Why Do I Need To Prepare My Garage Door For Winter?
Here we go again. As winter approaches and temperatures continue to drop, keeping your home, its inhabitants, and its belongings warm becomes a central thought in your everyday life.
With your garage door as your home’s largest moving part and one of the cold air’s primary routes into your home, preparing your garage door for winter is an essential fall project for homeowners.
Not only does proper fall maintenance prepare your garage door for the large toll it takes during the winter months, but it also ensures your home and belongings stay warm and your energy bills stay low.
Let’s take a look at what goes into preparing your garage door for winter.
Eyes & Ears
First things first, simply look and listen for any glaring issues with your door. Any breaks, misalignments, unsavory noises, etc. will only worsen throughout the winter months, so make sure to not view these as trivial issues.
Like we’ve stated in many of our blogs, it is crucial to make sure any issues with your spring are taken care of by one of our technicians. While a broken spring is extremely dangerous now, winter will heighten this danger. Moreover, dealing with a broken garage door in the cold winter months is the last thing you want to deal with.
Keep It Tight
Whether you observed any issues in your ‘eyes and ears’ walkthrough or not, grab that wrench and tighten all bolts throughout your garage door system.
Your garage door lives under increased duress during the winter months, so making sure everything is tight and solid is just one factor ensuring it enters the winter fully prepared.
Weather Stripping
A worn, dry, and faulty weather seal is one of the quickest ways to present yourself with a drafty, snow-filled garage.
Check to see if your weather seal needs to be replaced. If it is old, tattered, and/or falling off, it is time to replace. If not, we recommend adding silicon oil along the strip. Silicon oil will keep the weather strip from freezing and sticking. Additionally, add this oil to the tracks, hinges, and rollers. Tip: Don’t use WD-40. WD-40 is not a true lubricant.
Check Batteries
Batteries are not big fans of cold weather. Have your batteries, in both opener and remote opener, checked to make sure they have their full power. If the batteries are weak or dying, you should have them replaced in order to prevent breakdowns.
Lubricate
Our winters are host to extremely dry air. Keeping your garage door parts lubricated will add seamless operation to your system and prevent excess frictional wear-and-tear. As mentioned above, use a silicone lubricant, to coat all of the moving parts, including the overhead springs.
Insulate
While this extends beyond simple maintenance, an insulated garage door is something all homeowners should give consideration to. As insulation technology continues to improve, the cost of these doors continue to become increasingly affordable and increasingly efficient. An insulated garage door keeps energy bills low and makes it easier to keep your garage a work/living space during the winter months.
Winter Tips
- Sprinkle a substantial amount of table salt along the garage floor where the weather seal meets the concrete. Table salt not only significantly lowers the freezing temperature of water, it is also far less corrosive than other forms of salt.
- Heat your car up outside. The heat generated by your warming car is likely to melt the ice and snow present in your garage door tracks and where the garage door meets concrete. After leaving your home, this ice refreezes and leaves you with a frozen door.