Cold winter weather can wreak havoc on certain things around your home. It can do such things as impact how your car starts at times and it can freeze any exposed plumbing too. Many people do not realize it but cold weather can severely impact your garage door’s ability to work also. You just might get a big surprise if the weather is really cold out when you hit the button to open it. Here are some common garage door problems in winter and some possible ways to resolve them.

Door Frozen to the Garage Floor

One of the worst things that could possibly happen as a result of your garage door being frozen shut is that a part on it may break as the garage door struggles to open. The most susceptible parts when this happens are your garage door springs and pulleys. It could also fry your opener motor if you let it try to pull up your garage door without success for a long period of time.

So how do you keep your garage door from freezing up around the edges so it won’t get stuck to the ground? The first thing you need to do is make sure that you don’t let moisture build up along the bottom edge. Make sure that area is level and water does not pond up there. Also, clear away any snow that accumulates in that area in significant amounts.

If your garage door does get frozen to the ground never let it run for long periods of time trying to pull the garage door up. As we mentioned, this is extremely bad for the opener motor. Try spreading some hot water or sprinkling some ice melting pellets along the bottom edge of the door to free it up. You can also try opening the garage door manually instead of automatically to see if this freed up the garage door.

Creaking and Other Unusual Noises as It Opens

No matter what type of material your garage door is made out of, the sections of it will still be connected using metal parts. When cold weather hits metal, it’s no secret that those metal parts will contract. That can have a lot of strange results. It can cause twisting and shifting of those parts so they are no longer aligned perfectly like they were when they were warm. The result of this is often a garage door that creaks and moans loudly as its being used. It can be so loud it may wake your sleeping family members as you open your garage door to get your car out and go to work.

What can you do about a problem like this? You may not have to do anything. Because once the metal garage door pieces heat up the creaking and groaning will most likely stop. You can also avoid some of this by making sure that all of your garage door parts that need lubricating have a good coat of lubrication on them in the winter. Id the cold actually causes damage to your garage door, then you will have to call a garage door specialist to come to fix it.

Thickened Lubricants

One of the biggest reasons why garage doors have problems in colder weather is because the vital lubricants on the system thicken up. When this happens they do not lubricate parts as well as they did when they were thinner. This can cause herky-jerky garage door operation and also puts undue stress on moving metal garage door parts.

This is a hard thing to avoid in the winter months but there are a couple of things you can do. The first is to not put too much lubricant on the garage door parts that need it. You can also try to find lubricants that will work well even under cold weather conditions

Broken Springs

Winter weather is not very friendly to your garage door springs either. Once again this has to do with the metal these springs are made of becoming less flexible when it’s cold. This can cause the springs to become very noisy when the garage door operates and it may work poorly too. There’s also a better chance that your garage door springs will break in colder weather as opposed to warm weather.

There really is not much you can do to avoid this. It will help a little if your springs are not over tightened because this extra strain when they are brittle because of the cold could definitely break them.

Frozen Seals

Most garage doors these days have some type of weather seal or weather stripping around them. These sealants are placed there for several reasons. The biggest reason for which is to help keep out moisture. They also will cut down the amount of dust and other airborne contaminants that find their way around the small cracks between a garage door and the garage structure. Keeping out those unwanted contaminants is important because they all will greatly accelerate the wear and tear on your garage door.

How does winter weather affect these seals? Well for starters, it makes them lose their suppleness or ability to expand and contract as necessary. That means they will not fall into place easily and make a nice seal around your garage door. Even though this itself does not adversely impact your garage door, the elements that pass by your garage door seals like moisture and dust certainly will.

What to Do if a Garage Door Part Breaks During Cold Weather

The best thing to do if a garage door part breaks during the colder months is to call a garage door professional. Garage door repair companies out of Lawrenceville, Georgia have the parts and the know-how to fix any garage door problem. Many of them will even come to your home after hours as part of a garage door emergency service call. Garage door professionals have a reputation for offering reasonable pricing and for being able to get the job done in a single trip.