Wooden Garage Door Repair and Maintenance

Posted: Sep 12, 2012
Author: Doors by Nalley of Lake Norman, Inc.

Your wooden garage door is a door in a class of its own. Not only does it add a bit of that special, classic something to the house, but it requires extra knowledge for maintenance and repair. Here are some tips on what to look out for, and what to do about reparing your wooden garage door.

Painting (or sealing) is especially important for wooden garage doors. Not only does it add an appealing aesthetic to the door and house overall (that's probably why you chose a wooden door in the first place), but it helps to avoid problems that necessitate garage door repair.

Without a good coat of paint, the wood can begin to warp from the moisture, and if left long enough, even rot. If left unattended, painting will no longer suffice. You will need to repair or replace entire sections of the garage door.

Make sure to check regularly for areas of exposed wood, especially near the bottom of the door where damage is most common. If an area of wood is found to be in an early stage of rot, don't worry too much. At this point, the repair is simple and involves simply removing the rot, drying the area, adding filler and preservative, and repainting. The process is very preferable to having to replace an entire panel, which can be both expensive and frustrating.

The hinges are another vulnerable place for wood rot and consequently garage door repair. Make sure the area around the hinges stays dry and painted.

Also, make sure to oil the hinges regularly (good advice for any garage door), as sticky or rusty hinges can cause obvious problems. If your garage door begins to express that well-known sagging garage door quality, the hinges and surrounding wood are a good area to look at repairing.