What's on our 25-point checklist
Springs: visual inspection for coil gaps, rust pitting, and stretched coils. Spring tension check — door should hold position at 3-foot, 4-foot, and chest-high points when disconnected from opener.
Cables: full-length inspection for fraying, broken strands, and corrosion at the bottom bracket. Drum alignment check — cable should wind tight and even, no overlap or slack.
Rollers: spin each roller by hand listening for bearing noise, check for nylon wear or steel deformation, verify roller is fully seated in the track.
Hinges: check all section hinges for cracks (extremely common on 10+ year old doors), tighten any loose lag screws.
Tracks: alignment check with a level, verify both vertical tracks are plumb and parallel, check for dents or kinks.
Opener: force adjustment check, travel limit check, safety reverse test (place a 2x4 flat under the closing door — door must reverse on contact), photo-eye alignment and lens cleaning, manual release pull test, light bulb check.
Hardware: tighten every bolt on the bottom bracket, end-bearing plates, center bearing bracket, opener arm, and trolley assembly. Vibration loosens these annually — every Topeka door has loose hardware after a year.
Lubrication: silicone or lithium grease on all springs (roll a thin film along the coils), hinge pivots, end bearings, center bearing, and opener chain or screw. NEVER WD-40 — it's a solvent that strips lubrication, exactly the opposite of what you want.
Weather seals: bottom astragal flexibility, perimeter seal contact, daylight check.
Why annual cadence
A typical Topeka household cycles the door about 1,500 times a year. Hardware loosens, lubrication degrades, and wear patterns develop on a roughly 12-month timeline. Annual tune-ups catch problems early and extend component life.
Doors that get a yearly tune-up routinely run 18–22 years on the original springs and 25+ years on the original opener. Doors that never get serviced typically need a major repair (springs, cables, or opener) every 6–8 years.
What a tune-up costs
$95 flat for a single residential door, $130 for two doors at the same address. Includes the full 25-point inspection, all lubrication and hardware tightening, and a written list of anything that's wearing but not yet a problem (so you can budget for it).
If we find anything that needs immediate repair, we'll quote it before doing the work and you can decide. We don't run the tune-up as a sales appointment — most tune-ups end with a clean bill of health and no upsell.