Garage Door Cable Repair Service
The garage door is easily identifiable as the largest moving component of almost any household that has one, and it’s crucial to those who use it on the regular that it consistently operates smoothly and without fail.
Funnily enough, thanks to the convenience it grants us everyday, it’s easy to forget how important the overhead door is; sometimes, we homeowners only remember how much it’s worth once it starts acting out of order.
If you’ve noticed that the door to your garage has begun to make strange noises, to open or close in strange manners, or even refuse to open or close at all, take it as a sign that something’s wrong and needs fixing.
Many will delay getting their door professionally looked at and repaired if the problem seems “dismissible”, but even the tiniest of issues may eventually lead to costlier damages and serious injuries.
What are garage door cables?
Overhead doors are bulky, heavy, and made up of a complex team of different parts–when just one or a few of them are in bad shape, the entire system can suffer.
The cable drums and cables on a garage door in particular are intended to serve as protective backup in the sudden case that its springs unexpectedly give out.
To locate these cables, simply examine both sides of your garage door; they work in unison with torsion and/or extension springs in order to allow for the smooth opening and closing of your door.
It is not advisable to shrug off the need for garage door cable repair, as a single broken cable will immediately shift added strain onto the other, which will inevitably cause the durability of the remaining cable to weaken at a quicker rate.
Both cables should be fastened to the base of the garage door with cable drums that can be found on either end of the shafts of its torsion springs.
As the overhead door is lowered or raised, it is through the turning of these cable drums–by the torsion springs–that the cables themselves begin to either wind or unwind around the drums (the springs’ job is to coil up as the door is opened and uncoil as it is closed).
As mentioned earlier, the breaking of even one cable will cause the overhead door as a whole to move in an uneven fashion, simultaneously putting excess stress onto the system’s various components.
With that said, as soon as you suspect your cable/s are damaged, remember that it is best to call for garage door cable repair–which we at Smooth Openers proudly offer–as soon as possible.
Replacing your cables on your own.
Though getting professional assistance is the primary piece of advice we give when it comes to garage door repair in Baltimore–or even garage door installation in Baltimore–it is possible to fix garage door cable issues yourself.
First and foremost, open your overhead door and lock it in place (with the help of tools like vice grips) by the track just underneath the bottom roller, in order to prevent any sudden movements.
When you’re sure that the door has no chance of budging, you may shift your focus to the cable which you must unfasten from the bottom of the door; it will be coiled around a peg and the cable drum, which you’ll have to unravel.
Next, secure your new cable to its designated drum by unwinding it then looping its opposite end around the peg at the garage door’s bottom.
If you find that your new cable isn’t an exact match with your remaining good one, you’ll probably have to replace that too, or adjust one of their lengths–the latter can be a more dangerous task involving torsion springs, which we at Smooth Openers are perfectly trained and equipped to take on for you instead.
Whether or not you’re one for DIY, it’s always wise to assess which fixes you are and simply aren’t capable of safely carrying out alone.
Give us a call for any of the garage door repairs, replacements, and installments you aren’t sure you can handle without a licensed hand, and our team will always be up and ready to help out.
