Compared to your car, which requires regular maintenance and yearly inspection, a garage door can be easy to forget, until it becomes impossible to ignore.

Sometimes, homeowners don't think about their garage doors.

Compared to your car, which requires regular maintenance and yearly inspection, a garage door can be easy to forget.

Easy to forget, that is, until it becomes impossible to ignore.

Jim Ford, of Jim Ford's Garage Door Service in Butler, said most people only pay attention to their garage doors after they have already broken.

“Most people don't get maintenance done or take notice until it's already broken,” Ford said.

Just like with a vehicle, regular garage door maintenance can extend a door's life and help avoid major breaks.

“They should use a lubricating spray to lubricate their hinges, rollers and springs three to four times per year,” said Justin Wagner, sales manager at Gerald Giel Garage Doors. “Preventative maintenance keeps it quiet and prevents breaks.”

Ford said it is important to use a lubricant that is able to get down into the doors' hinges and ball bearings.“Garage door lubricant is thicker and doesn't get into the ball bearings,” Ford said. “You want to use an oil that gets in there. Lithium grease doesn't get down in there.”Ford said even something simple, such as WD-40 or 3-in-One will work, but you might have to apply it a little more often.A common, and noticeable, cause of door malfunction is a broken spring.“You'll know when a spring breaks, because it makes a loud bang, and you can visually see a spring is broken,” Wagner said.Other common problems are cables wearing out and the gear assembly in the opener not working, all of which can render the door inoperable.

According to Wagner, a good rule of thumb for detecting a potential problem early on is listening to hear if the door starts making louder sounds than usual.If you notice it getting louder, you may be in need of service, Wagner said.Along with repairs, both companies also handle ordering and installation.When calling to inquire about buying a new door, Wagner said the most important thing to know is the size you are looking for.“Helpful things are the size of the garage door and, if they're calling for a repair, what brand it is,” Wagner said. “There's people who call us and know everything they want and there's people who call us and have no idea. Both are OK.”Other than the style of the door, Ford said important things to consider are also how much insulation needed, important in the winter months if the garage is attached to the house, and if you want any windows.As for style, Wagner and Ford both said that wooden-looking barn-style doors are the most popular.

“That's a bigger trend right now,” Wagner said. “People are looking for that barn-door style.”Those style of doors only look wooden, however. They are still made out of metal.“There's far less maintenance with steel,” Ford said. “You don't see actual wood doors very often because they're very expensive, and there's a lot of maintenance. They're mostly a thing of the past.”Full-view glass doors are also popular right now, according to Wagner, but you will not see many locally because they offer little protection against the winter cold.Installation of a standard pair of doors takes about a day of work. But if you are considering buying new doors in the near future, you may want to accelerate your plans.Because of the pandemic and the freeze in Texas in February, Ford said the wait time for installation has gone from a couple of weeks to two or three months.

The busiest time of year for garage door installations is typically from the end of August to the beginning of December. The drastic change in temperature can exacerbate issues, leading to more breaks.People also generally want to get a door installed before winter to stave off any cold. Anyone building a home will also want a door put in around the same time because it would allow them to continue work into the winter months.For more information about garage door installation and repair, you can call Jim Ford's Garage Door Service at 724-282-0628 and Gerald Giel Garage Doors at 724-287-1673, or visit them online at geraldgiel.com.