Garage door maintenance

garage-door-maintenance.md

Garage door maintenance

⚠️ If you have a torsion spring, do not replace or adjust the spring or replace the bottom roller yourself as you can be killed or maimed!

👉 I am not a professional

📌 This document is a work in progress based on my own experience as I learn

Door opener

Repair

If garage door opener stops working, open it up. Many have replaceable parts (e.g. nylon gears). If a gear is broken:

1. Buy replacement gear from manufacturer for best quality
2. Check the garage door balance before replacing parts: https://support.chamberlaingroup.com/s/article/How-to-test-the-balance-of-a-garage-door-1484145605074
3. Lubricate all moving parts (rollers, hinges, track, etc) and see how well the door opens
4. If the door is having any trouble easily opening with one hand, check springs and rollers to see if they need to be replaced
5. Once the garage door is easily opening with one hand (without the opener), repair the opener

Springs

Replacement

⚠️ Never replace torsion springs yourself. They can kill you.

If you have older style extension springs, they can be replaced.

Weigh the door

ⓘ If possible, weight the door to make sure you're getting the right springs. You can match the colour code but it's possible the wrong springs were previously used

1. Get a bathroom scale and at least one other person, more depending on how large the door is
2. Raise the garage door all the way
3. Brace the garage door up
4. Detach the springs
5. Lower the door all the way onto the bathroom scale

If you don't have help, you can also detach just one spring and double the weight measured by the scale, but this is less accurate.

Replace extension springs

1. Open the garage door fully
2. Brace the garage door up
3. Replace one side at a time

Rollers

Maintenance

1. If they're not moving well, spray with penetrating oil and let dry
2. Spray with brake parts cleaner to remove penetrating oil and any previous lubricant, and let dry
3. Spray with garage door lubricant or silicone spray lubricant
4. If the garage door is still not moving well and all else is good (springs, etc), replace rollers

Replacement

Buying replacement rollers

• Nylon rollers are generally better and quieter than steel
• Nylon-coated steel rollers are considered premium
• When buying rollers, more ball bearings indicate better rollers

Replace bottom rollers if you have extension springs

⚠️ If your garage door has torsion springs, do not replace the bottom rollers yourself as the spring is attached to the bottom rollers

1. Open garage door fully to release tension on spring
2. Prop up door
3. Remove spring cable from one side
4. Replace roller
5. Reattach cable
6. Repeat for the other side

Replace other rollers except the bottom rollers

ⓘ These can be safely replaced no matter what kind of garage door you have

1. Close the garage door
2. Remove the hinge and roller
3. Replace the roller in the hinge
4. Reinstall hinge and roller