Repair Your Garage Door Before the Cold Weather Hits with Bestland Garage Door Service, WFRV September 2024

Beat the Cold — Bestland on WFRV Local 5

If your garage door is making weird noises or not working quite right, the time to deal with it is now, not after the first freeze. That was the message Jeffrey Pinney from Bestland Garage Door Service brought to WFRV Local 5 in early September 2024, walking Green Bay and Appleton homeowners through why fall is the right window to fix a struggling door and how to tell when the opener needs a tune-up.

The logic is simple. A small problem in September is a routine repair on a mild day. The same problem in January is an emergency call in a snowbank, and you are not the only one making it.

Why Cold Weather Turns Small Problems Into Big Ones

A door that is merely annoying in fall can stop working entirely once the temperature drops. Cold changes the way every component behaves:

• Springs get brittle. A worn spring that is hanging on through the fall is far more likely to snap in freezing temperatures.
• Lubricant thickens. Cold grease makes the whole door move slower and forces the opener to work harder.
• Metal contracts. Tracks and hardware shrink in the cold, which can pull a marginal door out of alignment.
• Seals harden and crack. A brittle bottom seal can freeze to the concrete overnight and tear when the door lifts.

The Noises That Mean Call Now, Not in January

Jeffrey’s advice was to treat new noise as an early warning while the weather is still mild:

• Grinding or scraping. Usually worn rollers or a track issue that only gets worse in the cold. See our noisy garage door repair service.
• Popping or banging. Often a spring under too much tension. Address it before a hard freeze finishes it off. See our garage door spring repair page.
• A straining opener. The motor is fighting the door. Cold weather only adds to that load.
• Slow or uneven movement. A sign the door is out of balance or the hardware needs attention.

Signs Your Opener Needs a Tune-Up

Jeffrey spent part of the segment on the opener specifically, because it is the part homeowners lean on hardest in winter and think about least. Signs yours is due for service:

• It hesitates, strains, or runs louder than it used to
• The door reverses or stops partway for no clear reason
• The remote or keypad has become unreliable
• There is no battery backup, so a winter power outage leaves you stuck
• The safety sensors need frequent realigning

A straining opener is usually a door problem in disguise. When the springs weaken, the opener carries weight it was never meant to, and it burns out. Fixing the door often saves the opener. If a replacement makes sense, our garage door openers page covers current options with battery backup and smartphone control.

A Fall Tune-Up Prevents Most Winter Emergencies

The single best move before winter is a full tune-up. It catches the worn parts, rebalances the door, and takes the strain off the opener before the cold can expose any of it. A garage door tune-up covers lubrication, spring tension, cable and roller inspection, hardware tightening, seal checks, and opener adjustment in one visit.

Springs, cables, and track adjustment stay with a technician; those are under extreme tension. Our cable repair service and garage door repair team handle them safely, and emergency service is available 24/7 if something has already gone wrong.

Watch the Full Segment

Watch the September 2024 Local 5 Live segment here: Watch on WeAreGreenBay.com

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Related Press Appearances

Also read our fall tune-up segment (Oct 2024) and our garage door repair warning signs (Aug 2024).

Get Ahead of Winter Today

Do not wait for the first freeze to find out your door has a problem. Call Bestland Garage Door Service at (920) 789-3667 or visit bestlandgaragedoor.com. Serving Green Bay, Appleton, and all of Northeast Wisconsin with 24/7 emergency service.