BANG! The loudest sound you can remember hearing in your house wakes you in the middle of the night. It sounds like it came from the garage, so you go to investigate. When you turn the lights on, all you find is the torsion spring on your garage door hanging down uselessly. Seems like it’s time for a little DIY repair on your garage door springs.
We at Neighborhood Garage Door Service of Denver, CO strongly advise against doing so. There are plenty of good reasons to avoid this project. Here are just a few examples of bad thinking.
It can’t be that hard! It’s just a torsion spring!
The problem with this thinking is that you severely underestimate the work that spring is doing. The torsion springs are the key element of the counterweight system. They are housed in a steel tube connected to the lifting cable which pulls up the bottom hinge.
The springs are supporting the total weight of the door, leaving them in an extreme amount of tension. Without that tension, trying to lift the door means you will be deadlifting 125-250 pounds! And you can add another 5-15 pounds each if your overhead garage door has windows. If you lose grip or stability at any point, the door could come crashing down on your, resulting in serious injury or even death.
One spring is still working. That should be good enough
Again, this underestimates the amount of weight on the springs. This still leaves you with 75-125 pounds of weight. In addition, this unbalanced counterweight system now runs the risk of rebounding on you. Lastly, having just one spring in place can cause the door to open unevenly and damage your tracks.
The garage door opener will hold it up
Your automatic garage door opener is not designed to lift the full weight of the door. A properly balanced door only requires 8-10 pounds of lifting force to open. The opener is only designed to open slightly more than this weight. It is basically a replacement for your hands and arms. If you can’t lift and hold the door, neither can it.
My friend can probably help me
We’ve heard it before. “My friend (or relative) had the same thing happen and fixed his just fine.” Proper adjustment of a garage door’s torsion spring takes professional training and precision. It’s not worth taking the risk of having someone without the proper tools and skills do the job incorrectly. The danger of injury and even death is very real.
If you’ve had a spring in your garage door break, give Neighborhood Garage Door Service of Denver, Colorado a call. Our trained technicians can be on site as early as today to assess the problem and begin repairs. Our trucks are stocked with many common parts. This allows us to begin work right away on most projects. Don’t attempt a dangerous repair. Don’t wait any longer, call us today!
