With warmer weather on the horizon, it’s time to brush off the icicles and get to work. Spring is here! This means those creaky old hinges you have adorning all your doors need to be oiled, strikes need to be cleaned out and, well, you just need to do some all-over door maintenance!

I love a good checklist to get me started on a new task. It helps me stay focused and I feel much more accomplished when I can physically check that little box on my list. Today, I’m giving that gift to you!

The LockNet Spring Cleaning Door Maintenance Checklist

Sticky Doors

Have you noticed any resistance when you try to open or shut any of your facility doors?  Sticky doors can be a sign of a larger problem and need to be investigated.

And “stickiness” isn’t relegated to just the swinging action of the door.

If any part of the door is sticky, you’ll need to take a look. Most people put this off because they don’t believe this is a big problem and, while the actual “sticking” might not be, it can lead to be bigger problems down the road, which can spell disaster for your wallet.

Loose Screws

This one should be a no brainer and for most people it is. I want to cover it in your checklist so I can say I covered all the bases. Any loose screws on any part of the door are a bad sign. Clearly, something isn’t being held together like it should and if you spot a loose screw you need to take a look immediately.

Granted, a large majority of the time you’ll be able to simply tighten the screw and move on with your day. However, if you have luck like mine, the one time you don’t check on the screw and leave it for later will be the time your entire door falls off its hinges and won’t that be embarrassing?

Save yourself the trouble. Check for loose screws so door maintenance doesn’t become an issue.

Key Troubles

I’ve met several people who have chalked up tough-turning keys to old age. Sorry to break it to you, but if your keys are getting tougher and tougher to turn, it probably isn’t age that’s causing the problem.

Unfortunately, this is a sure sign of some hardware that’s about to break and you are in desperate need of door maintenance.

Most likely, it’s going to be your key if you keep trying to force it to turn in the lock. A broken key is never fun to deal with so at the first sign of trouble, you need to call a locksmith. They’ll be able to take a look and tell you what the problem is.

Scraping and Grinding

Any sound coming from your door other than a refreshing ring announcing a new customer should be cause for alarm. A scraping or grinding sound is a sure sign there’s a problem and needs to be checked out as soon as possible.

If a door is working properly, you won’t hear much of anything, so if your ears happen to be met with that unfortunate grinding or scraping sound, you need to be prepared for door maintenance. Thankfully, this something that can usually be fixed fairly easily.

Is your facility ready for spring cleaning? Have you got anything else to add to my door maintenance checklist? Maybe your doors are sticking and it’s time to call in the big guns. Either way, we’d love to hear from you! Give us a call!