Your garage door has to go up and down every time it opens or closes. Certainly, this is the biggest moving object that your home has. And, lifting this weight by using the door adds some wear and tear that inevitably leads to your home garage door needing replacement. As a homeowner, you’re always looking for ways to cut costs on home expenditures. So, you may be wondering how to extend the life of your garage door and prevent garage door replacement. In this blog, we discuss all the ways a garage can be impacted by wear and tear. And, how you can make efforts as a homeowner to prevent damage due to wear and tear and prevent having to invest in garage door replacement sooner than necessary.

Moving Weight Creates Wear and Tear

The weight of a garage door is balanced and carried by springs and cables that are vital to the safety of the door. But, since they work to lift the heavy garage door once or more each and every day, they eventually become compromised. This is important to note because the most common of garage door repair jobs is replacing broken springs or cables after snapping. However, when they wear, they are susceptible to snapping. And, when cables or springs on garage door systems, they fall – hard. So, when they fall, they can become damaged beyond repair. And, require a complete garage door replacement.

So, don’t forget about that the weight of your garage doors on your cables and springs. To give you a better idea of the weight of garage doors that springs and cables have to hold every day, some garage door weights include:

Single-frame Garage Doors: Can reach weights up to 135 pounds. These are your typical aluminum garage doors.

Double-frame Garage Doors: Can reach weights up to 350 pounds. These types of garage doors are double the width of a traditional, single-frame garage door, so they always weigh more.

Specialty Garage Doors: Can reach weighs over 400 pounds! Specialty garage doors include custom garage door options like glass garage doors and hurricane-resistant doors.

Wearing Over Time Due to Friction

Along with the weight of your garage door, it may experience some wear and tear due to friction. Does your garage door make a frightening sound, or any at all, when it goes up or down? This is most commonly due to some kind of friction issue, like rollers and/or tracks wearing or slowing down. However, this is a common fix with replacement and can be identified as a problem during routine maintenance. If you keep using your door despite friction issues and noises sounding like they came straight from hell, the system is bound to break eventually. And, put you at risk for forking over money for an entire garage door replacement.

Wearing Due to Mother Nature

Last but not least, garage doors can just get more worn over time due to impacts with mother nature. Wind, rain, and beating UV rays (especially here in South Florida) are bound to have an impact some time or another. Most symptoms caused by elemental wear to garage doors occur on the outer parts and may include warping, cracking, rusting, and more. Over time, these issues can get so bad that they’re irreparable. And, could lead to the need to purchase a whole new garage door.

Prevent the Need for Garage Door Replacement with Routine Maintenance

Fortunately, there is one sure way to identify garage door problems caused by these issues – garage door maintenance. Here at At Your Service Garage Doors, we not only offer complete installation and garage door replacement for our clients but maintenance and repairs as well.

Experiencing any of the above wear and tear problems with your garage door and wish to address the problem before you have to spend the funds on a new garage door? Contact us today to get your free quote and schedule your appointment.