Small business owners: take care of your commercial garage door

Are you the owner of a small service or construction company and have a garage for storing your tools and equipment? The door for this type of garage is most likely 10 feet wide and 12 feet high and not in the residential category. Even if you only use as many times a day as one at home, that is about 4 times a day, it still needs regular care.

Continue reading to find out the recommended maintenance for your sectional door so that it continues working properly. Some of these procedures you can easily do yourself while there are others that you should never attempt.

If you use your garage door many times a day, it is very important that it opens and closes easily when you need it to. For this to happen, we recommend you have a Preventive Maintenance Program, which we can perform for you.

Make a visual inspection of your garage door

Take a few minutes to examine these places at least once a month:

• Lift cables: are they frayed or about to break?
• Rollers: are any on the point of falling out or so banged up that they don’t roll at all?
• Hinges: are any screws close to detaching from their anchoring point?
• Horizontal tracks: when standing behind the door, does it look like the rollers flare out so much that they might come out of their tracks?

If your door is operated manually, here are our recommendations:

• When you lift it, does it seem heavy, like it weighs over 100 lb. (50 kilos)?
• Even if you have a chain hoist, when you operate it, does the door seem to weigh “a ton”?

If you have an electric garage door opener:

• Pull down on the emergency release cord and check if you can lift your door easily… using only one hand. If this isn’t the case, there is a serious problem, related either to the spring system or the tracks.

Instead of going into detail on all the ways to correct the issues raised above, we advise you to contact one of GARAGA’s qualified technicians without delay to analyze and repair anything that requires attention.

What can I do to extend the life of my garage door?

The best use of your time, without the need for a technician, is to lubricate certain parts of your garage door.

• Everything in metal
  • Rollers and hinges: use a liquid lubricant, like 5W30 motor oil. Every metal part that is in contact with another deserves to be lubricated. Not only does it prolong their useful life, but it also protects them from rust.
  • The spring system (counterweight): again use motor oil. Apply it on the top of the spring with a cloth, and then continue around the spring. You will notice that this reduces the noise the springs make when the steel strands rub against each other.
  • It is not advised to use white grease, especially on the rollers. Remember that rollers are meant to roll and not slide in the tracks.
• Everything in PVC
  • For weatherstripping, on the exterior frame, that at the bottom of the door (U‑shaped) and those between door sections, always use a silicone-based lubricant.
• If you have an electric garage door opener
  • Manufacturers of central or jackshaft electric door openers intended for commercial use have prepared them so that no maintenance or lubrication of parts is needed.

Finally, note that GARAGA dealers carry both types of lubricants, metal and PVC, made specifically for garage doors.

What you should NOT do…

We strongly advise that you should not attempt to repair or replace a defective part by yourself. Serious injury could result. These are situations which are dangerous for you:

• Changing a broken torsion-type lift spring
• Changing a broken or frayed lift cable
• Replacing a lift cable not wrapped properly or off its drum
• Changing the bracket (hinge) at the bottom of the door
• Replacing a garage door that came off its horizontal tracks
• Putting a garage door hit by a vehicle back in place

Only experienced and qualified personnel, like our technicians, should attempt to repair the spring system or any part associated with the counterweight system that is malfunctioning or not working at all. Serious injury or death can occur if they are handled improperly.

If you would like to learn more about the maintenance you should perform on your commercial garage door, we suggest you read this document.