Garage Door Spring Replacement
The springs on an overhead door are what allow the garage door system to both lift and lower the door itself–generally weighing hundreds of pounds–with ease.
Signs that you need garage door springs replacement typically include your door flat out refusing to open (manually and/or automatically), and the springs themselves being visibly old or damaged.
Those whose garage door springs are worn out or broken may be tempted to carry out the fix themselves, but there are important things to bear in mind before pushing through with such a decision.
Sharing great responsibility in carrying the door’s load, these components hold lots of tension and stress, which can be hazardous to work with or around when one is inexperienced and lacks professional training.
To help you avoid making any rash decisions, here is some information that should help you decide how to give your garage door and its springs the help that they need.
Know what sort of springs your overhead door has.
There’s a variety of springs for different kinds of garage doors, some of which are relatively simple and safe to replace one’s own, while others aren’t; the two main types, however, are extension springs and torsion springs.
Extension springs are thin, long, and run in alignment with the tracks found on either side of a garage door; torsion springs are not as thin, and are positioned on a metal rod beside the opening of the garage door.
Replacing extension springs
These springs are less risky to replace as they lose majority of their tension upon the opening of your garage door, but be sure to use clamps that keep the door in place to prevent it from accidentally coming closed as you switch out your springs!
With a clamped open door, detach the faulty extension springs from the brackets, pulley, and safety cable, then simply install the new ones right where the old ones were.
Replacing torsion springs
If you’re wondering how torsion garage door springs replacement goes, you’ll first want to note that, compared to extension springs, these are known as the least advisable to replace without a professional’s help.
Torsion springs hold loads of energy that, when broken, may snap right at an unsuspecting and untrained individual, and cause very undesirable injuries.
We encourage you to ensure your own safety by calling us at Smooth Openers for whatever garage door repair in Baltimore you might find yourself in need of.
Nonetheless, for those who are set on carrying this task out themselves, it isn’t impossible–so long as adequate research and mindfulness are well observed before and throughout the process.
A garage door usually has only two torsion springs, and the door must be kept closed during replacement; prepare a winding bar for easy twisting of the springs when calibrating the amount of torsion within them.
On each torsion spring, you will find a winding cone at the end where the bar is fit onto, slowly twisting the bar as you apply pressure against the door using the spring will release the torsion.
Once both torsion springs have been unwound and detached from the overhead door, the next step will simply be to wind your new springs up and fasten them where your old ones were.
Let us help you!
At the end of the day, replacing the springs on your garage door by yourself can be a doable project, but leaving it to the professionals is always the safest option.
Spending hours trying to replace them on your own, all the while risking serious injuries or, at the very least, not quite getting it right (which may eventually lead to serious mishaps too), can result in even more problems that you shouldn’t have to deal with otherwise.
Smooth Openers is one call away from taking care of all your needs for garage door repair and garage door installation in Baltimore.
With our meticulous, skilled, and licensed staff, you won’t have to worry about any half-baked results or unsightly accidents.
Get in touch with us, tell us about your concerns, and we will be more than happy to accompany you throughout the process of restoring your garage door to perfect shape.
