Do Your Garage Door Springs Need Replacement - Our Guide
- Dodson Garage Doors
- May 4, 2021
- 3 min read
Very few things are as frustrating as finding your garage doors not working when you are in a rush. You might already be considering getting the garage door replaced. But before calling your garage door installers, you need to rule out some possible causes, like a malfunctioning garage door spring.
Because a garage door repair will cost much less than getting a replacement, you might want to see if it’s the spring that’s causing the problem and determine how it can be fixed.
How Can You Tell If the Springs Are the Culprit?
The age of the springs can be a factor here. You see, the average life expectancy of a spring is around seven to nine years, that is if you set it to 10,000 cycles and assume you do four cycles in a day. But because it’s likely that the garage door is being used more often than four times a day, the spring’s life may be shortened to four to six years. It’s even possible for springs to break within a year if not installed properly.
Garage door springs may need rebalancing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re broken or failing. One way you can determine whether it’s failing or not is by checking if the door stays in its up position once released from the opener. There may be some movement, and that’s normal but if one or both the bottom rollers move past the vertical and horizontal track line then stays below that like, then the springs are failing.
Also, when the door is set to a mid-level position, it should stay in that position and not move up or down. This is because the spring should be able to support the door entirely.
Doing these tests is important because you don’t want to run the risk of the door falling off track, and you want to protect the motor and the gears of the door from the heavyweight.
What to Do When the Springs Fail?
If the garage door is heavy and the springs are around five years old, it’s possible that they’re in or near their breaking point. During this period, you should call a garage door repair expert to replace them. But if your door is relatively light, it’s possible that the wrong size of springs was used. Again, a pro will be able to determine this and find a solution that will work best.
What you must never do is try to do the repair yourself. Unless you are a trained garage door installer or repair technician, you should never try fixing the problem yourself because it is a dangerous job, and there’s a risk of you getting maimed if you do it wrong. Remember that those springs are what’s holding your 400-pound door. In any case, garage door spring replacements and professional services are significantly cheaper than hospital bills!
Conclusion
Failing springs are among the most common reasons a garage door is not working as expected. In most cases, replacing the malfunctioning springs can solve the problem of a door that doesn’t open or close properly. Remember that it’s crucial that a professional garage door repair expert replaces problematic springs because if not, other parts of the garage door can be affected as well. In the end, you might even end up with a more costly repair when that happens. Also, you must never do the repair or replacement unless you are a trained pro!
Dodson Garage Doors LLC, your trusted garage door repair in Birmingham, AL, can provide you with garage door spring repair or replacement anytime you need it. And if you find that you need a replacement door, we can also install one for you. Contact our team today to learn more about our services!
We offer service to Birmingham as well as the following cities and their surrounding areas:
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