Quick! Answer this question: What gets used every day but often goes unthought of?

Your garage door!

Homeowners have a lot of things to worry about and tend to neglect one of the more important areas of the home. Garage doors need care and maintenance much like the car it protects.

Any automatic garage door needs to be lubricated every so often. How do you know which garage door lubricant to choose? Keep reading to find out.

Why Is Garage Door Lubricant Necessary?

Before you can choose the right garage door lubricant, you’ll want to know its importance. Without lubricants, you cannot open and close the garage door smoothly because of the direct metal-on-metal contact.

Hinges and bearings are among the moving parts that will wear out faster and make it difficult to open and close the garage door. Lubrication acts as a protective barrier against your garage door’s moving parts.

It can help fix noisy garage door and minimize the wear and tear on essential moving parts. Your garage is more susceptible to rust and corrosion without the use of lubricant.

The buildup of rust can eat at unprotected metal surfaces and cause components to fail long before they should. The conditions for rust to form are blocked with lubricants.

Choosing the Best Garage Door Lubricants

Not every lubricant is made with quality in mind. Some lubricants aren’t right for cold or hot temperatures. You’ll want to consider weather conditions in your area when choosing a garage door lubricant.

Here are the main factors to keep in mind when picking a lubricant:

Lubricating Base

Silicone and lithium are the most effective garage door lubricant bases. They both work well but might have different applications. In some cases, using a combination of the two is best.

Both lubricant types are safe for nonmetal garage door operating components. For example, you might have a nylon or plastic roller. Seals are often rubber-based as well.

Form

Grease and spray are among the two most common forms of garage door lubricants. Grease tends to be messier but it can eliminate friction and is long-lasting.

Lithium or silicone-based greases resist hard weather conditions the best.

Sprays are easier to apply to garage parts and are usually silicone-based. Sprays can soak into small crevices to protect areas that grease won’t reach.

Intended Use

How do you plan to use your garage door lubricant? Some products are better for treating certain areas than others. Grease works best for rails and tracks while sprays work best for wheels and hinges.

Finding the Right Garage Door Lubricant for Your Needs

A garage door lubricant is not a one size fits all product. There are different variations of lubricants that work best for some applications while not working well at all for others.

Once you find the garage door lubricant for your needs by using this guide, you can get into a routine for using it. Most factors will depend on your specific climate and garage door.

Looking for more articles that can help you around the home? Check out our other posts now.