Care & Maintenance

Caring For Your Door

Caring for the carriage house door for your garage starts when it arrives at your site. How it is stored, handled and finished PRIOR to installation is key to ensuring the longest life possible.

Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a NO-Maintenance door but we try to make maintenance as simple as possible. At least once a year, your overhead door and hardware should be inspected. More frequent cleanings are better and recommended if you live in A HARSH ENVIRONMENT such as a Coastal exposure.

Routine annual garage door maintenance

can prevent damage caused by foreign matter – rusting, salt spray, etc.
may restore the look of the factory-applied finish by removing dirt and chalking
will allow you to assess when the top coat will need to be reapplied

Before Installation

It is CRITICAL that unfinished or primed only wood doors are finished PRIOR to installation in order to maintain the warranty.

This means finishing the front and back surface of each door section AND all 4 edges of each section beofer installing hardware and setting the sections into the track. It is the final finish on a wood door that seals out moisture and protects the wood surface of your door.

Make the time to properly finish your door and it will give you years of quality service.

Cleaning Your Door

Cleaning your door

Use a mild detergent like dishwashing liquid or a biodegradable cleaner.
Use a SOFT cloth or a SOFT bristle brush.
Work from the bottom section to the top section.
Be sure to clean behind the door stop/weatherstrips on both sides and the top of your door.
Rinse with a garden hose – or LOW PRESSURE garden sprayer.
NEVER USE A PRESSURE WASHER or High Pressure sprayers. High pressure will damage the surface and the finish of your door.
NEVER use scouring powders or solvents.
NEVER mix Cleansers or detergents with BLEACH.

Door & Finish Inspection

Over time your garage door’s finish will degrade from sun and weather. Painted doors will experience fading. With stained and faux paint-stain finishes, the clear, protective top coat will degrade and thin. All door finishes will degrade faster for garage doors that face south or west, because they receive the day’s most intense sunshine. The sooner you notice a change in the finish of your door, the easier the maintenance will be to keep the finish looking great.

Start with a clean door:

Look for fading, cracking, peeling, blistering, or any kind of build-up.
Look for any dings, dents, scratches or gouges that cut through the surface and would allow moisture to penetrate the door.
Touch the door to determine if it ‘feels’ dry or there are areas missing a finish, or has lost the original sheen of the finish.
Determine if your issues with finish are large or small. Only you can decide if it’s time to take action. Keep in mind addressing small [problems generally takes less effort and time then letting them grow in size and scope.
Go to next steps for guidance.

Hardware and Track Maintenance

Just like you add oil to your car, you need to periodically lubricate your door opening hardware. Periodic lubrication reduces wear and friction.

Using a light weight household oil (30W or lighter is acceptable), lubricate all moving parts that include:
- Locking hardware moving parts where lock turns or slides
- Track steel rollers and roller stems – DO NOT LUBRICATE NYLON ROLLERS.
- The full length of the torsion spring and torsion tube
- Lift cables at the bottom bracket
- All hinge pivot points
- WIPE OFF any excess oil
NEVER USE GREASE on garage door track. Grease will stop rollers from rolling, making them slide and making the opener work harder.
Inspect and clean the door track – removing any oil, dirt or grease to ensure smooth and efficient operation of your door.
With door closed, inspect all hinges, struts, handles, locks and brackets for loose fasteners. Tighten any loose fasteners but DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN fasteners which could strip the threads and create bigger problems.

Door Opening Maintenance

Focus on opening Jambs and door stops, which is key to keeping the weather out of your garage space.

With door open, inspect the weather-strips on the top and both sides of the opening, looking for rips and/or tears.
Also inspect the weather-strip/astragal on the bottom of your door. Look for rips and tears.
Check all weather-strip material for flexibility.
Close the door and look for gaps in the material on both sides as well as top and bottom of the door. As the material gets stiff, it reduces its effectiveness.
Replace weather-stripping when you determine it has deteriorated enough to warrant replacement, (too many tears, gaps are too large, etc.).

Next Steps-caring for your door(s)

The sooner you notice a change in the finish of your door, the easier the maintenance will be to keep the finish looking great.

Painted Doors:
- Use a touch-up paint to cover small dings and dents before they get larger.
- Apply a coat of Turtle Wax to provide a protective coating and a sheen to your door.
- If there is significant peeling, it might be time to sand the door and repaint it using a high quality exterior grade latex paint.
Rhapsody Doors with our Faux Stain Paint finish: There is a protective top coat on the Faux Stain Paint finish.
- We recommend when the finish, after it’s clean, has lost it’s sheen that a coat of Helmsman Spar polyurethane (exterior grade) be applied to door to maintain the faux stain paint finish.
Stained doors:
- For small areas of dings, dents, scratches, lightly sand the area and apply touch-up stain, blending it in the the surrounding area. Then apply our Maintenance Coat over the entire door.
- In general, it the clean door finish has lost its sheen, we recommend that an application of our Maintenance Coat be applied to maintain the stain color.
- Large areas of weather damage or for doors left without any kind of routine maintenance, it may require completely sanding the entire door and reapplying a new stain finish and top coat.

Sun and Weather

Sun and Weather are the most significant factors impacting door maintenance. Temperature changes, the weather and especially the sun will degrade any and all door top coat finishes.

Sun exposure:

Know which direction your doors face and how much sun they get daily. The amount and strength of sun exposure will cause colors to fade, top coats to degrade and thin over time, and will cause expansion and contraction of the door materials that can create cracks, splits, bows and more depending on the type of materials your door is made of. South and west facing doors experience the greatest sun exposures and will experience accelerated deterioration from sun alone.

The darker the color finish of your door, the higher the daytime temperature the door surface can get and surface temperatures can reach more than 140 degrees. The daily temperature range from the hottest daytime to the coolest evening will speed up normal deterioration processes and will increase physical material failures. Routine inspections can help to catch normal deterioration issues before they significantly impact the look of your door.

Weather Extremes:

Know the prevailing wind direction for your doors. Wind drives dirt, debris and rain on to the finished surface of your door, wearing off any protective layers. Dings, dents and scratches will allow water and dirt to get under the surface finish and cause significant deterioration. Early detection means a simpler fix. If the problem is left unaddressed, the risk is a more costly fix or potentially a new door.

Environmental conditions will also accelerate normal degradation in a door’s finish. Any coastal location increases the impact of normal deterioration over time because salt is extremely corrosive to most any surface.

Caring For Your Door

975 Hemlock Road | Morgantown, Pennsylvania 19543 | F: 610.913.6036