As a homeowner, you are learning quickly that consistent maintenance is required to keep your home up and running. One of the greatest ways to cut down these costs in the future is prevention.

Garage Doors would be great if we could just install them and forget about them. In reality they are not, and if you don’t take care of routine maintenance on your door you will be spending more in the long run. Luckily, you don’t need to be a garage door technician to make sure you are taking the necessary steps toward making things run smoothly. While garage doors and openers are technically one entire system, you need to keep in mind that they are separate and contain many moving parts.

With this home garage door checklist, you can keep on top of problems before they happen, saving you both time and money. These checks are recommended at least twice per year, but many find that being on the constant lookout for problems and running through the checklist periodically can be beneficial.

Visual Inspection: Garage Door Maintenance Checklist

To Do This:

• Stand inside your garage with the garage door closed. Starting in one corner visually look at your door staring at one corner and going down, repeat this process as you move across your door.

• Look for cracks in the surface of the door, especially around the hinges.

• Inspect the rollers. Place a finger on the wheel of each roller and try to rock the roller wheel back and forth for looseness. If they are loose, they need replacing.

• Look at the cables and make sure they are not frayed or twisted.

• Look at where the opener “J” arm attaches to the door. Make sure it is not starting to pull off. If you have a metal door, there should a special bracket called an “Operator Bracket”, attached to the door and the opener “J” arm attached to this special bracket.

• Stand in the middle of the garage door and grab the door and move it front to back and side to side. There should be slight movement each way.

• Open the garage door halfway and look at the rubber seal located along the bottom of the garage door. It should move and be pliable and no cracks or missing sections.

• Close the door and pull the red cord to disconnect the opener. Lift the door to waist height. The door should be easy to lift. With the door at waist height, let go of the door. It should remain there or slowly drop to the floor.

• Open the door all the way up and let go. It should remain open.

Operate the Opener:

This will require simple testing to see if the systems are working correctly.

To Do This:

• Run the garage door open and close 2 or 3 times. There should be no loud squeaks or pops.

• Test the safety eyes. This can be done by closing the door and place your foot in way of the safety eyes. The door should stop and reverse to open.

• Close the door and as the door is closing, grab the bottom of the garage door and try to stop it until it reverses. it should give about 15 – 20 pounds of push before reversing.

• This can be a good time to replace the batteries in your remote controls.

The great thing about these tests is that you can do them yourself! If the task seems a bit daunting, we will send a professional to check for any problems. Call 770-720-7828 for more information to book an appointment or visit our web site at www.covenantgaragedoors.com.