As Lake Villa winter passes, time for some garage door maintenance

Winter was tough on your Lake Villa garage door and garage door opener. It’s a given. It’s simply a factor of dealing with winter in these parts, even a comparatively mild winter.

The kind of cold we experience in Lake Villa makes parts of the garage door and garage door opener brittle. Parts wear differently when they’re hardened by the cold. They’re more prone to break in this condition.

There’s also the effects of snow, ice and moisture on parts of the garage door and garage door opener. The moisture that gets into bearings and the tracks that guide the garage door displaces lubricants and cause rust. Moisture can also get into the wiring of the garage door opener.

This is the reality. And after experiencing winters year after year, the wear and tear on garage doors and garage door openers is cumulative.

It wouldn’t be so bad if people maintained their garage doors and garage door openers properly. But, overwhelmingly, that’s not the case. Many people never provide appropriate maintenance for their garage doors and openers.

Some garage doors have never had a drop of new lubrication added to their rollers, hinges, bearings and drive chains. They’ve operated for years with nothing going for them except good luck.

Garage door maintenance can go a long way toward extending the life of a garage door and garage door opener. It can reduce the likelihood of parts breaking. But it does more than that.

Garage door maintenance will keep your garage door running smoothly, efficiently and quietly. Efficiently can include a garage door that goes up and down at the speed that it did when it was new. Without that maintenance, the way a pot slowly boils, you may not notice that the garage door is going up and down slower (and louder) than it used to.

It’s not a bad idea to perform maintenance on your garage door and garage door opener before winter, ensuring that everything is adjusted properly and adequately lubricated. But it’s also a good idea to maintain them after winter passes. Before winter, it’s to prepare them for the rigors of the winter to come. After winter, it’s to help them recover from the effects of the winter that has just passed.

Lake Villa is a great place to live. But there’s no denying that winters are rough. And your garage door and garage door opener can testify to that. A little maintenance will go a long way to helping them endure the worst that winter can throw at them.