Loud garage doors are annoying, embarrassing, and can be a real pain.
There are many ways that you can greatly reduce the noise from a door, and most of the time you do not require professional help!
First you need to identify what type of door you have.
The first question is whether or not your garage door is the original one installed on your home. If the answer is yes, and your home is 5-9 years old, there are many items that can be serviced and need to be considered.
Homes that are an average age of 5-7 years old generally have builder grade overhead doors installed. Almost always these doors are installed (for cost and profit reasons), with one spring, plastic rollers with no bearings, and plastic bushings. These are notorious causes of garage door noise.
Step one, buy a can of silicone lube at your local Home Depot, or Lowe’s. Apply it pretty liberally to the spring, rollers, and hinges.
Next is a little tricky. You want to look for a black or white bushing that enters the end of the spring that is attached to the wall. DON’T TOUCH ANY OF THE BOLTS! There is an average of 160-220 lbs of force WILL cause injury if they are removed. Now that we have the CYA warning out of the way, look at where the silver shaft enters the spring. This is the spring bushing. Spray some lube where the tube and bushing meet, and the lube will work itself in for proper operation.
Here is a quick note: When your spring breaks go ahead and have two installed. It’s a much safer system, lasts longer and is more professional. With regard to the rollers and plastic spring bushing, generally when your overhead door spring breaks, it is best to have these items replaced at the same time.
Now for the second major type of door, the retrofit or old door. Most of these doors will have steel rollers installed, and two springs. Lube the springs, and hinges with the silicone lube. However, on the rollers you need something with a little extra strength. Find a white lithium spray grease, attach the straw and spray the overhead door rollers where the stem meets the wheel. This should quiet the clickety clack sound that you hear as the door moves. Although this sound is generally a good indication that your garage door rollers are worn, and need to be replaced, this trick should get you another year or two of service.
Then there’s the garage door openers. There are four major types of garage door openers that have been produced over the last 50 years, they are: Screw Drive, Chain Drive, Belt Drive, and Trac Drive. If you have a trac drive, unfortunately, this was never a great drive system, and once it breaks, replace it. Belt drives only in rare occasions need to be lubed, and this should only be done by a professional, due to the possibility of belt slippage. Chain drive openers only need to be lubed when you notice rust on the chain. Think like you are 10 years old and you lubed your bicycle chain. Lastly, are screw drives. These are great operators as long as they are GREATER than 10 years old. The down side to this type of operator is that there is an ultra specific type of lube that is usually only available to professional garage door repair companies.