The Garage Doors Lifespan: 6 Longevity Tips

Technically Reviewed by Oleg Chudnovski on Nov 21, 2023 | Written by Fix Appliances CA Editorial Contributors

Your garage door lifespan will lessen with common wear and tear, how often the door is serviced, and the environment where it is used. The more you know about the tips and care of a garage door, the better you can predict its performance. This article will help you determine a garage door’s lifespan and what you can do to increase it.

The Average Garage Door Life Expectancy

The average life expectancy of many major garage door brands is about 15-30 years. This means that at 15 years old, the garage door may be nearing the end of its useful life and could be dangerous while functioning.

Older garage doors could create dangerous situations for several reasons, such as:

• Broken or missing sensor: Sometimes, the sensors on a garage door get broken and won’t prevent the mechanical movement of the garage door. Some older doors might not even come equipped with laser sensors at the base of the door. A broken or mission sensor causes a dangerous situation where people or property could become crushed.
• Damaged/rough/rusted chains: One of the most important factors for the garage door’s longevity is checking for damaged chains. The chains that work with your garage door motor open and close the hanging door panels. These chains could break and drop off the doors.
• Damaged rails: If your garage door is not adequately serviced over its lifespan, the rails that allow the chain and door panels to glide up and down can become damaged and dangerous.

Factors to Determine How Many Years a Garage Door Last

Proper Service

Before your garage door breaks and needs a complete repair, there are many things that continual proper service can take care of. Good service for residential automatic garage doors should be done every 18 months, while commercial garage doors used more frequently should be serviced every 12 months.

Lubrication

The garage door’s moving parts need lubrication to do their job efficiently. Never let the grease on the critical components of your garage door get dry. If these moving parts get dry, you will get a squeaky warning before the wear and tear becomes too much and could cause the garage door to fail.

Loose Parts

If any of your garage door parts are loose, there is a risk that the whole system could fail.
Loose parts could cause the panels to become unhinged, the wheels to come off, or the springs to break. All these problems could damage your garage door and make it unsafe to operate.

Spring Types

Most standard garage door springs installed today are known as torsion springs.

Torsion springs are heavy-duty springs with a life expectancy of about 20,000 cycles of your garage door. Since a cycle is the opening and closing of the garage door, the typical spring in a garage door opened twice per day should last around 28 years.

However, some garage doors have tension springs. If you have a tension spring type on your garage door, the garage door life expectancy could be much less. Tension springs last about 5,000 to 10,000 cycles of the garage door opening and closing.

Bent Tracks

Your garage door tracks carry the weight and load of the door panels. They need to work seamlessly with the wheels of the panels and are subject to getting bent. If bent, the tracks put more wear and tear on the garage door motor, limiting its life expectancy.

Bent Door Panels

The door panels of garage doors are usually made of thin metal material. This material is easily bent from the inside or outside of your garage. If the doors become bent, the tracks of the garage door and the hinges in between the door panels are less efficient. This stresses the garage door’s motor more and reduces life expectancy.

Some of the Best Tips For Increasing Garage Doors Longevity

If your garage door is older and reaching an average lifespan of around 15-30 years old, some tips are crucial to ensure that you get the best out of the remaining years of your garage door.

Schedule Proper Service

The service of your garage door is critical in keeping everything moving smoothly. Professional garage door servicemen can diagnose, repair, and suggest care options for your garage door.

Lubricate all Moving Parts

Using garage door grease or a dry lubricant spray keeps the door from making squeaking noises. Also, the lubrication allows for a better range of motion and limits the stress on the garage door motor.

To lubricate the key components of your garage door, make sure that you wipe clean the parts you will be lubricating. Spray or spread the lubricant material on the wheels and bearings of the wheels, the arm, the hinges, the springs, and the roller where it comes in contact with the chains or wires.

Tighten Components

Using a screwdriver, you can usually tighten all of the components of your garage door satisfactorily. You will know when a part of your garage door is loose because you can hear it squeaking, rumbling, or shaking.

Ensure you identify the loose part and check all surrounding parts for looseness. Then, use the screwdriver to tighten the screws and bolts securely.

Install Torsion Springs

If your garage door has tension springs, you should install torsion springs to increase the garage door’s longevity. This is a complex project and should probably be completed by a professional. Make sure you consult with professional maintenance specialists before attempting this repair. To ensure a better commercial garage door lifespan, always use torsion springs.

Straighten Bent Tracks

If the tracks of your garage door are bent, you can usually see it. To straighten them out, use a rubber mallet and gently tap the rails back into a proper shape. This limits the friction produced by the bend.

Straighten or Replace Bent Door Panels

Blended door panels can be put back into proper shape by pounding them out gently with a rubber mallet. However, the door panels’ bends sometimes don’t allow the door to open or close. In these extreme situations, you may have to detach the door panel from the hinges and rail wheels and replace or fix it while detached.

Invest in Your Garage Doors Lifespan

Working on your garage door is tedious and complicated and should be done by trained servicemen. Our team of workers can do maintenance, install replacement parts, and repair old ones for most major brands of garage doors, openers, and remotes.

Our team is an authorized dealer for LiftMaster and Chamberlain and offers service and parts warranty for each installation. Also, our service members are WSIB trained for safety and insurance.

Take the time to call in the professionals and get a same-day quote of service from Fix Garage Doors today by calling (888) 242-0777 seven days a week for garage door repair in Toronto, Newmarket, Aurora, Vaughan or any of the GTA surrounding areas. You are sure to receive excellent services as soon as possible.