How to fix a noisy Garage Door?

Garage Doors and Roller Doors can, if left unchecked, make a lot of unnecessary noise, which can be very annoying for our customers and their neighbours. Although it is not possible to reduce or remove all door noise due to the mechanical operation of a garage door, it is possible to reduce or remove all unnecessary noise with regular general maintenance.

The majority of garage door and roller door noise comes from the following areas. All of them are treatable to varying degrees dependent on damage and other factors.

Sectional Door – Panel Design

Panel design is an important factor in the durability of all Sectional Garage Doors. Whether it be a Colorbond Sectional Door or a Custom designed Sectional garage door, the method by which the manufacturer designs its panels will determine whether the panels rub or couple smoothly during operation.

If the panels rub, in time this rubbing will produce an annoying grinding sound. On Colorbond Sectional Doors you will see the presence of black marks or rub marks. Applying Lithium Grease to these parts of the door will improve the doors operation and reduce the amount of noise being produced.

If the panels are damaged or have become corroded in anyway, the use of Lithium Grease may not produce any tangible results. In this case a door or panel replacement is likely necessary.

Sectional Door – Hinge Lubrication

Manufacturers of Sectional Garage Doors use different panel hinges for different brand designs. Some manufacturers choose hinges made of plastic composite materials whilst others choose to use Steel hinges. Irrespective of what the hinges are made of, they should not produce excessive noise during operation.

The most common cause of hinge noise from the plastic Composite hinges comes from the rubbing and friction build up with metal securing pins or metal castors. Metal rubbing on plastic will cause excessive friction problems over time causing motion slips in castors and grinding noises in panel hinges.

The use of silicon spray or lithium grease should reduce these problems and if used regularly prevent the noise from re-occurring.

Sectional Door – Bearings – Castors and Bearing Plates

Although not visible, bearings are essential components used in castor wheels and torsion assembly bearing plates. Bearings need to be lubricated with Non-Oil Based lubricants such as Silicon Spray. Oil based lubricants will attract dirt and dust particles, which have a corrosive effect on bearings which can cause castors to fail and bearing plates to collapse.

It is vital to ensure all bearings are regularly lubricated with Silicon Spray. This will not only alleviate bearing noise but will also increase operational longevity. Should the bearings collapse or show signs of significant wear then customers should contact their local garage door repair company immediately to arrange for replacement parts.

Sectional Door – Alignment

If a Sectional Garage Doors tracks are not correctly aligned, or if the door is not sitting in the correct horizontal position, the edges of the door may rub on the vertical and horizontal tracks causing a scraping sound. If this is left unchecked this could become a major issue and damage the door in the long run. Only an experienced garage door technician should attempt to safely realign a Sectional Garage Door.

Sectional Door – Springs

Sectional Garage Door springs provide the lifting power required to use the garage door effectively and efficiently. As a Sectional Garage Door is opened and closed the coiled spring rotates around the torsion bar and the spring completes a cycle of tensioning. This process can cause the ‘wire’ to rub if adequate lubrication is not applied. This most often results in a clunking noise. This noise can also occur if an installer has spread the springs to far causing a snake like appearance.

During installation installers will often smear the springs with grease, which will dampen the operational noise significantly. Applying lithium grease to these springs is advisable. The application of Lithium grease should be done whilst the door is in an upright position to allow the grease or silicon spray to penetrate the coil. If applied whilst the door is under tension, the grease or silicon spray cannot penetrate the coil and any tangible relief from the noise is unlikely.

Please do not attempt to make any adjustments to the spring. Only a qualified garage door technician should make or attempt to make spring tension adjustments.

Sectional Door – Cables

Sectional Door cables are the wire cables located to the left and the right of the sectional garage door. If the cables have become frayed or corroded, they can cause a distinct rubbing sound which can not be overcome without changing the cables. Frayed cables need to be replaced with urgency as they may break at anytime causing damage to your sectional garage door.

Please contact your local garage door repair company to change these cables. As these cables are part of the doors torsion system it is recommended that only experienced and qualified technicians attempt to change these cables.

Roller Door – Alignment

Roller Doors can, in time, come out of alignment due to several factors. During prolonged operation the door can track to one side and cause the door curtain to rub hard up against one of the tracks causing a metal scraping sound.

As there are several reasons as to why this may have occurred, it is recommended customers contact their local garage door company and book an inspection or service to resolve the issue. Roller doors, although simple to operate can be difficult to safely adjust.

Roller Door – Springs

As with Sectional Garage Doors, Roller Garage Doors operate effectively with the use of a torsion spring assembly. Roller Door torsion spring assemblies are concealed inside the roll of the door and are not visible to the user. If these springs suffer significant corrosion or become dry, they are susceptible to making a grinding or clunking sound during operation.

Although the application of lubrication will dampen the noise down, some roller doors are too large to effectively apply lubrication without removing the entire door and unwrapping it. This is not an effective solution and will likely cause door operation issues into the future. In these circumstances the installation of a new door is recommended.

Roller Door – Webbing

Webbing is the synthetic material which lines the sides of the roller door curtain. This webbing is stapled or fixed to the curtain to provide smooth operation of the door in time this webbing can become damaged and/or become separated from the curtain of the door. This will cause a metal on metal screeching noise as the door curtain and track rub.

Webbing is only fixed to the door during the manufacturing process and cannot be replaced retrospectively. If the webbing becomes damaged or removed from the door curtain, a complete door replacement is required.

A majority of your garage door noise at home could be a combination of any or one standalone factor mentioned above. Contact us today for a free no-obligation quote.