How to Keep Your Garage in Good Nick
BY READERS DIGEST
1st Jan 2015 Home & Garden
As an integrated part of your home, keep you garage safe and tidy.
1. Beat the burglar: A connecting door between the garage and the house is a secluded point of entry, popular with burglars. If you are going on holiday, you can temporarily burglar-proof an up-and-over garage door by closing it and fixing a G-cramp on to each track immediately behind the door wheels. It will be impossible to open from outside, even if the lock is successfully forced.
2. Seal the floor: To keep an up-and-over garage door operating smoothly and quietly, brush some light machine oil on to the springs. Apply the oil when the door is open so that the springs are extended, allowing the oil to penetrate them.
3. Dirt excluder: The wind often blows dust and leaves under up-and-over garage doors, but you can easily fix this by screwing a length of proprietary draught excluder to the bottom of the door. Use self-tapping screws if the door is made of metal or glass fibre.
4. Seal the floor: A concrete garage floor may be porous, so oil spills from the car will soak in and stain it. The best solution is to sweep the floor and then seal it with diluted PVA adhesive or a proprietary concrete sealer. Then apply 1 or 2 coats of garage floor paint. Non-slip floor paint is good for garages too.
5. An up-and-over door can run off its tracks: If it is pulled open too far. You can prevent this by crimping the C-shaped open ends of the tracks with pliers to close them. Alternatively, drill a hole through the end of each track and insert a nut and bolt to arrest the door.
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