With the winter weather now definitely upon us, we turn our attention to keeping our garage doors functioning well throughout the icy, cold season.
Freezing temperatures and bitterly cold winds can create a build up of ice on your garage door that can make it really difficult to open, or possibly make it jam. Not a prospect any of want at any time of the year, let alone in the bitter freezing cold!
If this does happen however, here are 3 tips for fixing a frozen garage door:
- Ice formation
Ice forms particularly well on cold and metallic surfaces, and your garage door is no exception. Very often, because of the amount of ice formation, your door can get stuck and simply won’t open. A bit of elbow grease may help, but if it’s really stuck you may need to take further measures.
The objective is to remove the ice first. You could use a heat gun or a hair dryer that’s aimed directly at the ice and not on the garage door itself. Aiming it at the door surface could burn the paint and leave marks, which you really don’t want to do.
The alternative is to use some de-icer in a spray bottle over the ice and let it thaw slowly. It takes a bit of time, but is very effective. Don’t forget to wipe up the residue afterwards, though, as this could freeze over again and leave dangerous ice patches on the garage floor or entrance.
- Hardened Lubricant
If the lubricant on your garage door moving parts is old, it could well harden in plunging temperatures. This is turn will cause your door to jam and not function properly. Equally, If your door gets stuck half way up, it will be more susceptible to rust and corrosion.
The thing to do here is to remove the old lubricant and replace it with a silicone-based one. Why silicone based? Well, these types of lubricants are better at withstanding very low temperatures.
You can remove the old, hardened lubricant with a bit of paint thinner and an old toothbrush. Simply rub the paint thinner on, in and around all the working parts of your garage door and it will slowly dissolve the unwanted, old lubricant. Rub the paint thinner into difficult to get at areas with toothbrush – into all the hingers, rollers and tracks, clean off the surplus with a damp cloth and spray them with new silicone based lubricant.
We would suggest, as a general maintenance guide, this should be done once to twice a year.
- Broken Seals
The seals around your garage door are particularly prone to cracking in colder temperature – especially if they’re old and worn. But if your garage door simply won’t budge and is stuck to the ground because of ice build up, the best thing to do is to use a de-icer solution and spray it along the bottom of your garage door.
Wait until the de-icer has thawed the ice it’s has melted, you can then brush or sweep it away from the door. A good tip is to sprinkle some salt or grit along the bottom of the door where it meets the ground as a preventative measure to stop it freezing over again.
If you do notice any cracks, rips or tears in your garage door seal, then it’s always wise to get it replaced as soon as possible.
We are Hipwoods Garage Doors – providing the best garage door solutions in and around Gloucestershire since 2014. If you’d like more information on our garage doors and services, please take a look at our website www.hipwoodsgaragedoors.com or give us a call on 01452 539 455 – we’d be happy to help!