball bearings will roll instead of sliding and will make much less noise.
    • A torsion-type spring system – as opposed to an extension-type system – won’t transmit as much noise and will be safer and easier to use. Plus, if you keep it lubricated, the springs will be virtually silent.

An Echoing Garage

  • A concrete garage, especially one that’s located in the basement of your home, can amplify noise, as it basically acts as an echo chamber.
  • Hardwood floors in the room above the garage amplify noise more. To damp out the sound, add carpeting or rugs above the garage. If you have space in the garage, you can also insulate the ceiling with some semi-rigid mineral wool. If you still have trouble sleeping, you can make a house rule about hours when the garage shouldn’t be opened.
  • How your tracks are attached to the garage ceiling and the garage door opener can make it more or less noisy:
    • Noise isolators or pieces of semi-rigid rubber can be installed between the track anchors and the ceiling to damp noise.
    • The same trick can work for a wood garage, especially if the door opener is attached directly to a rafter

Regular Maintenance for a Quiet Garage Door

A system with all of the recommended features above will help you get a much better night’s sleep, even if someone is opening and shutting the garage door all night long. There’s one more essential thing to do to maintain that quiet garage door, though: twice annual inspection and maintenance. Do this and you’ll not only help keep your garage door quiet, but you’ll also help keep yourself and your family safe. After all, your garage door is the single largest moving part on your entire house.

What should be included in this twice yearly maintenance? In March and November every year, check off the items on this easy list:

  • Perform a thorough visual inspection of the door and hardware. Look for bolts that need tightening and other details that need attention.
  • Open and shut the garage door manually (if you have an opener, disconnect it by pulling down on the emergency cord first). This should be easy, and the door should feel like it weighs no more than 8-10 pounds (3.5 to 4.5 kilograms). If it feels heavy and/or uneven when you lift it, do not try to fix it yourself. Instead, to avoid injury or damage to your door, contact a quality garage door specialist immediately to fix the problem.
  • Apply a metal lubricant, like 10W30 motor oil, to all of the door’s metal components, and a silicone-based lubricant to any PVC parts, like the weatherstripping on the outside of the frame.

Don’t want to do all that on your own? Call the pros instead! We are happy to offer an affordable tune-up program for your garage door to keep it in great working order all year long.

Whether you’re in the market for a brand new garage door or garage door opener, or you want a semi-annual tune-up, schedule a service call online today or call us at 1-877-794-4223. You can also click here for a free quote, or click here to design your perfect garage door! We can’t wait to help you with all of your garage door needs, so call us today for help finding the best solution for you!

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