A Noisy Door
A garage door tells you what is wrong by the noise it makes, and most of the noises are fixable in an hour.
Short answer
Rumbling and grinding is usually dry or worn rollers. Squealing is dry hinges and bearings. Banging is a loose or unbalanced door. A sharp pop can be a spring. Rattling is loose hardware. And a straining or humming opener with little movement is a door or a spring problem rather than an opener one.
What the noises mean
Rumbling and grinding as the door moves: dry, worn or flat-spotted rollers, which is the most common cause and the easiest fix.
Squealing and squeaking: dry hinges, dry springs and dry end bearings.
Banging and slamming: the door unbalanced, a spring that has lost tension, or loose hardware.
Rattling: loose hinge, bracket or track fasteners, which vibrate loose over a year.
A sharp pop or bang: potentially a spring, which should be checked rather than ignored.
And a straining or humming opener that moves the door slowly or not at all: the door or the springs rather than the opener, which is being blamed for somebody else problem.
Nylon rollers
Most doors come with plain steel rollers running in a steel track, which is why they rumble. Sealed nylon rollers run quietly, last longer and need no lubrication. Replacing the rollers on a noisy door is an hour of labour and a modest parts cost, and it is the single biggest noise improvement available.
The hour that fixes most of it
Lubricate the hinges, the roller stems, the springs, the end bearings and the opener rail — with a garage door lubricant rather than a general penetrating oil, which washes off.
Do not lubricate the track itself, which should be clean and dry. Lubricant in the track collects grit.
Tighten every hinge, bracket and track fastener.
Replace worn or flat-spotted rollers, ideally with sealed nylon.
Check the opener rail, the trolley and the chain or belt tension.
And check the balance by hand, which is where a noise problem turns out to be a spring problem.
When the noise is a warning
A sharp bang, which can be a spring and should be checked the same day.
A grinding from the opener itself, which on a chain drive can be a stripped gear and drive sprocket.
A door that bangs down hard, which means it is not being counterbalanced properly.
A new noise from one corner, which can be a hinge cracking or a roller bracket pulling out of the section.
Any noise accompanied by the door moving unevenly or jerking.
And a noise that has got worse quickly, because a slow deterioration is maintenance and a sudden change is a fault.
Common questions
Why is my garage door so loud?
Usually dry or worn rollers, dry hinges, and loose hardware.
What is the biggest improvement?
Replacing steel rollers with sealed nylon ones.
Should I lubricate the track?
No. Keep the track clean and dry. Lubricant there collects grit.