Should I have a garage door company perform garage door repair? There s quite a few home repairs which would advise to just go ahead and DIY, however repairing the garage door is not one of these. A broken spring is an extremely common garage door repair to make, but unfortunately, most repairs are extremely dangerous to undertake, especially if you do not know what you’re doing.
The reason springs get damaged is often down to not maintaining them correctly. The garage door spring system is a complicated piece of machinery, it’s important that you understand how it works in order to make a garage door repair correctly. It’s common that after a period of time, the rollers will become misaligned or worn, and whilst this is hardly ever a major problem on its own, if this wears out then it means your system is working less efficiently. If the rollers are misaligned or wear badly then they can start to jam, this could result in a loss of balance and cause the door to lose its balance, either way this would be extremely dangerous and would require the immediate attention of a garage door repair expert. You also need to ensure that the garage door spring system is kept clean of any debris, grease or dirt as this can cause problems as it’s easy to get all of this into the rollers and over time they could begin to work less effectively.
If you’ve determined that the rollers need replacing then the first thing you need to look at is whether you should have a specialist do the job or if you should try and replace the springs yourself. If you have no experience in this field then it’s advisable to have someone who is fully qualified to perform the job. This can be done by getting the correct tools, ensuring you know exactly how the springs are supposed to work and then taking it a step further and having a trained professional do the job. Although this may sound like an expensive way of dealing with the problem, it’s important to note that the most expensive garage door springs can actually mean the most reliable and effective. In terms of efficiency, by replacing the old springs with new ones, you’ll get the best balance between reliability and cost, especially if you choose to install new strings instead of purchasing new panels.
The other thing that you need to look at when it comes to garage door springs is their location. The springs are placed on a bearing plate that has two rollers that allow them to move up and down, whilst being protected by what are known as torsion springs. The torsion springs are made up of steel coils that are wound up and kept on top of a steel shaft. As the name suggests, the torsion spring acts as a wire, so by stretching the wire, you can exert a great amount of force, making the door open and close easily. However, because the torsion spring must have the correct amount of stress placed on it in order for it to work, if it has any weaknesses in the wire or the shaft it will not work as efficiently.
So, if you think you have the right material (strut) and you have a good idea of how the garage door works, then you should still consider replacing the springs yourself. By simply purchasing the torsion spring winder that you need, and by making sure you have the right size and type of springs, you could potentially save yourself money and achieve the same results that a professional garage door specialist would. The biggest advantage is that by doing the work yourself, you can avoid paying professionals hundreds of pounds for the same job.
If you are not confident enough to do the job yourself, you can use the services of a garage door technician who specialises in fixing these springs. The technician should know how to identify weak areas where the cables or drums may be wearing thin. Weak springs will make the garage door swings slowly, which may mean it won’t open as it should. In addition, if you have old cables or drums that are wearing thin, then this will cause the springs to break. If the wires and cables are more than 2 years old, then they will also need to be replaced with new ones, which could cost considerably more than buying the springs.
