Does your whole neighborhood hear your noisy garage door every time you open or close it?
The clanking, squealing and creaking can drive you nuts. Fortunately there are some easy ways to make your garage door quieter instead of buying a quiet garage door opener.
Whether it's a manual open or on a motor we've got some great tips on how to quiet your garage door. These useful tips are easy to execute and will leave your garage door completely noise-free, making it easier to open and maintain.
How To Make Your Garage Door Quiet
Method One: Replace the rollers
Noisy garage door rollers are often the prime culprit for causing all that garage door noise. If you have metal or plastic rollers you can bet they're going to be making a racket when you operate the door.
Replacing the rollers with Nylon rollers will make a big difference. The quality of the bearing in the roller also makes a big difference to the amount of noise you'll experience.
We've reviewed the quietest garage door rollers on the market. If you get a set of these it should reduce your garage door noise significantly.
Method Two: Oiling The Door
If you own a house with a car garage, then you should be in the habit of oiling your garage door every few weeks, so as to maintain its high quality.
Lubricating the door can help to combat various issues, such as sticky hinges and rollers, which are often the source of squeaky and unwelcome noises.
Regular oiling can also help to minimize the chances of any long-term damage, which could be caused by elements such as age and the weather.
When it comes to lubricating your garage door, you must never use regular oils or grease products such as WD-40.
This is because these substances are more likely to build up over time, which could result in large amounts of dirt and dust.
If you want to oil your garage door, then you need to use a lithium-based oil for the best results.
There are numerous key areas on your garage door that need to be oiled, and we have listed them down below so you know which sections of the door need to be tackled first.
- Hinges
These are usually located at the top of the garage door and can produce squeaking noises if not regularly oiled.
- Garage Door Rollers
These are typically located inside the door frame of your garage door and can also produce high-pitch sounds if not lubricated.
- Bearing Plates
These can be found above your garage door and are usually located on either side of the door’s springs. Both the plates and springs should be oiled for maximum effect.
- Garage Door Lock
Regularly oiling the lock on your garage door will make it easier to open and prevent future chances of rust. Garage doors that are difficult to open are often noisy, so making sure the door opens smoothly will help to reduce this.
- Garage Door Rails
This is where your garage door retreats once it has been fully opened. By oiling this area regularly, the door can open in a smooth and quiet manner.
Giving all the parts of the garage door a good clean with a quiet shop vac will also help with any noise causing dust buildup.
If you don't have a shop vac you could also give the hinges, rails and other bits a blast of air using a quiet air compressor. Just note that the dust will eventually settle somewhere, rather than be removed.
Method Three: Change The Garage Door Seals
There are a variety of reasons why your garage door might be making noises, from factors such as squeaky hinges to loud rollers.
But the noises can also be caused by something as simple as the garage door hitting the ground when it closes. Sometimes this small action can produce the loudest noise of all, leaving you deafened and ashamed.
Although the various methods we have mentioned can be used to quiet the sound of your garage door, there is another way to make sure it remains completely silent - and this involves replacing the garage door bottom seals.
As the name suggests, these seals are located at the bottom of your garage door and are primarily used to create a seal between the garage door and the ground.
If you replace these seals with a different variety that provides more padding, then you could soften the sound your garage door makes when it closes.
Currently, there are many garage door bottom seals available, as we have outlined them below to demonstrate their strengths and weaknesses.
- Threshold Seals
Threshold seals are widely considered to be the best seals you can purchase for your garage door, as they create a tight seal between the door and the ground that even water cannot pour through.
- Brush Strip Seals
These seals are essentially what they sound like, in that they are made from a brush-like material and can be easily attached to the bottom of your garage door.
When the garage door closes, the brush pushes itself into the ground to create a tight seal, which can be effective in weakening loud noises.
However, they are not capable of stopping running water and are known to drip when wet.
- Rubber Blade Seals
These particular seals work in a similar way to brush strip seals, except they are made from a long rubber blade that flattens against the ground.
Capable of creating a tight and efficient seal, this variety can also be used to dampen the noise of your garage door closing.
- Multi Seals
Multi seals are considered a cheap and easy way to seal the bottom of your garage door.
These seals are usually made from materials such as rubber and they come with a sticky back that can be stuck to the bottom of your garage door.
If you are looking for an affordable way to change your garage door bottom seals, then these are the products you need.
Method Four: Insulation
If you have only begun to notice how loud and noisy your garage door can be, then you can easily remedy the issue by using insulation.
Garage door insulation is common among the garage community, as the method is primarily used by homeowners who wish to transform their garage into a regular room, such as a yoga studio, indoor gym or music space.
However, in these instances, insulation is used for the purpose of trapping heat inside the garage, making it more suitable for human habitation.
But this does not mean that insulation doesn’t have its other benefits. For when you insulate your garage door, you are also reducing the chances of the door making any noise.
Most garage doors are made from metallic materials such as steel, vinyl and aluminium, which can vibrate when the door is opened.
These vibrations are what cause the door to become noisy, but they can be cushioned when the door has been fully insulated.
Currently, there are 3 ways you can effectively insulate your garage door, and we have detailed them in the list below.
- Foam Insulation
This is arguably the most efficient way to insulate your garage door, as it involves using foam panels that are capable of dampening any loud sounds.
The panels themselves are also easy to install and are light in weight, which means the insulation process is not strenuous and easy to complete.
- Batt Insulation
This next method is commonly used by homeowners to insulate walls and ceilings and involves using a styrofoam-like material called Batt.
Although this particular method can be greatly effective when it comes to silencing loud noises, it does come with some disadvantages.
For example, batt insulation can be very hard to install and is considered a bulky and fragile material.
- Reflective Insulation
Our final method is arguably the least effective, as it involves insulating your garage door using reflective materials such as aluminium foil.
Most reflective materials, that can be easily purchased, are very thin and weak and this means that their sound-dampening abilities are greatly limited.
If you just want to make sure that the garage door noise doesn't disturb folks inside your home then you could also just soundproof the space better. It won't reduce the garage door noise but people inside the house are less likely to hear it.
Conclusion
Although this article has not covered every single method that can be used to quiet your garage door, we hope that the practices we have outlined will be useful.
Living with a noisy garage door can be really annoying. Especially if you go to work early in the morning and don't want to wake your family or neighbors each time you head out.
By following the various methods that we have detailed in the article above, we hope that this issue can be rectified, leaving you with a silent garage door that opens and closes without a single sound.
Please remember that the methods we have mentioned only tackle a few small areas of where the sound could be coming from, so if these practices do not help you may need to further investigate the source of the unwanted noise.