What a Garage Door Service Actually Includes
A garage door service is cheap next to a spring failure, a snapped cable or a burnt-out motor, but only if it is a service and not a quick spray of oil. This page sets out what a proper service covers, what is normally an extra, and what you can reasonably check yourself between visits.
The door, not just the motor
- Balance: the door is released and lifted by hand to check that the springs still carry its weight, and left halfway to see whether it stays there.
- Springs and cables: checked for corrosion, for a cable that has jumped a drum, and for the safety cable that should run through a torsion spring.
- Rollers, hinges and bearings: checked for flat spots, play and dryness, and replaced where they are worn rather than greased and left.
- Track: checked for alignment, for loose brackets and for dents that a roller is catching on.
- Bottom seal and the gap under the door: a perished seal lets in water, wind and insects, and on a sloped driveway it lets in water that reaches the garage floor.
- Panels, struts and fixings: checked for cracks around the hinges and for corrosion along the bottom edge, which is where a coastal door normally starts to fail.
Then the opener
- Force and limit settings checked and adjusted so the door closes fully without straining.
- Safety reversal tested: the door must reverse when it meets an obstruction, and the safety beam must stop it closing when the beam is broken.
- Drive chain, belt or screw checked for tension and wear, and lubricated where the manufacturer allows it.
- Manual release checked, so the door can still be opened by hand in a power failure.
- Battery backup tested, and the remote batteries checked.
What is usually an extra, and should be quoted separately
- Replacement parts: springs, cables, rollers, hinges, a bent track section, a bottom seal.
- A new remote or keypad.
- A replacement backup battery.
- Repairing or replacing a control board.
- Anything that turns the visit into a repair - which is why the quote should say what a service costs and what a repair costs, separately.
How often, on the Cape Town coast
- Coastal air carries salt, and salt is what attacks springs, cables and the bottom edge of a door. A door within a few kilometres of the sea usually needs attention more often than one inland.
- The honest answer is that the interval depends on the door, the shelter of the opening and how much it is used, so ask the contractor who sees the door what they recommend.
- A door that has become noisy, that hesitates, or that has started to look crooked is telling you the interval is over, whatever the calendar says.
- A rental property, a body corporate or a complex gate that runs all day should be on a fixed schedule rather than a reaction.
What you can check yourself between services
- Release the door and lift it: it should move easily and stay where you leave it.
- Look at both safety eyes: the indicator light on each should be steady, not flickering, and nothing should be between them.
- Press the safety beam while the door is closing: it must stop and reverse.
- Look at the gap under the door on both sides while it is closed: one side lower means the door is out of balance.
- Wipe the tracks clear of grit, and do not oil the tracks - oil collects dust and turns into a paste that wears the rollers.
- Do not touch the springs, the cables, or the drums they run on. Those are the parts that injure people.
04 · Good to know
Frequently asked questions
How is a service different from a repair?
A service is a set of checks and adjustments on a door that is working. A repair fixes something that has failed. They should be priced separately, and a quote should not hide a repair inside a service.
Do I need to service a door that is working perfectly?
A working door is the best time to service it, because worn springs, dry rollers and a corroded cable are cheaper to deal with before they fail. If the door is noisy, hesitating or out of balance, it is already overdue.
Can I just oil the door myself and skip the service?
Oil on the hinges and rollers is useful where the manufacturer allows it. Oil on the tracks is not, and no amount of oil fixes a spring that has lost tension or a cable that is fraying.
Does a service include the motor?
It should. A service that checks only the door and not the opener's force, limits, safety reversal and backup battery has not checked the part that moves the door.