If it is time for you to get a new garage door, whether you want it for aesthetic reasons or your old garage door has broken down beyond repair, you might think that you can lower costs a little by doing the labor yourself. Unfortunately, garage door installation usually goes beyond the skills of even the handiest DIY homeowner. In fact, installing your own garage door can be downright dangerous.
The Many Moving Parts of a Garage Door
It doesn't happen often, but many garage door companies that offer installation fully expect to receive at least a few calls per year asking them to come fix a DIY garage door installation job. One of the primary issues is that while a garage door looks fairly straightforward, it actually has a number of moving parts that need to work together in order to work efficiently and safely. While automatic openers are usually somewhat straightforward to install, the issue is picking the right track for the door and actually installing that track.
Lack of Proper Tools
When installing a garage door, typically you want to leave it to the professionals because they have the right tools and knowledge for the job. It goes beyond simple drills for fastening, but rather you need tools like a counterbalance spring system to install it correctly and do so in a way that the installation is actually safe.
Garage Doors are Heavy
These days, most people have automatic garage openers that do the heavy lifting for them. This means that tend to forget the large door that is moving up and down weights a couple hundred pounds. This means if you are dead set on doing the installation yourself, you can't. You will need at least one or two other people to help you physically lift the door and put it into position. Trying to lift a garage door yourself is asking for injury.
The Danger of the Springs
If you ask any garage door professional what the most dangerous part of an installation is, they will say without a doubt that it is doing the springs. Many homeowners have been seriously injured because they tried to adjust the springs, let along install them. The issue is that a spring stores energy to actually lift the door and if it unwinds during the installation, that energy is rapidly released. You won't be able to move out of the way in time and the springs can cause a serious injury.
Make the safe choice and call Roadrunner Garage Doors today.
Showing posts with label garage door springs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garage door springs. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Monday, April 9, 2018
How to Tell if a Garage Door Spring Has Broken
When it comes to garage door repair, typically you don't realize it needs
repair until it actually stops working. While there are many issues that can
contribute to a broken garage door, one of the more common ones is that of a
broken garage door spring.
In most garage doors, there are only two types of springs that it will use - extension springs and torsion springs. In both systems, they use springs attached to cables so that the springs extend when the door is closed and that energy is released when the door is lifted. It is this energy that helps lift the door. The difference between the two systems is the placement and the set up of the cable and spring system. They both function in a similar way and if those springs break, it can be devastating.
Typical signs of a spring pre-breakage are that your garage door will be harder to lift and your automatic garage door opener will struggle as well as create much more noise than the usual racket. As a noisy garage door can be the sign of a number of different problems, it should never be ignored. However, if left unchecked and a spring has reached the end of its lifecycle, you need to be careful. Typically springs break one at a time, and if one has broken, your garage door will suddenly feel like you are lifting the full couple hundred pound weight that it actually is.
Usually the tell-tale sign that a garage door spring has broken is the noise. Since the springs are more likely to break when they are extended and filled with stored energy, a spring breaking in your garage can be as loud as a gunshot. Unfortunately, the force of that spring snapping can cause it to fly off, making it not only loud, but it has a huge potential to do big damage to anything it hits. This is why ideally when your door starts to become heavier, move a little slower, and makes a lot more noise than usual, you want to address the problem before this happens.
If you’re concerned about your garage door springs, contact Roadrunner Garage Doors. We’d be happy to set up an appointment to get your garage door in tiptop shape.
In most garage doors, there are only two types of springs that it will use - extension springs and torsion springs. In both systems, they use springs attached to cables so that the springs extend when the door is closed and that energy is released when the door is lifted. It is this energy that helps lift the door. The difference between the two systems is the placement and the set up of the cable and spring system. They both function in a similar way and if those springs break, it can be devastating.
Typical signs of a spring pre-breakage are that your garage door will be harder to lift and your automatic garage door opener will struggle as well as create much more noise than the usual racket. As a noisy garage door can be the sign of a number of different problems, it should never be ignored. However, if left unchecked and a spring has reached the end of its lifecycle, you need to be careful. Typically springs break one at a time, and if one has broken, your garage door will suddenly feel like you are lifting the full couple hundred pound weight that it actually is.
Usually the tell-tale sign that a garage door spring has broken is the noise. Since the springs are more likely to break when they are extended and filled with stored energy, a spring breaking in your garage can be as loud as a gunshot. Unfortunately, the force of that spring snapping can cause it to fly off, making it not only loud, but it has a huge potential to do big damage to anything it hits. This is why ideally when your door starts to become heavier, move a little slower, and makes a lot more noise than usual, you want to address the problem before this happens.
If you’re concerned about your garage door springs, contact Roadrunner Garage Doors. We’d be happy to set up an appointment to get your garage door in tiptop shape.
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