Garage Door Will Not Close In Cold Weather? (Do This!)

As a child, waking up to a snow day is a pleasant surprise. You get to stay home from school, play around in the snow, and maybe sip on some hot chocolate. As adults, the snow is not as fun since it often just stops you from getting on with your day faster.

Snow on the driveway is not the only thing you have to worry about. Cold temperatures can also mess with different parts of your home such as your garage. To be more specific, your garage door may not close properly while it’s cold outside.

Your garage door not closing properly could be due to frozen grease, condensation on the sensors, or problems with certain components. The panels of your garage door could also freeze due to the cold temperatures. Solutions for those issues can include applying some lubricant, cleaning up the garage door, or replacing some parts.

The cold weather can prevent your garage door from closing all the way. Learn how to resolve that problem by continuing with the rest of this article.

We all know the type of havoc that cold and snowy weather can wreak on a typical household. You cannot just be fixated on the inside of your home though. Outside, other parts of your home may be having issues as well.

Check on your garage to see if it closed properly after you came home the night before. There’s a chance that the door did not close all the way and you just failed to notice it.

So, how did the cold weather stop your garage door from closing completely? Listed below are the different ways the cold weather can affect your garage door. We’ve also included the fixes you can use to address those issues.

One of the best ways to fix the issues caused by the hardening grease is to apply more lubricant. Target the moving spots covered with the most hardened grease and coat them with a silicone-based lubricant of some kind. You can use a brush to get the fresh lubricant into the nooks and crannies of the garage door.

Test your garage door after applying the fresh lubricant. It may already start working at that point.

Applying fresh lubricant may not be enough if the old lubricant has already frozen over. What you need to do instead is essentially thaw the frozen lubricant. Try using a hairdryer to liquefy the lubricant coating the parts of your garage door.

The sensors on your garage door are pieces of safety equipment. They will prevent your garage door from closing if they detect any obstructions.

During the winter, some cold air may blow into your garage and cause condensation to form over the sensors. The sensors could also become misaligned due to how the garage door’s metal components react to the cold air.

Whether it’s condensation or contraction, the cold temperature can certainly have an impact on your garage door’s sensors. It’s time for you to fix those issues.

Start by grabbing a clean piece of cloth. A piece of microfiber cloth or something else that’s soft will be ideal here. Use that soft cloth to wipe the lenses of both garage door sensors clean.

Try closing the garage door again after wiping the lenses and clearing out the area. If they still didn’t close, the issue may be with their alignment.

Use your phone’s camera to check if the receiving sensor is getting the beam from the other sensor. Adjust the sensors as needed to ensure the beams are transmitted.

There’s also a chance that the garage door sensors are busted. You will likely have to replace the sensors themselves if that’s the case.

We’ve already talked about different parts of the garage door that can freeze during the winter. Let’s complete that list by also mentioning the garage door panels and the weather stripping.

The weatherstripping lining your garage door may freeze if there’s water covering it. When you go to close the door, the ice covering the weather stripping may prevent the formation of a tight seal. The presence of ice along the weather stripping can also stop you from opening the garage door.

As for the panels of your garage door, they may start to freeze after prolonged exposure to the cold air. Droplets of water on the panels may freeze the longer they stay there. You may only notice those frozen panels of the garage door after you tried to close it.

The entries above account for the common problems that affect garage doors during the winter and how to fix them. You should find a solution that works among those options provided. If they still aren’t working, you may want to give other options a try.

For instance, you can try to adjust your garage door. The garage door may not be set to close all the way. Check out the garage door manual and find out how to make the needed adjustments.

Also try to reset the garage door sensors if they aren’t working. That old trick can work for more than just computers. It could also be the key to getting your garage door sensors back online.

Lastly, you should check the remote for the garage door too. The batteries in there may have died without you noticing. Before trying a drastic fix, replace the batteries in the remote first.

Maintaining a garage door is pretty easy. You only have to focus on cleaning them and lubricating them.

When it comes to cleaning, you just need a brush and the appropriate cleaning agent. The appropriate cleaning agent is whichever one works best with the material in front of you. Clean the moving parts of the garage door regularly to stop bits of debris from getting lodged in there.

Lubrication is easy as well. Just apply the lubricant on to the different moving parts of your garage door. Be as thorough as you can be while lubricating to ensure that your garage door works smoothly. If nothing else works, consider hiring a garage door repair professional.

Related Questions

How Often Do You Need to Lubricate a Garage Door?

Lubricating the garage door is essential for proper maintenance. However, you don’t have to do it all the time.To keep the garage door in working order, you only really need to lubricate it two times per year. Apply a good amount of lubrication so it lasts for six months.Do note though that you don’t have to limit lubrication to twice per year. If something’s wrong with your garage door and you think lubrication will help, go ahead and apply it. Just avoid using too much lubricant because it can pool and harden along your garage door.

What Type of Lubricant Should Be Used on Garage Doors?

The best type of lubricant to use on your garage door is silicone-based lubricant. Silicone-based lubricant works well on garage doors because it is weather and moisture-resistant. It will continue to do its job no matter how warm or cold it is.Silicone-based lubricant also does a great job of working its way into tight spaces. It will keep all the components of your garage door adequately lubricated.