Why is My Garage Door Noisy?
Our goal is to help you answer this question and provide a few easy-to-follow tips to reduce the noise you may be hearing from your garage door.
To get started, you will need a few simple tools. An adjustable wrench, or a socket driver set, and a spray can of white lithium grease.
Most of the noise a garage door makes comes from various metal-on-metal contact points located throughout the door’s operating system. For example, the bolts used to secure the hinges to the backside of the door can loosen themselves over time. They may rattle while the door is in motion and can contribute to the noise you are hearing. You will want to tighten these bolts snug to the door while taking care not to over-tighten them. If these bolts are driven beyond snug, they may damage the integrity of the metal they are threaded into.
Next, apply a couple short bursts of white lithium grease to the pivot points on each of the hinges. Use a cloth or terry towel to catch overspray and wipe away any excess grease from the surface of the door. Be mindful not to apply too much lubricant as you will want to ensure the grease does not drip from the door onto the objects or floor below when the door is in the open position.
After you snugged the bolts and lubricated the hinges, the next step is to check the rollers in the tracks along the edges of your door. Are the rollers made of nylon or metal? Nylon rollers will operate quieter as they roll your door along the tracks. Metal rollers can be quite noisy. The long-term solution to quiet the rollers is to use precision bearing, nylon rollers on your door. However, if the door has metal rollers, then they likely have open ball bearings in the center of the roller. To reduce the noise, just apply a short burst of lithium grease into the opening and they should quiet down as they roll along the door tracks.
If the door has a torsion spring system, a light coat of lithium grease should be applied to the torsion springs as well. A torsion system may have a single spring, or a set of springs and the system is often located directly above the garage door when it is in the closed position. A torsion spring system is most notably characterized by torsion springs wound and secured to a long metal shaft above the door. Please note: Torsion Springs are under considerable tension and may be dangerous. DO NOT adjust or lubricate the set screws that secure the torsion springs to the metal shaft.
You will likely find bearings in the contact points along the metal shaft of a torsion spring system. These bearings are commonly located between any pairings of springs, and on each end of the metal shaft, near the cable drums. Just spray a little lithium grease in each gap, and on the sides where the drums are, and then run the door up and down a few times.
Believe it or not, the largest source of noise may be coming from your garage door opener. A chain drive opener tends to produce quite a bit of noise. The best long-term solution is to replace it with a belt-drive garage door opener. These openers are often considered “whisper-quiet.” If replacing your opener is not in your budget, the next best thing to do is tighten the chain. You need to be a little handy for this fix. Page 7 of this manual provides clear instructions on how to tighten the chain on Liftmaster. If you have a different model the instructions should be in the owner's manual.
Here is a video that provides detailed instruction on lubricating the different parts of your garage door.
Performing regular garage door maintenance can improve the performance and extend the useful life of your door.
**NOTE: PLEASE BE SURE YOUR GARAGE DOOR IS CLOSED AND SECURE WHEN PERFORMING ANY OF THESE SUGGESTIONS**
