5 Steps to Winterize Your Garage!
- While it’s best to winterize your garage and home before the cold settles in, it’s never too late to take precautions to make your home energy-efficient, to ensure you’re warm the rest of the winter, and save some cash on utility bills year-round. In addition to weatherstripping your garage door (we can help with that), entry doors and windows, you should always:
- Examine the garage door track for debris.
Dirt and grime like spider webs, dust, and yard waste can collect in the tracks of a garage door. Clear out the grit and grime, and don’t forget the gloves! - Check the weather stripping on your door.
If you can feel air moving between your door and the frame or the ground, the current weather stripping isn’t doing its job. If the weather stripping isn’t sufficient to make a good seal, remove it and scrape off the excess adhesive. Close the door and align the weather stripping so the rubber flap flattens slightly against the door. - Visually inspect the space around your garage door.
If you can see light between your door and the frame or the ground, then the door isn’t fitted properly. Aligning a garage door is a task best left to a professional. Our service technicians can align and fit the door to make it seal better and be more energy efficient. - Check your garage door for loose or bent parts.
Properly maintaining your door will help to keep your home comfortable during the winter. Loose, bent, broken or worn out parts can cause serious damage and they can affect the ability to keep weather out. - Consider updating to an energy-efficient garage door.
One way to improve the energy efficiency of your garage is to replace a traditional steel garage door with an energy efficient one. Traditional steel garage doors don’t typically have any insulation, which makes their R value fairly low; many are rated 0 and upscale models go to 7.4. Insulated steel garage doors have R values which range from 9.31 to 17.5, which can make a significant impact on transferring outside air to your garage.
BONUS TIP: Insulate your water heater.
If you water heater is in your garage, you may want to insulate it. If your hot water tank is newer, it is likely already insulated. If you have an older one, check the R-value, which is measurement of thermal resistance. It should have an R-value of at least 24. If it doesn’t, consider insulating it. Energy.gov has great DIY details and instructions.
BONUS TIP: Cover exposed pipes.
If you have water lines that send water from inside to the outside, prep them for winter by shutting them off and purging them. Then cover any exposed pipes with plastic or foam pipe insulation. If you don’t have that handy, try a home-made version using old towels or worn-out t-shirts and duct tape.
Prevent Garage Door Breakdowns with a Winterization Tune-Up
Our winterization tune-up is a must to prevent maintenance issues from forming during the bitter cold months. King Door has a team of professionally trained technicians to help keep your garage door and opener in tip-top shape with a winterization tune up.
Winter is the worst time to have problems with your garage door. Cold air, severe winds and winter rains are quick to enter your garage and they can be a terrible nuisance.Avoid problems like this and schedule a Winterization Tune-Up. Our expert technicians will make sure that everything is in working order, plus they can spot any warning signs that indicate a part will fail in the future. The Winterization Tune-Up includes the items listed below for up to three garage doors and opener systems in your home. Before the tune-up, our service technicians will discuss any noticeably visible repair/replacement issues with you.
- Review garage doors under a 14-point maintenance and safety inspection
- Tighten or replace defective bolts and nuts
- Lubricate rollers, pulleys and the whole drive mechanism on garage doors
- Check garage door opener systems under a 12-point maintenance and safety inspection
- Adjust electric door openers, tighten the chain and set limit switches
- Lubricate the whole drive mechanism on opener systems
- Inspect the keypad and transmitter batteries*
- PLUS inspect the weather stripping and garage door bottom seal
Prep for the colder weather by having your door tuned by the local experts at King Door!