Maintenance · 4 min read
How Often Should Garage Doors Be Serviced?
Published
Garage door hardware is rated in cycles, so service intervals should follow usage rather than the calendar. For most households that still works out to about once a year.
Match the interval to your usage
- Light use (once or twice a day): every 18 to 24 months is reasonable
- Typical family use (three to four times a day): annually
- Heavy use (five or more times a day, garage as the main entry): annually, without skipping
- Detached or seasonal garage: annually anyway, because sitting unused is its own problem
What a real service visit covers
Inspection of springs, cables, drums, bearings, rollers, hinges, track and fasteners; a manual balance test with the opener disconnected; photo-eye and safety-reverse testing; lubrication of the correct points; fastener tightening; and adjustments where appropriate.
If a visit is only someone spraying lubricant and leaving, that isn't a tune-up.
What you can do between visits
- Keep the photo-eye lenses clean and the sensor brackets undisturbed
- Sweep debris out of the bottom of the tracks
- Test the safety reverse with a roll of paper towels on the floor
- Lubricate hinges, rollers and bearings with a garage-door-specific product
- Listen for new noises — they're your early warning system
What to leave alone
Springs, cables, bottom brackets and drums are all under high tension. Those stay with a technician, always.