

5 Winter DIY Garage Door Tips

Your garage door is your home’s largest moving part and one of the cold air’s primary routes into the home. Preparing your garage door for winter is an essential fall project for homeowners. Cold weather puts additional stress on your door springs and moving parts.

Minor issues can be magnified after days of cold weather. Here are 5 tasks you can perform to help make your garage door safe and reliable through the winter. These do not replace annual maintenance by a professional.

1. Inspect the rubber seal strip on the bottom of your door. Cracked and brittle rubber will allow the cold and wet to enter your garage. If you see trouble, replace it right away to keep the elements out of your home. For the DIYer, weather-stripping can be purchased at hardware and home improvement stores. Just cut to size and insert into the grooves. Put the wide angle of the flange inside the door.
2. Fall weather brings sticks and leaves. Make sure the tracks on both sides of the door are clear of debris.
3. Keep your garage door from sticking to the snow and ice. First, using a wet rag with soap and water, clean the bottom and the edges of the rubber seal at the base of the garage door. Spray a light coat of WD40 to the rubber weather strip. This will help keep the door from sticking to whatever the weather brings. Keep the WD40 away from all other parts of the door and brackets. This is not the product for lubricating the moving parts.
4. Check the batteries. Batteries are not big fans of cold weather. Check the batteries in both the opener and remote control to make sure they have their full power. If the batteries are weak or dying, you should replace them to avoid winter breakdowns.
5. Schedule you garage door maintenance with the experts at Overhead Door™. Annual planned maintenance is essential to the longevity and efficiency of your door system. Old, weak springs and all moving parts are under additional stress in cold weather. This is why we see far more breakdowns in the winter. Planned maintenance helps identify sources for possible trouble and help ward off an untimely emergency.