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 until it burns out, which is a several hundred dollar repair caused by a five dollar can of lubricant. Worn cables and springs fail suddenly, and a door coming down uncontrolled is genuinely dangerous.

1. Disconnect the opener and test the balance. Pull the release cord, then lift the door by hand to waist height. A correctly balanced door stays where you put it. If it falls or flies up, the springs need professional adjustment.
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.
3. Tighten the hardware. Vibration loosens hinge and bracket bolts over hundreds of cycles. Snug them, do not overtighten.
4. Lubricate the moving parts. Use a garage door lubricant or white lithium grease on hinges, rollers, bearings and the torsion springs. Never grease the track itself.
5. Clean the tracks. Wipe out debris with a damp cloth. The tracks guide the rollers, they do not carry them, so they need to be clean rather than lubricated.
6. Test the auto-reverse safety features. Lay a piece of timber flat on the floor in the door path. The door must reverse on contact. Then wave an object through the photo-eye beam while closing. It must reverse.
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 will not stay put when lifted halfway with the opener disconnected
• Visible gaps 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 torsion springs, which store enormous energy and cause severe injuries every year. This is professional work without exception
• Spraying lubricant into the tracks, which attracts grit and makes rollers slip rather than roll
• Using WD-40 as a lubricant: it is a water dispersant and solvent, and it strips existing grease rather than replacing it
• Never testing the auto-reverse, which is the safety feature that protects children and pets
• Ignoring a door that has become noticeably heavier to lift, which is the first sign a spring is failing

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

Springs, cables and drums, 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.