Annual Garage Door Service

The Same Checklist, Every Time

A garage door is a machine under high tension that most people never look at. An annual service is under an hour and it turns unpredictable failures into scheduled part swaps.

The Balance Test

First, because everything else depends on it. We disconnect the opener at the manual release and lift the door by hand to about waist height, then let go.

A correctly balanced door stays where you put it. If it sinks, the springs have lost tension. If it runs up, there is too much. Either way the opener has been making up the difference on every cycle, which is how openers wear out early.

Springs

We check wire size, coil condition and corrosion, then estimate remaining life against the age of the door and how often it runs. Standard springs are rated near 10,000 cycles, roughly seven years at four openings a day.

The point is not to sell you springs. It is so you can replace them in a scheduled visit rather than on a Monday morning with a car behind the door.

Cables and Drums

Particularly where the cable winds onto the drum. We look for fraying, rust bloom, and flattened or unwinding strands.

Near the water this is the single most valuable item on the list, because salt corrodes a cable from the inside of the strand. It looks fine right up until it parts, and when one goes the door drops crooked and jams, which can bend track and twist a panel.

Rollers, Hinges and Fasteners

Rollers that skid along the track instead of spinning, cracked nylon, seized bearings, loose hinges and slack track fasteners. Tightened where possible, replaced where not.

Lubrication

Springs, bearing plates at each end of the shaft, and hinge pivots. Not the track, ever. A track wants to be clean and dry, and oil on it collects grit that grinds the rollers.

Both Safety Reversals

Photo eyes checked for height, below six inches, and for alignment. Then a beam-break test with the door closing. Then a contact reversal with a two by four laid flat on the floor.

A surprising number of doors fail one of those, usually because the sensors were moved to clear storage and never realigned.

What You Get

A written note of what was done, what is wearing, and what to expect next. Call Blitsycrafts at (562) 582-9206.