Applying Garage Door Lubricant

Noisy garage doors can be annoying to listen to, but the squeaking sounds that occur whenever you open or close your door can be a sign that you need to lubricate your door. When you don’t lubricate it regularly, you can make your door wear down faster. Applying a lubricant every two to three months extends the life of your garage door and helps your ears out in the meantime.

How to Lubricate Your Garage Door

Many people believe that they can spray some WD-40 onto their garage door components and be good to go. This is a common misconception and you’re actually damaging your garage door when you use WD-40. Instead of lubricating the parts, it’s stripping the lubricant away and causing the parts to grind against each other even more.

Choose a grease that’s lithium-based or shop at your hardware store for a lubricant that’s specifically meant for garages. This ensures that you have the right material. Before you get started, remember to take safety precautions such as wearing eye protection and a ventilation mask so that you’re not breathing in fumes and risking an eye injury.

Close the Door and Disconnect It

You don’t want to run the risk of someone arriving home and opening your door while you’re working, so it’s best to make sure that it’s disconnected during maintenance. Once it’s disconnected, inspect all of the components for dirt and grime. Wipe away anything you find that could add resistance to the path of the door.

Apply the Lubricant to All the Necessary Components

You need to add lubricant to the tracks, springs, rollers and hinges to be sure that the door is properly lubricated. The hinges and rollers are the most difficult components to lubricate when the door is closed, so it’s a good idea to apply lubricant to the tracks and springs first and save the hinges and rollers for last.

To apply the lubricant to your hinges and rollers, open the door gradually and apply the lubricant while the door is rising. This ensures that the lubricant coats the entire surface area of the rollers as they move. Once you’ve applied lubricant to all of the components, wipe down the excess and any that has spilled onto the ground. You don’t want a slip and fall risk on your floor.

Test the Door

Reconnect your garage door and open it to see if it’s still making noise on the way up and down. If lubricating it didn’t do the trick, you may need to do additional maintenance.

Lincoln Door has been installing and repairing garage doors since 1967. If your door is in need of routine maintenance, we can help. Give us a call at 602-955-4144 to learn more.