When heavy rainstorms hit your house can suffer from water damage, especially in vulnerable spots like your garage. One of the main purpose of a garage door is to act as a shield and protect your belongings from the any hazard including rain. If your garage door gets damaged by water it might not work properly and could let water seep into your garage and eventually into your home. In order to avoid this it’s important to know how heavy rain can affect your garage door and what steps to take to prevent any damage.
Lasting Effects Heavy Rain Can Have on Your Garage Door
Protecting your garage door from heavy rain is critical in order to avoid bigger problems later on. When it pours too much rain like in a hurricane storms, it can really mess up your garage door. Especially if you have a wooden garage door then it’s a real issue because wood can warp or swell when it absorbs massive water amounts. Just like how your wooden furniture can change shape if it gets soaked so does your garage door.
Main Garage Door Water Damage
Warping
If it has been raining a lot and your garage door has soaked up huge amounts of water it might get bent out of shape and probably not work right. It could get stuck, not open or not close properly because it’s changed size from getting wet.
Absorbing
If your garage door absorbs a lot of water it will become super heavy and this extra weight puts a lot more strain on your garage door opener and other crucial parts of your garage door system like the springs, the hinges and the rollers. It will also make it impossible to manually open and close the door.
Rusting
Heavy rain can cause all metal parts in your garage to rust. This can mess up the door panels and make the opener stop working right. If just one panel of the door gets messed up by rain the entire door might not work right. The bottom panel is especially at risk because it touches the wet ground.
How to Protect Your Garage Door From Rain
While you can’t control the weather, you can definitely take preventative measures to prevent your garage door from getting soaked.
Install New Weatherstripping
You can protect your garage and keep your stuff inside the garage safe from water by changing the weatherstripping on your garage door. Weatherstripping is the robber seal that stops rain from getting into your garage. When installing them correctly it stops rain from coming in.
Check Your Garage Door
Check if garage door closes fully, clean the sensors, and clear any obstacles. Inspect the door for visible damage, especially the bottom panel for cracks or bending which can prevent proper closure. If there are issues call a technician right away and make all necessary repairs.