Garage roller doors are not renowned for their quiet operation. A bit of noise is unavoidable when the door is opening and closing, but there are limits. How can you tell when that limit has been breached and your roller door needs to learn how to keep the noise down?

An Almighty Racket

It's not like a noisy roller door is immediately obvious. This escalation in the noise level occurs gradually, over the course of years. It might be that one day you just realise that the simple act of operating your garage door is making an almighty racket. You need to do something about it, not only for the distraction of the noise, but also for the fact that excessive noise is a sign of some overdue maintenance. 

Lubrication and Tightening

The first (and hopefully final) step of making that garage door quiet involves some lubrication and tightening. You'll be applying lubricant to the motor chain (as well as the opening track), and you'll be tightening the nuts on the door and track to prevent excessive rattling. There are a number of products designed specifically to lubricate a garage door, and a silicone spray or lithium grease will be more than acceptable. When you lubricate the chain, ensure that it's not slack, as this is a sign it will need replacement. You'll need a wrench to tighten the nuts and check for signs of degradation on each nut since some of them might benefit from replacement.

Open and Close

The effects of your efforts should be quickly evident, although you should open and close your garage door a couple of times to allow the lubricant to fully work its way into the mechanism. But what about if this all proves to be insufficient at reducing the level of operating noise?

The Rollers

Check the rollers. These are the wheels that are affixed to the side to the door and move through the opening track as the door opens and closes. These are generally steel, and since the opening track is also steel, this metal-on-metal friction can create a lot of noise when the rollers are loose. You could tighten these, but you will cut a huge amount of operating noise if they're replaced with nylon rollers. They're just as durable as their steel counterparts, and nylon rubbing against steel is going to be far quieter.

Although this type of maintenance is essential, if the overall operation of the garage door is still far too loud, your actual motor might require some professional maintenance. To get help with a roller door, contact a garage service in your area.

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