Your garage doors are key to maintaining the safety and curb appeal of your home. So, you need to make sure they are always in excellent condition. Roll-up garage doors need even more care due to their working mechanism.

That’s why you need to perform regular maintenance checks on them and having a roll-up door maintenance checklist will help you to no end.

The maintenance checklist for a roll-up door can be categorized into various parts depending on the parts of the door.

You need to visually check the condition of the door, its balance, and auto reversal functions, and clean up any debris and dirt obstructing the sensor’s view.

You also have to ensure the door is properly lubricated. 

Let’s take a deeper look at the checklist for roll-up door maintenance. 

Roll-up Garage door maintenance checklist

If you have a roll-up door in your garage, it needs to be checked regularly to see whether it is working properly or not. Otherwise, you may face some issues down the line which could’ve been easily avoided had you taken proper preventive measures.

To ensure the safety of yourself, the people around you, and everyone’s property, you need to perform regular maintenance checks on your roll-up door. 

The most efficient way to perform maintenance inspections on your roll-up garage door is to have a checklist for it.

Listing everything you want to do will ensure you won’t forget what parts of the door you have to check, and will also help you take notes if you find out any issues. 

If you decide to make a preventative maintenance checklist for your garage door, you should do it according to its components. Let’s see what things you should check for in your garage door:

1. Safety

Before you go through the maintenance inspections on your garage door, you have to ensure your own safety. Make sure you wear rubber gloves, safety goggles, hard hats, and other parts of PPE gear before you start the inspection.

Never stand directly under a garage door and also don’t put your hands on a moving door.

Safety equipment for door inspection

One of the most important garage door maintenance tips is you should never perform maintenance checks on a garage door that has its door opener connected. Since the garage door opener is electronic, ensure it is disconnected before you do anything with the door.

Also, refrain from trying to repair any component of the door to save yourself from injuries. Our experts can provide you with effective information about garage door safety.

2. Visual inspection

The first step to maintaining your garage door is to perform a visual test. Don’t touch anything and inspect every part of the garage door to see if anything stands out.

First, check for more obvious damages, such as rust, corrosion, breaks, etc. Then look at various components such as the door curtains, brackets, hood, chain drive, operation motor, and safety inertia brake. 

These are the parts that are most prone to rust and other related damages. If you see anything of this sort, take notes so that they can be replaced later.

Also check for misalignment, vibration, rattling, etc. Now move on to the electric door opener and check for oil leaks. Next check for any holes in the insulation of the door that might affect your garage’s energy efficiency.

3. Balance

Once you finish checking the door visually, move on to the more hands-on aspects of the maintenance check.

First, check the balance of the door. The balance of the garage door is one of its most important aspects. To ensure the door is perfectly balanced, lift the door and leave it halfway.

If your door has no problem with its balance, the door will remain halfway up without any fuss. If not, the door will automatically start to come down.

If that happens, ensure the door isn’t used any longer and call in a professional to repair garage door. Also, take note of how fast it is moving. If the door is moving too fast or too slow, it might have something to do with its balance. 

4. Auto reversal

Roll-up doors have an auto reversal system that ensures the door moves in the opposite direction when it senses something to be in its way. Check the auto-reversal function by placing a piece of wood or a brick under a closing door.

If the auto-reversal function of the garage is perfectly functional, then the door will start to open once it senses the wood or brick. If it doesn’t happen, take note and call in a repair service.

5. Cleanliness

roll up door cleaning

If you are looking for DIY roll-up garage door maintenance tips, everyone will tell you that you should take care of the cleanliness of your garage door.

If the door is dirty and greasy, the movement of the door will be greatly inhibited. You must also check if the door is in contact with any item that retains moisture, such as leaves, twigs, etc as they can cause rusting.

Another aspect of your garage door’s cleanliness is you must check if the sensors of your garage door are clean.

If dirt or any other thing is obstructing its view, the door will not work properly as it will be led to think something is blocking the door. As a result, the door will not close all the way through. 

6. Lubrication

As garage doors are composed of a lot of moving parts, they have to be kept lubricated for smooth operation. If the parts of a garage door are not lubricated, they will grind against each other and will corrode over time.

As a result, you will need to repair and replace your door parts more often.

Final Words

Roll-up doors of residential buildings and commercial buildings operate on different frequencies. While residential garage doors are used twice or thrice a day, commercial ones are used more frequently.

So if you are making a roll-up door maintenance checklist, make sure to keep this in mind. 

FAQ

1. Why is roll-up door maintenance so important?

There are quite a few reasons why roll-up door maintenance is important. First, it makes sure you are up to date with your warranty. Next, it saves you from spending an even bigger amount on repairs down the line.

And finally, it makes sure nobody is injured or worse due to accidents caused by a faulty garage door. 

2. How often should you perform a maintenance check on our door?

You should perform a maintenance check on your garage door once every couple of months to be safe. For commercial buildings, the frequency should be even higher. 

3. How do you clean a roll-up garage door?

If you see any debris or dirt or any other item staining your garage door, you should clean it as soon as possible. You can use the solution of water and regular detergent to clean your garage door.

Scrub the door with a soft-bristled brush or a microfiber cloth.