As the most common entry point into your home, many families open and close their garage roller doors, at least twice a day. All that motion puts a considerable amount of strain on the mechanism’s moving parts, meaning it’s prone to breakdown, if not adequately maintained.
Although it may be a pain and an added expense, undertaking adequate maintenance of your garage door is of utmost importance. In fact, it could even save your life. Here’s why.
A Poorly Maintained Door Is a Safety Issue
Garage doors cause scores of injuries in Australia each year. In extreme cases, they can even cause death. The primary danger with the door is its torsion springs, which are permanently kept in a state of tremendous tension. All this stored energy has the potential to snap the springs, which can flail outwards in a violent motion and cause a fatal injury to anyone in their path.
Another common issue with garage doors is that if they’re not properly maintained, their safety reversal system can fail. Should that occur while someone is underneath, the heavy door could crush them and cause a severe injury or death.
Granted, that all sounds pretty terrifying. However, it’s important to remember that these issues are extremely unlikely to occur with regular maintenance by a qualified professional. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to repair the torsion spring yourself. Doing this may risk the spring snapping, which will likely result in your death. It’s essential that you contract a qualified garage door technician to perform this dangerous garage door repair on your behalf.
You’ll Sleep Better at Night
The potential for a garage door to fail can cause a considerable amount of stress for the homeowner. After all, you and your whole family are at risk. Doing proper maintenance will ensure your door is as close as possible to 100% safe. And with that knowledge at hand, you’ll stress less and get a better night’s sleep.
A Well-Maintained Door Will Last a Lot Longer
As you’re well aware, garage roller doors are a considerable investment. With that in mind, it makes financial sense to spend a bit of time and money on maintenance to ensure yours will last as long as possible.
Learn how to identify and maintain issues such as poorly aligned tracks, loose bolts, inadequate lubrication, and malfunctioning safety sensors, which affect how well your door opens and closes. With a bit of effort and technical no-how, you can resolve all these issues yourself without having to get in a professional.
The springs are another part of the mechanism that requires maintenance. Under normal conditions, the springs of a garage roller door have a lifecycle of around 10,000 uses. However, without regular lubrication, this number could reduce significantly. Another possibility is that the level of tension in the springs could be too high, which causes them to degrade over time.
It Won’t Randomly Break Down On You
What would you do if your garage door suddenly broke? Without access to your car, how would you drop the kids off at school and get to work? Your life would come to a standstill until a mechanic could fix the issue. And depending on when it breaks, that could take several days. Inspecting and maintaining your door every month seems like a bit of a chore at first. However, failing to maintain your door will end up causing you considerable inconvenience, when it finally breaks.
It’ll Cost You More In The Long Run
In the same vein, neglecting to maintain a door is more expensive than adopting a rigorous maintenance routine. If you keep putting regular maintenance off, your door will break a lot sooner than it should. At best, you’ll have to pay an emergency maintenance fee to get it functioning again as soon as possible, which costs a sizable sum.
At worst, you might have to replace the entire mechanism at great expense. Therefore, it’s worth paying a bit of money now to save on maintenance costs in the long run.
It’ll Add Value to Your Home
Garage roller doors are a sought-after commodity in modern-day Australia due to the sheer convenience and security they afford. And such popularity means that installing and properly maintaining one will add significant value to your home.
Keep your garage door in immaculate aesthetic and functional condition to achieve the highest possible home appraisal.
Get Professional Help
Although you can do a bit of garage door maintenance yourself, some aspects such as checking and replacing the springs require professional help. If you’re in the Adelaide region, then get in touch with the team at AllStyle Garage Doors & Window Shutters who will provide a professional service and actionable advice on how to maintain your door.