It can be annoying to have a garage door that rattles, squeaks and shrieks as it opens and closes. Some homeowners claim they can hear and feel their garage door opening in every room in the house. It can be a nice warning signal, but ultimately it’s the extra noise that we could do without. Garage door manufacturers and contractors have tips to keep your garage door from being obnoxious.

Garage doors create vibrations during opening and closing. This results in loud and distracting noises. It might not be a problem during the day, but if you are trying to sleep, it can be disruptive. Reduce the vibrations, and you will reduce the noise level. You don’t need to replace your garage door or door opener with a quieter model, just do a little maintenance. 

• The first step in quieting your garage door is to tighten the nuts and bolts on the door and track. Make sure everything is snug. Be careful not to over-tighten.
• Garage doors have moving parts which need to be maintained. Spray the top of the springs with lubricants, using enough oil or lubricant to flow down to the base of the springs. Spray the inside of each track and around all the metal rollers. If you have a chain assembly, lubricate the chain. Watch and determine if the chain is sliding easily around the gears. Spray the hinges between all the panels. Any moving part can cause vibrations. Keep garage noise to a minimum by lubricating moving parts at least twice a year. Be liberal when using spray lubricants.
• Inspect the rollers on your garage door. If you have metal rollers moving along metal tracks, this causes loud noises. Nylon rollers are much quieter, do not require lubricants, and require less maintenance than metal rollers. Nylon garage rollers aren’t much more expensive, and the noise reduction is worth the extra money. Standard five-section garage doors require a dozen rollers. If you are replacing your rollers, do them all at once. You can easily install nylon rollers yourself, but a professional garage door installer can get the job done in only a couple of hours.