Especially if your garage doubles as a workshop or office, all the more reason to keep a well-maintained garage - which means beginning with a garage door that’s solid and resilient. The fact is, your garage door is the largest operating appliance of your household, and it’s important that you keep it in working condition.

3.     Keep it balanced. Take a good look at your garage door’s balance twice a year:

• Disconnect the garage door from the garage door opener, to operate it manually: Pull on the rope that’s hanging from the opener to disconnect the door, so you can lift it up by hand.
• The owner's manual will tell you how to reattach the garage door to the garage door opener.
• Your garage door should balance at about 3 or 4 feet above the ground. If the door is too heavy, if there's any resistance, or if it won’t stay all the way up, the spring requires adjustment. Call a garage door repair expert.

4.     Lubricate. Garage door springs generally last for about 10 years. The common reasons garage door repair is required are broken cables and springs. To do everything you can to prevent the need for repairs, make sure to lubricate the rollers, springs, and hinges.

Without lubrication, your garage door springs will rust, and sooner or later the coils will bind up. A light coating is all that’s needed. Don’t use anything too heavy, or it will attract dirt and grime.

Most garage door professional technicians will advise you to lubricate the springs annually, before winter comes; some say to lubricate every 3 months. In any case, it won’t dry out if you use a top name brand.

You can also do your part to extend the life of your garage door opener. Most garage door openers last about 20 years. Periodically examine the opener's main gear: Open the case, and lubricate the main gear with white lithium grease.

5.     Keep it clean. The garage door will last a lot longer when you wash it painstakingly, front and back, at least yearly, with a sponge and clean water with mild dish soap. Rinse well. Don’t forget the garage door opener sensor eyes: Use a clean, dry cloth. Keep the area around the sensors free of cobwebs and dirt.

• Do you have a wooden garage door? If you see signs of chipping or peeling, you’ll maintain great curb appeal by applying a fresh coat of paint.
• Do you have a steel garage door? Wash it every two years. For added cold-weather protection, apply car wax.

6.     Keep it working.

• Operate your garage door for one full cycle (open and close), to make sure it’s working smoothly.
• Check the automatic reversing garage door opener feature: As the door goes down, grasp it to give it a little resistance, and see whether it reverses. If it doesn't, then a garage door professional needs to adjust the opener's sensitivity.
• If your garage door isn’t reversing, or if you discover additional issues, hire a garage door professional to inspect, adjust, replace, or repair whatever is needed.

7.     Keep it safe. Regularly examine the garage door's safety features: Wave in front of the electronic eyes to test out the safety sensors. The garage door should go back up every time the beam is broken.

8.     Be careful! DON’T ATTEMPT to adjust the spring tension of your garage door yourself, unless you’re an engineer! Only an exceedingly qualified garage door technician can carry out the required servicing properly. A garage door spring packs a wallop, so if it’s not adjusted, repaired or replaced appropriately, the springs can cause serious injury, and even be deadly. Along with the garage door springs, the bottom brackets (to which the cables are attached), the drums, and the cables, are all under great pressure.

If any garage door components ever need adjustment or replacement, hire a prime local garage door repair company you can count on. If you’re in Centennial, Colorado, consider hiring a dependable company such as the aptly named Centennial Garage Repair Services.