With the winter months approaching, the risk of your garage door freezing drastically increases. The warmer temperature inside your garage will melt snow on the inside, causing water to collect around the edges of the door. When the temperature drops far enough, this water can freeze into ice, effectively locking your garage door shut. This can ruin your day, especially if you parked your car in the garage overnight. Thankfully, there are a number of things that you can do to prevent your garage door from freezing.

Remove Ice And Snow

Physically removing the ice and snow around your garage using a shovel can help reduce the risk of your door freezing shut. This is the most effective way of reducing the amount of water that ends up around your garage door. However, this requires a lot of physical effort which must be repeated every time it snows.

Apply Salt

Apply salt around your garage door, especially where the door meets the ground. Salt lowers the freezing point of water, which means that it will have to become much colder for melted snow to refreeze into ice and stick your garage door. While salt specially designed to prevent freezing (available at most hardware and grocery stores) will work best, table and sea salt will work in a pinch as well.

Install A Heater

Having an electric or gas heater within your garage can help prevent your garage door from freezing by keeping the temperature of the door itself always warm enough to melt any snow or ice that begins to form around the edges. However, this will create a runoff of water that will freeze on your driveway, and will also cost you more in the long run, as you will have to pay for the operating costs of the heater.

Install A New Weather Seal

The weather seal around your garage door, which is the plastic or metal seal around the edges of the door, can become cracked or damaged over time. When this happens, water can seep into your garage door's tracks, which can cause the door to get stuck. Replacing the weather seal can prevent this from happening

Lubricate

Buy a lubricant for your garage door, available at most hardware stores. Many lubricants are specially formulated for the winter, and provide antifreeze properties in addition to ensuring that your garage door opens smoothly. Apply the lubricant liberally to the tracks, gears, and hinges of your door to prevent freezing.

For more information, contact a professional like those at Howard's Overhead Doors Inc.   

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