Commercial garage doors are subject to a lot of use, which leads to wear and tear. When you add in the cold temperatures and snow in the winter, that makes for a pretty damaging combination. The best thing you can do for your building's garage doors is to prepare them for the winter threats early. When the fall chill sets in, here are a few things that you should do.

Use a Cold-Weather Lubricant

The lubricant you use on your garage door can be affected by the weather. If you're using one that's not made from silicone, you run the risk that the lubricant will thicken in the cold weather, binding up in the moving parts and causing the door to stick in the track. Silicone doesn't stiffen in the cold, so make sure your lubricant is a silicone product.

Don't Risk Heat Loss

When the fall weather starts rolling in, it's time to build a weather strip barrier around the garage door. Add new weather stripping seals around the perimeter of the door to help keep the cold outside air from seeping past the door. This not only helps you minimize cold weather damage, it also helps you to reduce the chances of any sticking, which can happen with the older weather stripping in the cold.

Inspect and Clean It

Monitor the condition of the garage door, especially as the temperatures drop. If you see any kind of damage to the door, the track, or the other components, it's important that you address it right away. Leaving them in the cold weather could cause cracks to spread and other damage to worsen. Make a point to do a full door inspection weekly so you can spot trouble as early as possible.

In addition, clean the sensors on the door on a regular basis. Especially in the winter, the more often you clean them, the better. The salt and ice melt products will form a haze and build up on the sensor lenses if you don't keep them clean. This can interfere with proper door operation and may even prevent your doors from opening or closing at all as part of a security override.

When you take the time to address your garage door's specific needs for the cold weather, it will help you to keep it running at its best. These tips will help your garage door overcome the cold weather and give you a winter season of reliable, consistent operation.

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