What You Should Know About Garage Door Tracks
Your garage door opens and closes with the help of a track. Small rollers on the door sit in the track and follow the track to open or close. The track is often overlooked, but if it gets too dirty or damaged, it can prevent your garage door from functioning properly. If you’ve had trouble with your garage door, and you think it may be the track, check out these facts you need to know.
They Should Be Kept Clean and Lubricated
Your automatic garage door system consists of a lot of moving parts, and they all need lubrication, including the track and rollers. If you fail to keep the track lubricated, the door may become noisy and slow to open or close.
Similarly, a dirty track can cause complications by slowing the door. Dirt, grime, or animal hair gets trapped in the rollers, which can prevent the door from opening evenly. One side may hang lower than the other. In severe cases, the door can get fully stuck, posing a serious security risk if you leave without realizing the door didn’t fully shut.
Luckily, cleaning and lubricating the tracks and rollers is simple maintenance. Start by removing any visible debris with a toothbrush. Next, clean out the track with special disc brake cleaner. Once the area is free from debris and cleaner, spray both the rollers and track with a silicone spray lubricant. Silicone is excellent at penetrating deep without causing a mess like grease lubrication.
They Can Become Loose
When the garage door is first installed, it’s secure with tight bolts firmly holding the track in place. However, wear and tear from the massive weight of the garage door can cause the bolts to loosen. If the tracks become too loose, the door may begin to shake as it opens/closes. This vibration worsens the wear and tear, causing the track to loosen further.
When the bolts become too loose, the garage door can completely collapse. If the door is closed when this happens, damage and injury may not be severe, but if the door is open, the massive weight can crush anything or anyone under it.
For this reason, part of your regular garage door maintenance should be to examine all bolts, especially those connecting the track to your garage’s ceiling. You can tighten any loose bolts yourself, but it may be best to request a professional for damaged or missing bolts to ensure no underlying problems exist.
They May Develop Dings
Bikes, cars, or bins can dent your garage door tracks. Just like debris, this puts extra strain on the door when opening, which worsens wear and tear. Small dents may only make the door open slowly, shake while opening, or open slightly uneven. More serious dents, however, can fully prevent the door from opening or closing.
It may seem tempting to fix dents yourself, but this can worsen the problem if you aren’t careful. To fix the dents, you’ll need to hammer them out with a mallet, but unless you are careful, this can cause the track to become loose. Even hammering out a small dent at the base of the track can affect the entire system with vibrations.
If you do have dents along the track, and they have caused complications, hire a professional. Not only will they fix the track, but they will do it correctly, and make sure no other complications happen.
Garage doors require more maintenance than you may think, but most of it is simple, especially with keeping the track clean and free of dents. If you would like to know more about garage door tracks, or if you need to request a quote, contact us at Eudy Door Co. today.