What are the Parts of Your Garage Door?

You don’t really consider the parts of your garage door until you’re either repairing a garage door or choosing a new one to install. While it’s always a great idea to leave it to experts, it’s not a bad idea to know what components make up one of the most essential parts of your home. Here’s a brief breakdown of the most common garage door parts and what they do. Spoiler alert: each component is crucial to making sure your garage door operates smoothly.

Garage Door Springs

The springs are first and foremost the most dangerous garage door part. They make raising and lowering your garage door so easy, despite the fact that it weighs several hundred pounds. Your springs are able to do that because they are under incredible tension, which makes them extremely dangerous to work with. Mounted on each side of a garage door wall, extension springs lift the weight of the door up and down. The tension spring winds up when your garage door closes. It’s the part of the garage door that maintains stored energy under tension. Notice something is wrong with your garage door and think the spring is the part that’s causing the problem? Call a professional. You don’t want to mess with one of the most crucial and heaviest parts of the door. 

Garage Door Cables

Attached to your springs, and potentially just as dangerous if they snap under load, are your garage door cables. As your garage door moves up and down, the cables wrap around the cable drum to keep excess slack in check. While open these cables tend to be under immense load, and when one breaks it will cause the entire garage door to go off balance. Stop using your garage door if either of your cables looks rusted, or especially if it has broken entirely, and call a professional to see about a replacement. 

Brackets & Hinges

The brackets and hinges are the garage door parts that hold the separated boards of garage door together. They allow the garage door to bend as it rolls up and down. Overtime, these parts will need to be replaced. It’s also a good idea to tighten them down with a wrench every few months. This should help your door operate smoother and more efficiently.

Garage Door Track

Your garage door track is on either side of the door and provides surface area for the rollers to raise and lower the garage door. It is possible for your garage door to come off track. If this happens, stop using the door immediately! You might need to get new parts. Always reset it back to the track if that’s not the case or call a garage door repair professional to assess the situation. 

Garage Door Trolley

You can find your trolley on the rail that connects your garage door to the opener. You can easily spot it on most garage doors, as it is where your emergency manual release cord is located. The garage door trolley uses a cable to open and close your garage door, meaning that keeping it well maintained and in good working order is paramount to the smooth operation of the door.

Garage Door Rollers

The rollers on your garage door are the part that makes the garage door run so smoothly. If your door starts to stick, this is the garage door part you’ll want to lubricate. Scouring it with rubber wool will help eliminate rust. You could also try soaking the rollers in Coca-Cola and then kerosene. This will first remove any rust from hard-to-reach areas and help protect the rollers from further corroding. If you need to replace the hinges, call a garage door repair company. These hinges are under a great deal of pressure and can be potentially hazardous.

Garage Door Parts: Part of Your Life

Garage doors are an everyday part of life, one we probably can’t live without it. If something goes wrong, we’re probably in a world of pain. Your best bet is to understand what parts make up the door. This should help you easily find parts at the hardware or allow you to easily relay the issue to a professional.

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