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Winter is coming! The days of pulling out the pool floaties and grabbing a cold drink from the cooler on a hot day have passed. As temperatures start dropping, it’s time to make sure your garage doors are ready for frigid weather. Your garage is a vital part of your home year-round and it can be a real inconvenience when the garage door opener isn’t working. It’s important to maintain all the systems of your garage for them to last through the winter and continue to operate efficiently when warm weather returns. Luckily, here is some good news you can always count on with Garage Doors of Indianapolis:
Call us this morning for service today!
Today? Yes, TODAY!
317-860-0806
Why Garage Door Winterization Matters
You’re busy, and maybe you don’t know a lot about home maintenance. We get it! Your garage door is likely something you don’t think much about until it doesn’t work properly, but being proactive around winterizing your garage door can make a big impact, both environmentally and financially.
If you’re concerned about burning fossil fuels warming the planet and want to help address climate change by doing something practical, winterizing your garage door will actualy help reduce your home’s carbon footprint by reducing heat loss (assuming you heat your home with fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, coal, propane, kerosene, etc.). From a more financial perspective, minimizing heat loss through your garage by properly wintering your garage door will save you money on your heating bills.
Whether your primary motivation for winterizing your garage door is environmental or financial, it’s a win-win project that will pay real dividends on both fronts for years to come. If you’re busy or don’t have the knowledge needed to take on this kind of project, though, then it’s time to contact Garage Doors of Indianapolis. We provide reliable information and professional services to make sure your garage door remains in excellent working condition and is as energy-efficient as possible. Read on to discover what’s involved in garage door winterization.
PREPARATION
We’ve already mentioned the environmental and financial benefits of preparing your garage door for winter. Cold weather can be hard on all the components of your garage door, so getting everything ready for a winterization project is important, including the following:
Changing Batteries: Remote garage door buttons and external keypads are vital tools and gateways to warmth. Ensure you don’t get stuck out in the snow by checking their batteries, and sider keeping a spare set of batteries nearby is a great way to achieve peace of mind knowing you can quickly replace batteries if/when needed.
Organizing Winter Tools: Make no mistake, winter in central Indiana is the season for bad weather. Locate any snow blowers, shovels, salt bags, ice scrapers, or tools you may need to battle the winter and keep them at the ready. Check the weather frequently so you’re not surprised by changes that could affect your routine.
Closing the Garage Door: Winters in Indiana can be brutally cold at times! Keeping your garage door closed is better for the door’s lifespan, not to mention your heating bills. It also prevents excess moisture and brisk air from making a home in the welcoming warmth of your garage and causing damage during its stay.
INSPECTION
Since most people don’t pay much attention to their garage door until it isn’t working, one of the most useful things you can do is have a garage door professional come to your home and do a thorough inspection of your garage door. You’ll likely be surprised to find out how many different ways garage door(s) could be improved for optimal functionality and energy efficiency. A good inspection should include the following:
Checking for Cracks and Gaps: Weatherstripping, sensors, windowpanes, door panels, and metal springs can all become victims of winter weather. These components are less durable and will result in heat loss if not properly maintained. While a visual inspection is usually effective, a more serious inspection will use a technique such as a smoke test to identify leaks. Identifying gaps in the garage door frame and surrounding walls is another important focal point of an inspection. Those can be sealed with threshold seals, caulking, or weather-resistant sealants.
Addressing Metal Contraction: Metal contracts in cold temperatures. When this happens, some nuts, bolts, and screws may become loose or even fall out of place and will need to be tightened and/or replaced to make sure your garage door works properly during winter months. Metal contraction can also affect metal springs, which is why it’s important to keep an eye on them.
Lubricate Moving Parts: Because winter means an increased risk of parts sticking or freezing, it’s critical to regularly lubricate ball bearings, rollers, springs, hinges, and other metal components.
Adjusting Sensors: Even if the sensors don’t have visual cracks, they may still need to be realigned for optimal functionality. These key safety features can become askew over time, and adjusting them back into place is an important aspect of their usefulness.
MAINTENANCE
Keeping up with regular maintenance of your garage door may feel like a chore, but it’s worth its weight in gold in terms of preventing what everyone fears the most, which is a malfunctioning garage door in the middle of winter when you’re least prepared to deal with it. (Don’t forget you can always call us in the morning for same-day emergency service: 317-860-0806.)
Insulate the Garage Door: Insulating your garage door is one of the best ways to improve energy efficiency, fight climate change, and save money on your heating bills. There are a variety of different garage door insulation materials, and each has its own R-value, which is a measurement of the insulation’s ability to slow heat transmission. The higher the R-value, the greater its effectiveness in preventing heat loss. Here are the most common choices of garage door insulation materials with their corresponding R-values:
- Fiberglass batting: Can add R3–R4 per inch of thickness.
- Polystyrene foam board: Can add R3.8–5 per inch of thickness.
- Polyurethane foam: Can add R5.5–R6.5 per inch of thickness.
- Radiant barrier reflective insulation: R-values of these reflective materials vary widely by product, and they’re often available in DIY garage door insulation kits.
While there are DIY (do-it-yourself) garage door insulation kits (usually using the reflective barrier type of material mentioned above), if you want your garage door to be seriously well-insulated, you can’t beat working with a professional garage door company like Garage Doors of Indianapolis that has the expertise and experience to do it right. For more information on garage door insulation, check out The Best Insulation Service in the Indianapolis Area and The Importance of Garage Door Insulation.
Cleaning: The tracks and sensors of your garage door should be cleared of any debris in order for them to continue to run smoothly. Even the door itself could probably use a wipe down as dirt can make its way into places it shouldn’t and cause a variety of problems. Also check for any rust spots, water damage, or warping that may have occurred since the garage door’s last check-up.
Lubricating: Working pieces such as ball bearings, rollers, springs, hinges, and any other metal parts that move should be sprayed regularly. This is crucial in the winter months as these components are more prone to sticking, causing excessive tension, which in turn can lead to costly damage.
Balancing: To keep all parts running smoothly, the tracks and metal framing need to be aligned, and a quick balance check should do the trick. Misalignment creates additional wear and tear every time the garage door is opened and closed, which will great reduce its useful lifespan over time. Have a professional check these regularly to ensure all is operating correctly.
Environmental Impact of Regular Maintenance: Like most home systems and infrastructure, garage doors need to be well-maintained to achieve any kind of meaningful reduction in environmental impact, especially in terms of heat loss during winter months. If a door doesn’t close all the way, or has gaps because of misalignment, it won’t matter how well-insulated it is because those gaps will allow all the heat loss you’re trying to prevent!
CONSULTATION
Are you surprised by how many different aspects, parts, and components there are to your garage door? You’re not alone! Most people don’t realize how complex the whole system is, and how many different things can go wrong over time without proper inspection, maintenance, and repair services being performed on a regular basis. Garage door maintenance is something you should put right on your calendar, just like you would with your car, your home’s furnace and plumbing, and so on. After all, few things can be more disruptive to your normal daily routine than suddenly discovering you can’t open or close your garage door, especially when it’s winter! And remember, professional service today is only a phone call away in the morning: 317-860-0806.
Garage Doors of Indianapolis: A Trusted Partner for Everything Related to Garage Doors
Garage Doors of Indianapolis offers residential customers like you all the garage door services you might ever want or need, from sales and installation to repairs, maintenance, replacements, and emergency service when needed. We carry an impressive array of garage door styles, and we warmly invite you to come out to our headquarters and showroom at 5041 W. 96th Street in Indianapolis to see for yourself! We’ve been a family-owned, family-operated Indy business for more than 30 years because of our incredible reputation and solid track record of expertise, experience, and stellar customer service. Whether you need a whole new door, an inspection, repair, or maintenance service to prepare for winter, we’re ready to get the job done for you quickly and efficiently. Get in touch today through the contact page of our website or give us a call at 317-860-0806. You’ll be glad you did!