Don’t try this at home: 5 garage door repairs you should entrust to a professional

The chances are, when you have car problems, you take it to the garage and entrust the work to a professional mechanic. After all, you don’t want to put your life in danger…

Consider this, your garage door is the largest moving component of your home, it’s specifically calibrated to counter‑balance a certain weight and to give it a perceived weight of between 8 and 10 lbs. If you start messing around with your garage door trying to fix a problem, you could well be putting your life in danger.

If you need any of the following five issues repairing, don’t even think about doing it yourself. Instead, hire a professional garage door technician to ensure your garage door is back up and running safely in record time.

1) Broken or stretched out springs

The spring system on your garage door is what counterbalances the door’s weight. A broken spring will increase the door’s perceived weight and put additional strain on the door opening system, making the garage door more dangerous.

Generally, torsion and extension springs last for approximately 7 years, or between 10,000 and 12,000 open‑close cycles. Torsion springs lose tension every year, between 10 and 15%, and once they reach the end of their life, they snap. If you hear a loud, gunshot‑like sound, a torsion spring has probably broken. Extension springs often break because they’ve been stretched, in this case, they’ll likely break at the end of a spring, in the loop.

2) Worn-out rollers

The quality of rollers really varies on the market and how long they last depends on their quality. For example, rollers with ball bearings are more durable, and the more ball bearing there are, they longer they last. You can also find black nylon rollers that don’t have any ball bearings, but rather are contained in a galvanized and corrosion‑resistant cylinder. If you have a double garage door, you’ve probably got long‑stem rollers installed in double hinges. Problems arise with rollers when garage doors are left open for too long, especially in doors with single rollers, as there is too much weight being put on the rollers. They also often break when double garage doors don’t have long‑stem rollers and double hinges.

3) Broken, slack or frayed lifting cables

Lifting cables link the bottom of the door to the spring system and are wound around a grooved drum. They are under high tension, corresponding to the weight of the garage door. If the drum is misaligned, the lifting cables will fray as they will rub along the groves, rather than being guided by them. Lifting cables are also at risk of breaking if the cable isn’t the right size for the weight of the door.

4) Misaligned horizontal tracks

Horizontal tracks are attached the ceiling using right‑angle brackets and should be attached to a solid piece of wood. If they have been improperly installed, vibrations from the door opening and closing could cause the tracks to become misaligned, in which case, the garage door might fall off.

5) Broken or stripped door opener gear and sprocket

Plastic parts, albeit made from very durable plastic, in the garage door opener can break if the drive chain puts too much pressure on them. For example, if a broken spring is forcing the door opener to work twice as hard as normal, or if the door opener is of a lower-quality and wasn’t designed to lift heavy weights.

So, what should you do?

It’s of the utmost importance that you remember how dangerous garage doors can be and that you call a professional company, such as us. You can reach us anytime at 613-749-2138.

We can even help if your garage door is damaged beyond repair. Simply request a quotation online, or ask for one of our technicians to come out to your home. If you are looking for a new door, have a look at our image gallery and try out our Design Centre tool.