3 Essential Tips to Stop Your Garage Door Freezing This Winter

How to Keep Your Garage Door From Freezing to the Ground

During the winter months, there’s nothing more annoying than trying to leave for work and having to find a way to leverage your garage door open because it’s frozen shut to the ground. That’s when we normally get the de-icer and lubricant out and go crazy to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

However, that can sometimes provide you with more issues than solutions. Here we’ve provided you with three essential tips to prevent your garage door hinges from freezing this winter.

1. Apply garage door lubrication with a silicon or lithium-based lubricant

We use grease to lubricate bike chains and door handles, so why wouldn’t you want to use it on the hinges of your garage door?

The issue is that in freezing temperatures, grease will freeze just like water, which doesn’t really help your situation at all. Instead, it’s best to find a silicone lubricant which won’t turn your hinges to ice when the weather gets colder. We’ve found that WD-40 is very effective at lubricating garage door hinges, and you’ll find  it in stock pretty much anywhere.

Be sure to remove the previous application of grease before applying the new lubricant, though, otherwise, you’ll still encounter issues. You should spray some garage door lubrication to your tracks and rollers while you’re at it, to ensure that they don’t cause any issues when opening the door, too.

2. Apply salt to your garage door

Salt reduces the freezing point of water, which means that it’s really handy for warding off the ice where it’s not wanted. Although it’s difficult to apply it to the hinges of your garage door, you will be able to put it on the garage floor around the door to prevent water from getting under it and freezing the garage door to the floor. This is another common occurrence and will prevent you from getting to work on time!

To avoid any corrosion, it’s recommended that you use table salt. Also, if you’re ever inside the garage and realize that the hinges are frozen you can apply salt to them help you quickly melt the ice.

3. Move the car out of the garage straight away

We’ve all been there. It’s a cold day, so you turn the heaters on in the car before you get in, so that it’s nice and toasty when you get in so you can set off on your journey without chattering teeth.

However, it will also raise the temperature in your garage, melting any ice on your garage door, which will run to the bottom and reform to ice once you leave. This will definitely cause issues when your return, as your garage door will be frozen to the floor.

To prevent this, move your car out of the garage as soon as you start it. There’s no point applying garage door lubrication to your hinges if you’re going to freeze the door to the ground anyway!

Consider Preventive Winter Garage Door Maintenance Service

If you’re unsure what you’ll need to do to prevent your garage door from freezing to your garage floor or malfunction during the cold winter months, consider scheduling a preventive maintenance appointment.

A professional garage door technician can come perform a routine tune up and provide you with additional tips. If you’re in Madison, WI or the surrounding areas, call or contact Madison Local Garage Door Pros online to schedule your service today!


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