Doing repairs on your garage roller doors every time can be costly and inconveniencing. While total prevention of repairs may not be possible, it's important to perform regular checks on your roller garage doors to identify and fix any issues that may damage your garage roller doors, calling for repairs. For this reason, here are a few things to check for on your garage roller doors to ensure they are in good condition.

Loose Mounting Brackets and Damaged Spots on the Metal Tracks

Work from inside your garage with the roller door closed to examine the metal tracks. You should check for a variety of things on these tracks. The metal tracks are held to the wall by mounting brackets. Therefore, check for loose mounting brackets and tighten the bolts or screws. In addition, inspect the tracks for any damaged spots such as flat spots and dents. If you identify such spots, use a rubber mallet to pound them out. However, in a situation where pounding may not help, for instance, when the damages are severe, you need to replace your tracks.

Hardened Grease on the Tracks

Check on the tracks for any hardened grease and dirt. Use concentrated amounts of house cleaner to clean the tracks. In addition, remember to rinse them with some hot water as well to help liquefy the grease and allow for easy cleaning.

Alignment of the Tracks

Use a level to check the alignment of the tracks. The horizontal tracks have to be slanted slightly towards the back of your garage. The vertical components of the metal tracks should be perpendicular to the horizontal tracks. If these tracks are not aligned correctly, loosen some of the bolts or screws holding the mounting brackets and then use a hammer to carefully tap the misaligned tracks into position. Check them again using the level to make sure they are aligned properly. You will then have to tighten the bolts or screws that you loosened at the mounting brackets.

Other Loose and Damaged Hardware

For your roll-up garage door, tighten loose screws and replace the hinges if they're damaged. Make sure you service the hinges periodically to prevent the door from sagging at one side. If the wood section at the hinge is cracked or damaged, remove the hinge and use a wood filler to fill the screw holes and the cracks. Enlarged screw holes should be fixed by replacing the screw with a longer one, but make sure it's of the same diameter.