One of the first things a visitor or passersby notices about your home is your garage door — the color, the style, the size, whether it is open or closed, or whether it overwhelms your house instead of accentuating the existing architecture. At Smart Doors, we are the number one residential garage door and commercial garage door company in the Greater Toronto Area, and we can help you choose the best garage door for your home, needs, and budget.

Depending on the quality of the model and other factors, many overhead garage doors can last for decades, but only if you follow common-sense advice and perform regular maintenance.

Here are the top 10 questions many customers ask about overhead garage doors:

1) What maintenance is needed? Most garage doors should be washed a few times a year using water, mild soap, and a soft-bristle brush. Metal doors can be painted every three to five years, but wood doors every year or two.

2)  Do I need to oil or lubricate the chain, garage door, or tension spring? Yes. You can use any lightweight oil, preferably WD40, every year for any overhead garage door’s moving parts.

3) The opener is noisy when opening the door. What can I do about it? Garage doors may become unbalanced or have one or more damaged or broken springs. Do not try and repair or replace high-tension springs on your own. Call Smart Doors today for more information.

4)The garage door opener is not working from the wall panel or the handheld remote. Why? Problems with openers for overhead garage doors may be electrical or battery problems. For remotes, check and replace the batteries annually. The sensors on either side of the door may also be out of alignment or blocked.

5) The opener works from the wall panel but not the remote. What is wrong? Check to see if the wall panel has a flashing light. If it has, it may have sent a signal to lock out the remote unit and will have to be reset.

6) How can we dampen the noise from the opener? Overhead garage door openers are prone to heavy vibrations, in which case it may be necessary to install a vibration isolator kit to resolve the problem.

7) The door opens, but will not close. Why? Again, the most likely culprit is sensors that are misaligned, or there is an object blocking the sensors.

8) Why does the door start to close, then reverse? Again, the sensors may be misaligned, but a more likely cause is an object that is blocking them, activating the reverse safety mechanism.

9) Why is my garage drafty or cold in the winter? This could mean the weather stripping around the door has come to lose, or there are gaps in the jam or frame around the door opening.

10) Finally, many customers ask where to get garage door repair information if they have misplaced their owner’s manual. In this case, contact Smart Doors!