The garage door moves up and down in a track, guided by the garage door rollers. The rollers allow the door to move freely.
You have two choices with the rollers 'Lubricating Garage Door Rollers' and 'Replacing Garage Door Rollers'. Take a quick jump here or read the overview below.
Do you have a different problem? See 'Overhead Garage Door Repair' for a complete listing of the garage door topics.
The metal can corrode and rust. In addition they can seize up. This is a fairly simple job and should be well within your grasp to accomplish.
You may notice the rollers slide in a sleeve that is attached to the door. So there are two trouble spots. The roller and the sleeve. When the roller does not slide the door will bind. When the rollers stick the door will be difficult to lift.
Take a few minutes an look over this information about garage doors. A typical door will have ten rollers. The chances are good that sooner or later this portion of your garage door will need some attention.
Garage Door Rollers - Information
What Can You Save?
This is an easy job for a service man. The rollers should cost less than $5 each. A $50 service call plus parts would be the minimum. The danger is that the repairman may take the opportunity to try and sell you a new door. They can be quite convincing when telling you about the woes of your current door. A new door could run into the thousands of dollars.
How Hard Could It Be?
Repairing or replacing garage door rollers is not hard at all.
Check the Simple Things!
Lubricating the roller is the simplest thing. Often it will free up a sticking or noisy roller. Check Step One for information.
What Can Go Wrong?
Not a whole lot, unless you decide to take them all off at once and your garage door falls apart. Deal with them one at a time and you should not have any trouble.
Troubleshooting Garage Door Rollers
Did you notice that the garage door rollers were only about three dollars each? That means you could replace all of them for around thirty dollars. I guess the logic would be, 'if one goes bad, how far behind are the others'. Just a thought, since you are all practiced up. Did lubricating them work? Then lubricate them all.
Most of the time you will find that 'Lubricating Garage Door Rollers' is the correct fix. This article covered the procedure.
If you found that your rollers were seized or noisy, 'Replacing Garage Door Rollers' was the step that fit your needs.
Summary
Hopefully you were able to take care of your problem with a little oil. Worst case, you had to replace the roller. I know it was not a hard job. In the future you will be prepared to repair other garage door rollers. Well done!