How often should you lubricate your garage door?

Worn rollers and springs fail dangerously and strand your car.

Neglected rollers and hinges make the opener work harder, and an opener is far more expensive than a can of lubricant. Worn cables and springs can break, and a door coming down uncontrolled is dangerous.

1. Disconnect the opener and test the balance. With the door fully closed, pull the release cord, then lift the door by hand using the handle. It should move smoothly and should not feel heavy. If it is hard to lift, needs two hands or will not stay put partway, it is out of balance and needs a trained technician.
2. Inspect the cables and springs visually. Look for fraying, rust or gaps in the spring coils. Look only. Do not touch, adjust or attempt to tension them, and do not loosen the bottom brackets the cables attach to.
3. Tighten the hardware. Vibration loosens hinge and track bracket bolts over time. Snug them, do not overtighten, and leave the bottom brackets alone.
4. Lubricate the moving parts. Use a spray lubricant made for garage doors on hinges, rollers and springs, following the door manual. Check the manual before putting lubricant on the tracks themselves.
5. Clean the tracks. Wipe out debris with a damp cloth so the rollers run freely.
6. Test the auto-reverse safety features. Lay a 2 by 4 board (or any object about 1.5 inches, 38 mm, high) flat on the floor in the door path and close the door. It must reverse on contact. Then break the photo-eye beam while the door is closing. It must reverse. Do this monthly.
7. Check the weather seal. The bottom seal keeps out water, draughts and vermin, and it perishes over time.

• Grinding, scraping or squealing during operation
• The door moving jerkily or binding at a particular point
• A door that feels heavy or will not stay put when lifted by hand with the opener disconnected
• A visible gap in a torsion spring, which means it has broken
• Frayed or slack cables
• The door failing to reverse on contact with an obstruction

• Attempting to adjust or replace springs, cables or bottom brackets. DASMA says spring systems are dangerous and should be repaired only by trained professionals
• Pulling the emergency release with the door open. If a spring is weak or broken the door can fall, so release it only when the door is closed
• Fitting a more powerful opener to a door that has become heavy, instead of having the balance corrected
• Never testing the auto-reverse, which is the safety feature that protects children and pets
• Putting your fingers between door sections when moving the door by hand, rather than using the handles

• Doors used as the main household entrance cycle many more times a day and wear faster
• Coastal and salty environments corrode springs and cables faster
• Cold climates stiffen grease, so a lubricant rated for low temperature matters

Springs, cables, drums and bottom brackets, always. Also any door that is out of balance, binds in the track, or has a broken spring. The lubrication and safety testing are yours; the tensioned components are not.