If you own a construction company or another service business, you likely have a garage where you store all your equipment and tools. Most of these garage doors are 10 feet wide and 12 feet high, not the same as a residential garage door. You might only use it as often as you do your garage door at home, which is around four times a day, but it still requires regular maintenance.
Today, we’ll go over exactly what sort of maintenance is required for your sectional door to ensure that it works well for years to come. Many of these things can be done on your own without trouble, while others should only be done by professionals.
Do you use your garage door numerous times on an average day? If that is the case, making sure it smoothly opens and closes as you need it to is crucial. In order to be sure this occurs, we recommend taking advantage of our Preventative Maintenance Program.
Take time to inspect your garage door visually
Once a month, set aside some time to look over the following things:
- Lift cables: do they appear to be frayed or seem as if they may be close to breaking?
- Rollers: are any of them banged up or falling out and no longer rolling as they should be?
- Hinges: do any of the screws seem to be nearing detachment from the anchoring point?
- Horizontal tracks: when you stand behind the door, do the rollers appear to be flaring out to the point where they could come out of the tracks?
If you have a manually operated door, there are some other things you should inspect:
- Try lifting the door. Determine whether that’s simple or if it feels like you’re lifting 100 lb. (50 kilos) or more.
- For those who have a chain hoist, when operating it, determine whether it seems like the door weighs quite a lot.
Those who have an electric garage door opener should follow the next recommendation:
- Tug on the emergency release cord and see whether lifting the garage door is easy or challenging. Use a single hand to test that. If it’s challenging to raise, there is something wrong with the tracks or spring system.
Rather than breaking down all the issues and how to rectify them, it’s in your best interests to get in touch with Caspersen Door Systems, who can check out and repair any part of the system that needs attention.
Ways you can extend your garage door’s lifespan
One of the best things you can do which doesn’t require professional help is to lubricate certain parts of your commercial garage door:
- Lubricate all metal components
- You will want to use a liquid lubricant, such as 5W30 motor oil, to lubricate rollers and hinges. Any metal piece that makes contact with another metal component should be lubricated. This will not only make your garage door last longer, but it can also prevent the buildup of rust.
- Using motor oil again, you want to lubricate the spring system or counterweight. Use a cloth to apply it to the top of the springs and then continue around the rest of the spring. This will help to reduce the amount of noise made when the steel strands rub up against each other.
- The use of white grease is not recommended, especially on the rollers. Rollers are created to roll rather than slide in the tracks.
- Lubricate all PVC parts
- For the U-shaped bottom of the door, the exterior frame, and weatherstripping, you are going to want to use a silicone-based lubricant.
- Lubrication needs for electric door openers
- Creators of jackshaft and central electric door openers which are intended for commercial use have done all the work to prepare them in a way that lubrication of parts and other regular maintenance is not required.
Another thing to know is that Caspersen Door Systems carries both types of lubricants, for both PVC and metal, which are manufactured specifically for garage doors.
Things that should not be done alone
While you can lubricate your garage door on your own, replacing and repairing defective parts can be dangerous or even deadly. Avoid doing the following things on your own:
- Swapping out a torsion-type lift spring which has broken
- Changing out a frayed or broken lift cable
- Attempting to replace a life cable that is off its drum or wrapped improperly
- Switching out the hinge (bracket) found at the bottom of the door
- Trying to replace a garage door which has come off the horizontal tracks
- Replacing a garage door hit by a vehicle
Only those who are experienced and qualified, such as our own technicians, should be involved with trying to repair the spring system or work with any part of the counterweight system, whether it isn’t working or is malfunctioning in some way. If these components are handled improperly, you are at risk of severe injury or even death.
Want to learn more about what kinds of maintenance are appropriate for your commercial garage door? All you need to do is read this document.
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