Noisy Garage Door? Consider These Top Causes and Solutions

There are a lot of positive things you can say about today’s overhead garage doors. They’re more stylish than ever, more energy efficient than ever, incredibly dependable and quieter than any garage doors that came before them. Except when they’re not. Unfortunately, garage doors sometimes and without much warning go from being quiet as a dormouse to sounding like one of those car crushers at the junkyard. When that happens, we get the call for garage door service in Northglenn and typically encounter homeowners with only one question on their minds: why is my garage door making so much noise? Below, our industry experts review four common causes of loud garage doors, and six strategies for reducing all types of excess noise in your garage.

No garage door is completely silent, but many of the newest doors come pretty close. As such, it usually takes people back when their nice quiet door becomes a squeak and squeal factory. Just what are the reasons for such a transformation and is there anything you can do about it? Here are the most common reasons your door is making noise.

Four Common Causes of Excessive Garage Door Noise

ONE: Rusty Springs

The springs do all the heavy lifting on the garage door. The opener just gets things going. Because the springs play such a vital role in lifting the door it’s essential that they are inspected and lubricated regularly. If the springs are neglected and years pass they’re going to get rusty. And one day you’re going to notice that your garage door is not the nice quiet appliance it used to be. When it comes to garage door springs on Broomfield homes, however, squeaking is just the start of the troubles.

If your springs take to squeaking because they haven’t been lubricated in years you can bet that at some point in the near future that squeaky spring is going to snap. And you don’t want to be anywhere near it when that happens. Take our word on that. Keep in mind too that even if you’ve been scrupulous with your maintenance, springs eventually wear out. And when they do they get cranky and noisy. We can’t stress strongly enough however, that if you’re experiencing problems with your broken garage door springs do not attempt to repair them yourself. Homeowners have died trying to do so. Call for professional repair services of garage door springs in Northglenn or Broomfield

TWO: It’s Unbalanced

A garage door weighs hundreds of pounds and rides up and down on a pair of tracks. Because there are 2 tracks involved the weight must be distributed evenly between those tracks. On a perfectly balanced doors it is and the rollers glide up and down inside the tracks with little resistance.

But if the door becomes unbalanced one side begins to lag behind the other. When that happens the rollers become misaligned, start scraping along the inside of the track and the squeaking and squealing can become intense. The cure? Call A Better Garage Door for garage door service in Northglenn or Broomfield. We’ll rebalance the door and shut down the noise factory.

THREE: Dirty Tracks and Jammed Rollers

We mentioned the rollers earlier when discussing the importance of balancing the door. But an unbalanced door is not the only reason rollers can become noisy. Rollers make their living moving up and down inside the tracks that guide the door. If the tracks haven’t been cleaned in a while they’re going to become clogged with dirt and debris from outside.

At some point all this junk in the track is going to interfere with the ability of the roller to, well, roll. And what you’re going to hear is a nasty grinding sound as the roller is pulled through the gunk. Dirt from the track can work its way inside the roller as well, interfering with the ball bearings and causing the roller to jam. When that happens the jammed roller is pulled along the track rather than rolling along the track. And the result is a squeaky symphony

FOUR: Problems with the Opener

While the most obvious culprits when it comes to generating noise are the tracks, rollers and springs there are other potential sources of noise as well. Chief among them is the opener itself. The opener may seem like a fairly unassuming device (and it is), but in order to deliver the energy it produces to the task of moving the door it needs a vehicle. And that vehicle is either a chain, screw or belt drive.

Any one of these can wind up generating noise if it is not properly maintained. The screw drive can begin to grind against the rack causing a scraping sound. The belt can come loose and create the same kind of high pitched squealing you hear on a car with a loose belt. And the chain can get rusty and cranky and generate all kinds of unpleasant sounds that will have you calling for garage door service in Broomfield.

Six Ways to Reduce Noise from Your Garage

Noisy garage doors aren't the only source of excessive sound. The garage is where your car takes shelter from the storm and where you store garden tools, the lawn mower, ladders, paint and maybe even old furniture. It’s also where lots of guys have their hobby shop. As such, it shouldn’t be a surprise if the garage is not the quietest part of the house because none of the functions it fulfills require peace and quiet. They just require space. But the noise that emanates from the garage can have an impact on the quality of life in the rest of the house, so finding ways to turn down the volume is important.

The average house has three unfinished spaces: the attic, the basement and the garage. Of the three the garage is typically the space that sees the most use. As a result it can be something of a noise factory. Cutting down on this noise will benefit everyone so here are six ways to do just that.

ONE: Insulate and Finish the Walls

The main reason people sitting in the kitchen can hear everything that goes on in the garage is that the garage walls are often either unfinished or they’re covered with drywall but there’s no insulation under the drywall. One of the best ways to reduce noise coming from the garage is to fully insulate and finish the walls. The drywall will block some of the noise and the insulation will absorb a lot more. This will also reduce echo within the garage and make it a more pleasant place to be when going to and from the car.

TWO: Replace the Chain Drive with a Belt Drive

Chain drive garage door openers are a popular item because they’re typically the most affordable type of opener. Unfortunately, they also happen to be the loudest. If you want to make the garage a quieter place, have our garage door professionals replace your chain drive opener with a nearly silent belt drive opener. Noise levels both inside the garage and inside the rest of the house will be greatly reduced.

THREE: Install Nylon Rollers

There are several sources of noise related to garage door openers. One is the chain drive mechanism we just mentioned, another is the rollers. The rollers hold the door fast to the tracks enabling it to rise and fall in a controlled manner. But most rollers are metal. And because the tracks are also metal this metal on metal contact tends to create lots of squeaking, squealing and scraping noises as the door rises and falls. You can drastically reduce the amount of noise emanating from the door by replacing the metal rollers with nylon rollers. These will cost more than steel rollers but it’s not so much it will break your bank. And the reduction in noise will make it more than worth the investment.

FOUR: Install Fresh Flooring

The floor of the garage is actually responsible for more noise than most homeowners realize. Not just because the tires have a habit of scraping and screeching across the concrete but because the bare concrete slab is an echo generator that magnifies the sounds coming from the motor and the tires. Installing polypropylene tiles on your garage floor will eliminate tire noise and echoes and absorb sounds coming from the car. If you really want to ramp up the quiet install some synthetic landscaping fabric on the concrete and then install the polypropylene tiles on top of that. With finished walls and tiled floor sounds from a garage workshop will be greatly reduced as well.

FIVE: Install Torsion Springs

There are two types of springs used to open and close garage doors; extension springs and torsion springs. Of the two extension springs are many times louder than torsion springs. But they also happen to be more affordable which is why they’re so popular. If you’re serious about muting the noise from the garage replace the extension springs with torsion springs and bask in the quiet. Get in touch with A Better Garage Door's experienced team, and we'll be happy to fill you in on the details.

SIX: Replace the Door Between Your Garage and Home

In many cases, a hollow core door is installed by the builder between the garage and the living quarters and homeowners are not even aware of it. Builders do this because the hollow core door is cheaper. But it also does virtually nothing to mute sounds coming from the garage. Replacing your hollow core door with a solid core door will make a noticeable difference in the sound levels in any room the garage door opens into, which is typically the kitchen.

Call Our Broomfield Garage Door Team to Quiet Your Noisy Garage!

The above modifications can go a long way toward reducing your garage's excess noise. However, if your garage door still sounds more like feedback through a loudspeaker than the wind gently whispering through the trees, any number of factors could be to blame. Thankfully, there's some good news - noisy garage doors don’t usually need to be replaced. A little bit of expert TLC from the top garage door service providers in Broomfield and Northglenn can get your garage back to its normal, quiet self in no time.

Call A Better Garage Door at (303) 920-2267 to learn more about what our team can do to quiet your clattering garage door. Whether you're in need of garage door spring replacement, opener repair, or a new door altogether, our experienced garage door professionals can determine the source of your garage's excessive volume and restore some peace and quiet to your home.