Preparing Garage Doors in Dodge City, KS for the Winter

Your garage door is one of the most important (and also most expensive) pieces of mechanical equipment you have in your home, and it gets a whole lot of use. Winter is harsh on mechanical systems in general, so it’s important you’re aware of the potential issues you could face with your garage doors in Dodge City, KS during the winter months and what you can do to prevent them.

Here are a few examples of some of those circumstances that could arise during the colder weather.

Frozen to the ground

This is one of the most annoying issues with garage doors in the winter. If you have water that pools up along the bottom edge of the door, it could freeze and seal the door shut, which means it won’t be able to lift up when you hit the button on your opener.

There are several ways you can remedy this situation. You can use a scraper or other tool to scrape and chip away at the ice, you could (carefully) use a heat gun to melt the ice away, you could leave the door open once it’s open and wait for the ice to melt, you could make regular use of salt or you can attempt to regrade the area near your garage door so that water flows away from the base.

Broken springs

Broken springs are one of the most common problems that arises during the winter for garage doors. This is primarily caused by wear and tear—you can generally expect the springs to last around 10,000 cycles. You should check the springs regularly by manually lifting the door up halfway and letting go. If the doors stay in place without sliding around, the springs are working fine. However, if the door starts to move down, you may need new springs.

During the winter, the freezing and thawing cycles could have an effect on the springs as well, depending on the condition they’re in. Make sure you never attempt to change garage door springs yourself—this can be an extremely dangerous and potentially fatal mistake if you do not know what you’re doing. Have a professional get it done safely instead.

Water damage

This is an especially common problem with wooden garage doors. The snow and ice can cause the door and its surrounding frame to swell, which can result in the space between the frame and door closing off, meaning the two will rub up against each other. The door could also potentially get stuck in place, preventing it from opening when you need to use it. The best way to prevent this from happening is to make sure that water runoff from your garage stays away from the area right around the base of the garage door.

These are just a few examples of some of the most common issues that arise with people’s garage doors in the winter months. Contact Wes-Kan Siding Windows & Doors today for more information about maintaining your garage doors in Dodge City, KS.

Categorised in: Garage Doors