We receive many complaints from homeowners regarding noisy garage doors. Many of these complaints start out as a slight squeak or rattle, but can turn into loud grinding, banging, or scraping sounds that wake up the entire household when someone comes home late at night. In most cases, a noisy garage door does not require costly repairs or even a completely new door. In most cases, a simple fix is all that is required to stop the noise, once the cause of the noise has been determined.
Here is a complete guide to diagnosing garage door noise by the type of sound you are hearing.
Squeaking or Squealing
Squeaking/Squealing- Garage doors have many moving parts which need to be lubricated with oil in order to keep them running smoothly. Many of the parts, including the rollers, hinges, torsion spring(s), and the opener’s chain or screw drive need to be periodically oiled in order to keep your garage door operating properly and quietly. If the garage door is not oiled from time to time the metal parts will start to grind against each other causing a high pitched squealing or squeaking noise that can be very annoying.
The fix for squeaking garage doors is typically to lubricate all moving metal parts. This includes the rollers, hinges, the torsion spring, and the opener’s drive system (chain or screw drive). There are many lubricants on the market that are specifically made for lubricating garage doors. These products are typically white lithium grease in a spray bottle. These lubricants can be sprayed directly on the moving parts and then the door cycled a few times to allow the lubricant to work its way into all of the moving parts. Never use WD-40 to lubricate your garage door as it is a solvent and will actually cause more harm than good in the long run.
If the squealing continues after lubrication, the rollers may be worn enough that lubrication alone cannot solve the problem. Cracked or worn roller wheels produce noise that lubrication cannot fix — replacement is the next step.
Grinding
In general a garage door making a grinding noise is due to worn rollers or worn gears in the opener.
Worn steel rollers, particularly those with worn ball bearings or flat areas, can be a major source of noise for a garage door. This type of roller can create a grinding sound even after lubrication. In this case, it is highly recommended to switch to nylon rollers. These garage door parts are designed to run quietly for long periods of time and rarely need to be lubricated.
Grinding noises that can be heard coming from your garage door are often caused by worn gears inside your garage door opener, typically found in older chain-driven openers. Over time, the plastic gears of the opener can become worn down causing the grinding sound. The sound is typically heard when the motor of the opener is operating, but the door is not moving. This can be an issue that needs to be repaired in order to continue safe and proper use of your garage door. We carry replacement gear sets for all of the major brands of garage door openers.
Rattling or Vibrating
Rattling and Vibrating Garage Door Noise Problems. Noise problems caused by rattling and vibration of garage door parts can be caused by many things and are the most common garage door problems. Over time, the many parts of your garage door system have to absorb the shock of thousands of door cycles. As these parts absorb these cycles, they can vibrate or become loose, causing a rattling noise. This is a very common problem with garage door systems, but it can be very easily fixed. The solution to most rattling and vibrating problems caused by the garage door itself is very simple: tighten all of the bolts, brackets, hinges, rollers, springs, etc. on your garage door system. Using a socket wrench, go through and make sure every bolt and fastener on your garage door system is tightened as much as possible.
Pay particular attention to the mounting brackets for the track. These are typically L-shaped pieces of metal that are mounted to the wall for the vertical section of the track and to the ceiling joist for the horizontal section. These are typical candidates for rattling as they are subject to a considerable amount of vibration. Tightening all of the bolts and brackets with a socket wrench should eliminate any rattling.
Loose opener mounting hardware. Openers are typically mounted to the ceiling with a bracket that is secured with screws. Over time, these screws can become loose allowing the opener to vibrate during operation. These vibrations are then transferred through the trolley arm and into the door. Anti-vibration pads can be used to reduce vibration noise transmission into the house when mounted between the opener mounting bracket and the ceiling joist. These are especially effective in areas such as bedrooms that are located above garages.
Anti-vibration pads may also be used on the garage door opener mounting bracket. These pads are pressed between the mounting bracket and the ceiling joist and reduce the vibration of the opener being transmitted through the trolley arm and into the door. Anti-vibration pads are especially effective when there is a bedroom above the garage.
Banging or Popping
Banging / Popping noises are more serious than squeaking / rattling noises and should be addressed as soon as possible.
A loud bang can also occur when a door is opening. This loud noise could be from a spring breaking. The noise sounds like a gunshot and is very loud. When a spring breaks, the door will no longer be able to open. We recommend calling a professional immediately. Do not try to open the door as you could be seriously hurt by a falling door or a spring flying back and hitting you in the face.
A popping noise can be caused by several different things. It can be caused by a binding cable. A roller could have come out of the track intermittently and caused the popping noise. A spot on the track where the roller rides could be worn or have a dent in it. This would cause the roller to pop over the spot as the door goes up and down.
The sound of door panels expanding during cold weather is normal. There may be some initial popping but temporary popping and creaking and will go away as the panels loosen up. However, if there is some permanent deformation of panels (shrinkage or other types of damage) then there could be a structural problem.
Scraping
Scraping / Scratching – a door part is rubbing against something it shouldn’t. This could be a door panel rubbing against the stop molding or the track. Also, a roller could have fallen partially out of the track. And lastly, the track could have been bent or knocked out of alignment.
This can cause damage to the door and garage door opener in the long run and could lead to the door falling off of the tracks.
Thumping
If a section of your garage door is making a thumping noise it is likely that one of the rollers has a flat. This could have happened because the door has been in the same position for a long time, or it could be because the bearing in the roller has failed. The flat area of the wheel of the roller will thump against the track every time it goes through that section of the door. This noise is usually quite loud and will repeat every time the door goes through that section.
Replacing the worn rollers is a fast fix to this problem. We recommend you upgrade to nylon rollers to prevent this problem from happening again in the future.
The Complete Noise Reduction Solution
In order to complete the Garage Door Tune-up, we will lubricate all moving parts including the hinges, rollers, and torsion spring bearings. We will also make sure all bolts are tightened securely. Sometimes the noise of the door comes from worn out parts, and in that case, they may need to be replaced. Garage Door Smart can help you with any of these repairs. It’s often less expensive to have a Smart Garage Door technician to complete a Garage Door Tune-up than for them to complete repairs to individual parts for noise related issues.
At Smart Garage Door Service, we offer garage door tune-ups as well as repair for noisy garage doors. We offer same day service for garage door repair in the entire Denver Metro area. We will come to your home and provide an accurate assessment of the cause of your noisy garage door and recommend the best repair to get your door operating safely and properly.
