When you neighbours start complaining, or worse, yelling at you about the noise your roller door makes, you know it’s time to get it fixed.

Your garage roller doors need maintenance or fixing when it:

Opens slowly

Shudders when opening

Stops half way up or down

Won’t open, even when the motor is running

Doesn’t bounce back up when it hits something, like your car

Has gaps between the base of the door and the ground

Garage roller door maintenance

Regular maintenance will make your garage door operate smoothly, quietly and increases the longevity of your motor or door opener. And bring back some neighbourly love.

Single garage roller doors can weigh around 60 kgs, a double sized roller door twice that. When things aren’t working correctly, it creates problems for the motor and can reduce its life. As with Murphy’s Law, it’s when you are in a hurry that when things go wrong, and you may end up with your car stuck in the garage.

To avoid these problems regular garage door and motor maintenance is a must.

Garage door motors

Automatic garage doors have a range of moving parts, but the real driver is the motor. Unless the motor is reasonably new, parts do wear out. A garage door motor lasts anything from 10-15 years, depending on the make and how well you maintain it.

Newer motors today come with longer warranties. Our recommended brand Merlin has a 5-year warranty or 10 000 cycles. This means 10 000 opens and closes.

Door openers wear out quicker or stop working when the door doesn’t have the right tension making it too heavy to lift, often stripping the gears.

To keep your motor working efficiently and get the full value out of it, you need to maintain the door, the spring tension and keep everything lubricated.

Typical garage roller door maintenance includes:

Re-tensioning your roller door

Resetting the motor so that it operates efficiently

Checking if your remote is working

Tightening all fixtures and fittings

Lubricating all moving parts

Our recommended maintenance task list includes regular:

Track adjustments – aligning the tracks to ensure the door functions properly, replace if needed

Track lubrication – be careful, only use silicone based sprays, not oil which attracts dust and builds up grease

Weather seal replacements – these are often difficult to get hold of and it’s better to contact a professional

Safety Checks – everything is tightened, motor working well, any electrical cables are not cracked or wires visible, electrical outlets safe and not broken, remote working well

Repair or touch up dents or scratches