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Garage Doors And Temperature Changes

Previously we looked at when your garage door or garage door opener might need to be replaced. While it is true that the main thing that will contribute to a garage door or garage door opener's demise is the number of cycles the parts go through and are rated for there are other things that contribute to everyday wear and tear for a garage. Things like the climate and season will have a large impact on how a garage door actually fairs day to day. The reasons may seem obvious for some, but for those not so mechanically inclined you may want to stay tuned and keep reading in order to understand and learn a bit. In this article we'll go through some of the more mechanical machinations of your average garage door and how they can be affected by things like region and weather, and most importantly what that means for you. Your average garage door owner won't really notice much about the "goings on" of their garage door until something changes. Things like new louder noises or a change in how quickly or smoothly a garage door closes are the main things that will get a home owner to notice their garage door, what we to happen is for home owners to spend a few more seconds thinking about their garage doors in order to save them from unexpected problems.

If you live in a climate with a particularly hard winter you will know that things tend to get finicky in lower temperatures. You are told to bring car batteries in from outside and things like metal and wood are much more susceptible to cracking and breaking. The same sort of things goes for your garage door and garage door opener then. The cold will make many of the materials tighter and more brittle which means that things are much more susceptible to breaking and breaking irreparably. When you are using your garage door in the cold however this is exactly the time of year that you don't want to be sitting in your car or outside waiting for your garage door to open or trying to figure out what is wrong with your garage door. In order to avoid situations like having to fumble with your garage door with your mittens on there are a few things you can do to make sure that your garage door and garage door opener don't give you too much trouble during those harsh winter months. The first thing to do is to check the manual. The manual may have some special instructions for extreme cold weather operations or just a few tips for your particular model that will be helpful to you. Secondly you will want to make sure that your garage door is working relatively well before the cold weather hits as it can exacerbate any problems, so if you have been putting off calling for some maintenance set your deadline for before that big first frost. If you put off repairs to your garage door or garage door opener during a hard winter some of the problems will surely be exacerbated. Another idea of how to make sure your garage door doesn't give you trouble during the colder months is to make sure your system is well lubricated with a lubricant designed for colder temperatures if possible. Lastly, something that can really put excess stress on your garage door is something as simple as ice. Make sure there aren't any leaks or build ups of ice along any of the moving parts or closures of your garage door as they can cause added stress to be put on parts of your garage door opener or garage door which otherwise wouldn't get that stress. Ice can make your garage door shudder and jerk if it happens to be in the wrong place and you will most likely find the places where it is building up after an opening or two if it is causing trouble. If you find that ice might be building up in the wrong places try and find a way to get water away from those areas when possible, or get a professional in to deal with he problem.

On the flip side extremely hot weather can also cause problems for a variety of machines, including your garage door and garage door opener. Hotter weather means pretty much the opposite of all the problems that come with cold weather. When you start getting to temperatures above 100 degrees things can expand more than expected and things like a garage door can really start to act up as a result. Keeping your garage door working in tip top shape during the summer is decidedly easier than doing so during the winter. Again the first thing you should do is to check out your owner's manual to see if there are any special things that you need to do with your garage door or garage door opener for the really hot days. This is far less likely to hold a lot of information for hot days than it is for special instructions for cold days, but nonetheless it never hurts to check. The second thing you should do is make sure that the lubricant used on your garage door is formulated to work at higher temperatures. Remember that things like friction can cause a bit more heat than expected and so the right lubricant is even more important during these hotter days. Other than these two things you should of course make sure that your garage door opener isn't overheating and keep your maintenance up to date, otherwise there is really not much else that needs to be done in order to keep your garage door working in the hotter months.

With extreme temperature changes your garage door and its parts are going to change their size a fair bit with the fluctuations. These changes, if they are extreme enough, can throw off some of the balance that is needed for your garage door to run as smoothly as it is supposed to. This is when you need to make sure that your garage door is calibrated correctly. If calibrated incorrectly your garage door won't take these slight changes into account and can end up hurting your garage door in the long run and can also have your garage door running poorly while it is uncalibrated. If you noticed things like a decline in your garage door's performance after a large temperature shift then you may want to make sure that your garage door is properly calibrated still.

All of these tips can be pretty obvious to those who have worked with machinery that has to work in a variety of settings. Things like reading the manual may seem obvious to some, but to others may not be thought of as a resource at all. Extreme weather and temperatures will put more pressure on the performance of your garage door than other times of the year so it is important to realize that these times are sadly when garage doors and garage door openers are put to their test. Make sure that before a particularly hard winter or tough summer that things look okay for your garage door and you should be fine. Things like ice and recalibrating your garage door may come up but for the most part just being attentive is really one of the best things you can do for yourself and your garage door. If you are worried about your garage door and you think you need a bit more information on how to make sure it holds up to a tough season then feel free to chat with your local garage door professional.