If you have a commercial garage door for your business, keeping it in great shape is important. Whether you’re a busy facility with a row of overhead loading dock doors or a trendy restaurant with a glass-and-aluminum garage door at your entry, they all need some regular TLC to keep looking and performing their best. While most commercial overhead panels and their parts are built to last through heavy-duty tasks, frequent inspections and monthly maintenance is still important.
Inspecting and maintaining your garage doors frequently doesn’t take up too much time, and it definitely saves you money in repairs and replacements. When it comes to maintaining your door, there are 3 main things you can manage on your own that will extend the life of your business’ overhead door(s):
Don’t Let Rust Become More than Skin Deep
Rust always has the potential to become a serious problem if not addressed in a timely manner. Full-on corrosion can lead to permanent damage to your garage door parts or even the door itself. While surface rust is a common occurrence that can be addressed with WD-40 or a solvent, if neglected, it can build up overtime.
If you see any signs of rust on metal parts of your garage door or the panel itself, first try to remove it with a scrub or wire brush and some liquid. If it doesn’t come off, try using some lithium-based grease specifically made for garage and other overhead doors. Once you successfully removed the rust, apply a light coating of white lithium grease or silicone spray to protect the metal.
Speaking of Lubricating Your Garage Door Parts…
Because your commercial garage door undergoes frequent operation, it’s important to have a tune-up schedule and stick to it. One very critical area of commercial garage door maintenance is lubrication. Due to the heavy-duty operation of an overhead panel, it’s not uncommon for the garage door parts to need lubrication every month. Failure to do so can lead to bending, cracking, and permanent damage to the door.
For lubrication, make sure you use only white lithium grease or silicone spray. Other lubricants like motor oil and regular grease can lead to grime build-up that is difficult to clean and negatively impacts the operation of your door.
A note regarding WD-40: WD-40 is a solvent that can be used to remove grime, clean metal, and help with rust. However, because it’s a solvent, it can strip off beneficial lubricant from the parts on your commercial door. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a lubricant and it should not be used solely on metal parts. If you do use WD-40 to clean the parts on your garage door, make sure that you wipe the parts clean and apply white lithium grease or WD-40 afterwards.
Parts that require lubrication include garage door springs, hinges, rollers, and bearings. If you have nylon rollers, make sure that you only lubricate the bearings and not the actual roller. And for your garage door track, it only requires some wiping down and cleaning – not lubrication. If you do apply lubricant to your track, it could lead to problems with the operation of your door.
Frequency of Maintenance is Key
How frequently you should inspect, maintain, and tune-up your business’s garage door depends on how often you use it. If it’s only used once a day, then you may only need quarterly or yearly inspections. But if you’re constantly opening and closing it all day long, then you may want to consider monthly, weekly, or even a daily inspect routine. As well, you’ve got to take into account that weather changes in temperature, humidity, rain level, etc., can all affect how often you should at the very least inspect all the parts on your overhead door.
For this reason, it’s often better to partner with a commercial garage door repair company who can help ensure your overhead panel remains safe and functional year-round. You’ve got a business to run; if you don’t need another thing on your plate, let us take it; that way you can be sure it’ll get done, and you can also be sure it won’t get put off by other issues.