Your garage door is an important part of the overall aesthetics of your home, but it is also the single largest moving component on your home. It pays to make sure that it looks its best at all times, and that it operates smoothly. They key to achieving both of those goals is preventative maintenance. What should you know about maintaining garage doors on Palm Bay, FL, homes, though?
1. Repaint Regularly
The environment in Palm Bay can be pretty harsh. The ever-present Florida sunshine, the salt from the Atlantic – it can be a lot for your garage door to deal with. The paint on the door will begin showing signs of age before you might realize it, and one key to keeping your garage door looking great for years to come is to repaint it regularly. You can also invest in metal garage doors that have baked-on coatings that offer better resistance to environmental factors to reduce the amount of paint you need to do over time.
2. Check the Hardware
As your home’s garage door opens and closes, it vibrates. That’s normal, but it has a negative effect on the hardware that holds everything together – it can cause nuts, bolts and screws to begin loosening. Part of maintaining garage doors in Palm Bay, FL, homes is to regularly check all the hardware and tighten anything that’s started loosening. That one step will spare you a lot of frustration in the future.
3. Lubricate, Lubricate, Lubricate
Garage doors are great – they’re convenient, and can be beautiful additions to your home in their own right. However, without the right maintenance, they can also be pretty noisy. Regularly lubricating the metal tracks and rollers will help reduce the amount of noise your garage door makes while opening and closing, and it will protect metal components from corrosion and rust.
4. Make Sure It Is Balanced
Your garage door needs to be balanced to operate safely. Check this by disconnecting the carriage from the chain or belt. Just pull the release handle and you’re set. Now, lift the door by hand to about the halfway point and let go. It should remain in place. If not, you need to call the professionals to rebalance the door.
Maintaining garage doors in Palm Bay, FL, can be challenging. If you’re not sure you’re up to the task, turn to the pros at Paradise Garage Doors. You can reach us at 321-215-4343.
