Good Morning,
I'm in a rental and the garage door screeches in certain spots. It's a metal to metal sound. I noticed in Home Depot hey sell a tube of stuff (grease I suppose) for this purpose. Should I use that or is there something less expensive or better.
Thank in advance, bonnie
Better to replace the rollers with new ones, that is likely the source of your issue. I bought some nylon ones with ball bearings and my garage door has been quiet and easy to operate for the last two years. Unfortunately this is likely a two (strong) person job.
nate
I'd use hte grease first myself-- But I've replaced some rollers over the years and it was a simple matter of removing 3 bolts & sliding in a new roller.
No strength needed- do it with the door closed. Maybe Nate's door was assembled differently. Hope your is like mine.
Jim
On Dec 8, 6:44=EF=BF=BDam, "Bonnie Jean" wro= te:
efirst try some basic lubricating oil, a pump oiler works well. put on tracks, rollers.ll metal to metal contact points. it highl;y possible your door has never been oiled.
honestly its really the landlords responsiblity
on 12/8/2008 6:44 AM Bonnie Jean said the following:
Just put some Vaseline in the track and bearings of the rollers.
"Bonnie Jean" wrote
That would be the way to start. Just use an old rag and some of that. Takes about 5 mins. If that doesnt work, take a look at the roller assembly and see if it looks easy to get at with the door closed without dismounting anything. If so, it's real easy to do with some models. Did ours when we got back after the place had been rented for 7 years. Took me 10 mins with
*our* model and I didnt need any help.If it isnt an easy assembly and the grease doesnt work, call either the rental agency or owner (depends on which you have) and tell them about it. It could mean the door is getting out of alignment and thats lots easier and cheaper to fix at the start than after a long time.
If you take it on yourself and it's not an easy assembly sort and you damage the door, they can charge you for repairs under most contracts, so it's best to call first if doing more than greasing it. There is also a very good chance they will refund you the cost of any materials if they know in advance (even that tube of grease).
My tenants would call the rental agent, let him know of small items like that, then when the rent came up, they would include the recipt and deduct the total (including tax) from the rent. Anything normal was expected and part of our contract that we'd cover such with advance notice to the rental agent. Even if it hadnt been spelled out in the contract, we'd have been good for it.
Paid 2 times for screen material for the fully screened porch which is reasonable. Paid once to have it scraped and painted by a handyman (reasonable, it's all wood and that came with screen material too so I think they had the handyman do it).
The only thing I turned down, was to have a new screen door put in when they broke the catch 1 month after moving in. The screen door had been freshly installed just before they got there. I did pay to have a handyman replace the catch though as it is slightly tricky and I wanted it to be done right.
Check your contract? Each is a little different. For example, we spelled out that the only covered appliances were the HVAC and hot water heater. All else was theirs to use for free but if they broke, replacement/repair wasnt covered. This is common in *my* area. Appliances were: new refridgerator (4 months old), dishwasher, disposal, gas oven, washing machine and dryer, large extra chest freezer, 2 lawnmowers, a vacumn cleaner, 2 weed wackers, and a few electric tools. If they broke and had to be replaced, they got to keep the replacement. Most of it was still here and in working order when we got back.
wrote
Depends on contract. If it's a private house rented, a certain level of basics is kinda expected. They dont really expect to come down to grease a door.
Case in point, my next door neighbor died while we were away and his house has been rented out by his daughter since then. First tenant drove her batty with calls every 2-3 weeks to come over and fix stuff like oiling hinges etc. When the contract rolled up, she offered to let them extend it but only after calculating her time and money and adding it to the rental price. They declined to pay an extra 250$ a month so had to move out. Like me, she didnt have a problem paying for materials, but didnt expect to have to come over for a 5 min job like a squeaky hinge.
I had to laugh at the list of stuff she was doing there. Ended up being 8 hours or so a month when you added in her travel time (she lives 2 hours each way away) but her contract was rather loose ended on 'repairs' as well as 'appliances'. (Next one, she used my agent for the contract and got a dream tenant who's still there).
Enjoy with me the few I remember: Dog dug a hole in the back yard and she had to come down and fill it back in, various doors squeeked in winter so she had to oil them, rope on swingset broke so she had to tie a new one on, weed wacker line broke several times and she had to come down and re-string it, toilet clogged and she had to come over with a plunger (did not need a plummer, just a plunger), sink got slow draining due to grease and she had to come over with a bottle of liquid plummer (normal clog due to them pouring grease down it and never flushing with hot water), and my all time favorite: the lawnmower stopped working and when she checked it, it was just out of gas!
LOL! But the Brenda we are helping here, obviously isnt that sort and her head seems on straight. Just asking normal questions on 'how to'.
Wrong. General maintenance is the tennants responsibility. Paragraph 20 in the contract i use:
steve
honestly its really the landlords responsiblity
in addition to the other suggestions, make sure the springs (or rollers on the end of the springs) are not rubbing on the horizontal part of the track.
s
metal
To replace *all* of them, I had to disassemble the door completely and then reassemble it a section at a time. Each section had to be cocked at an angle to insert the rollers, and then I dropped it down on top of the previous section. Then I had to lift it up without the springs attached (takes a strong person) and have a helper hold it open while I reattached the springs. (she was not happy about the speed at which I was able to reattach the springs...)
Of course my door was installed in the 80's and apparently had had no maintenance since then (previous owners did not actually use the garage, so the door was only used infrequently, I guess they didn't mind the noise and having to clean and jerk the door every time they wanted to open it.)
I also had to replace the lock assembly as it'd jammed at some point in the past and their "solution" was to remove one of the bars from it. Oddly enough I had to order this part off the web as nobody local stocked it.
nate
e:
a metal
Buy a $3.00 spray can of wd-40 and spray the rollers, the roller bearings, the track, and the main guide track with it. Run the door up and down a few times. I bett that solves the problem, it did for me. As a renter this is the cheapest thing to do.
ote:
's a metalIf that works, I'd go back and put some real oil in the bearings. WD-40 is a good solvent but any lubricating properties will evaporate in a week or so. I missed the part about "rental" in my first read through. I'd certainly replace the rollers if it were a place I was planning on staying for more than a year or two, but that may not apply.
nate
How in the hell did you determine that... from all the way over there in Obliviousland?
She might need new rollers, but throwing a little grease at it first seems a bit more of a rational strategy. -----
- gpsman
:
a metal
Contrary to popular belief, grease on the tracks of a garage door really doesn't do a whole lot other than mess up your nice shirt when you inadvertantly bump into the tracks on your way to an important meeting. Think about it - they're rollers. Supposed to roll, hence the name. If there's sliding friction between the roller and the track, the bearings are already tight. Now greasing the bearings in the rollers might help, but by the time they start making noise, they're likely already sloppy and due for replacement - and it's worth the $20 or so for the new rollers rather than to have to smush bearing grease into the likely marginal old rollers, which likely takes just as much time as replacing them.
If one has a real grease gun and a needle tip, that might make the process quicker and neater, but I still suspect a marginal, temporary fix. I've never even tried, since rollers of higher quality than comes with any garage door are so cheap.
nate
And the pulleys at the ends of the springs and above the doors are in good shape.
In my own instance, I had to replace those as well. In fact, I believe that the only parts I reused were the door panels, hinges, tracks, and springs. Everything else had to be replaced (the cables were pretty fubared as well.) Of course the door had been sorely neglected by the POs but stuff like that is how you get a house for cheap.
If you have to go that far, however, I'd definitely save receipts and see if you can get some reimbursement from your landlord.
nate
Who said "tracks", you moron?
The way you'd grease them, and with the attention you apply to your personal movement, I'm sure you're speaking from experience... for a change.
Lol. They call 'em roller bearings too, n*****ts. That doesn't suggest they don't need lubrication. -----
- gpsman
The least expensive option is to have the landlord/lady take care of that. Lube may not improve the metal to metal friction, not for long anyway, and if that garage door is getting out of whack it can become dangerous...
Several posters, and it seems to be (inexplicably) a common practice.
I *wouldn't* grease them, that was my point. And I suppose you've never tried to navigate a dark garage at 0-dark-hundred while carrying a portfolio and a roll or two of blueprints?
No, they're called *ball* bearings. Not that that's pertinent, but still. Or do you have some super high end garage door that actually does use roller bearings?
Read the rest of my message, where I explained that $4/roller in my own personal cost/benefit calculation was cheap when compared to the tedium of greasy fingers from hand packing the (likely completely worn out) rollers.
you're pretty close to going *four* groups (or the coveted "general news server ignore poster" award)... you ain't stalking me are you? Look, this isn't about your weird obsession with trying to "prove" me "wrong" whenever I post, it's about providing good advice to the original poster.
nate
t doesn't
well my experience. my door got stiff and noisy, had never done anything to it, door must be about 20 years old.
so I lubed it with light oil, one of those zoom spout oilers I use for work.....
that about 2 years ago. its quiet easy to move up and down.
I added oil door to my every few year maintence items.:) I honestly had never thought about it:(
Vaseline will work just fine if you don't feel like tripping out to the hardware store, white lithium grease would be my choice from an auto parts or larger hardware and you can get it in a spray can.
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