How to Fix a Frozen Garage Door

Frozen garage door

Even though most issues that prevent a garage door from opening or closing involves the machinery or parts, your environment can still give your garage door some trouble. With the upcoming winter months ahead, you may soon find out that the elements can leave you with a frozen garage door.

The metal components in your garage door’s system will contract when freezing, which puts a strain on the opener, especially if your garage is not well insulated. The electric door opener is also under great stress if your garage door becomes frozen with ice.

You can help prevent your garage door becoming frozen shut by opening and closing the door at least once a day. This helps keep the door from sticking to the threshold, as well as keeping ice from forming between metal components. You should also shovel or sweep away snow builds up in front of the garage door.

Regular maintenance on your garage door can also help prevent it from freezing shut, as well as applying a silicon-based lubricant to the weather seal at the bottom of the entrance to stop it from sticking to the ground.

If your garage door does freeze shut, you should not use your electric garage door opener to operate the door. This could critically damage the motor and require a replacement. What you should to first disengage the opener from the garage door, and if present, unlock the side lock attached to the inside of the door.

Next, deactivate the lock button, which can be found on the control panel near the access door to your house. Look around the inside of your garage and check the garage door system to see if any components are broken or frozen together. Then carefully try to open the garage door by hand to see if you can free it from the ice.

To remove the ice, you can use a hammer and a piece of wood to gently tap the bottom of the door to free it from frost. Use a scraper to remove patches or lumps of ice that remain around the threshold of the door, and if needed, use a hairdryer to melt the ice.
With these tips, you should be able to last all winter with no serious issues to your garage door. But if your garage door becomes frozen breaks this winter, then call the professionals at Environmental Door at 616-453-0164.

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