You most likely have paid very little attention to your overhead door springs if you are like most home owners. While understandable, this mistake is also a little unfair. There's honestly no single component in your garage door and overhead door opener that is more important to the opening and closing of the door. That's one good reason for paying some appreciation to the springs. Here's one more: Garage door springs are hazardous! Very dangerous. Do yourself a favor and go over Garage Door Safety Tips prior to thinking about replacements or repairs.
In case you are getting issue with your garage door, it might be caused by some issue with the springs. Garage door springs do break, and they can be changed. There are service providers out there who sell replacement springs to DIYers, and there are DIYers who have securely and successfully switched out their own springs.
This specific article is not a how-to on garage door spring replacement. It is aimed to familiarise you with garage door springs and some of the servicing tasks you may perform on your own.
Two Kinds Of Overhead door Springs
There are two different types of springs used on overhead door. Torsion springs are secured just above the closed garage door, while extension springs are located over the top tracks on both of these sides.
Garage Door Springs and Your Safety
(For tips on finding a qualified garage door professional, view How To Find the Best Overhead door Installers and Repairmen). In the event that your garage door is old, or if it is showing indications of age, let an experienced specialist check your overhead door springs.
Use some garage door lubricant to the springs and see if it makes any impact. For suggestions on the best lubricants to apply on your overhead door, check out this site. For some extra recommendations on decreasing the noise of your overhead door, see How To Quiet a Noisy Garage Door.
Overhead door Safety Cables
The two kinds of garage door springs discussed above work differently. A garage door with extension springs will have a safety cable on each side of the door running through the spring and connected to the wall or ceiling.
Phone a garage door expert and get a pair mounted in case you have extension springs on your garage door but can not see any safety cords.
Out of Balance Springs
The best sign of a well-functioning garage door is that it opens up and closes down easily and quietly. Try operating the garage door by hand (pull the cable secured to the arm attaching the rail trolley system to the door). If the door continues to be tricky to operate, the issue here might be that the springs are out of balance.
Garage Door Spring Brackets
Garage door springs are attached to brackets on the bottom of the garage door. Similar to the springs, here those brackets are also under a great deal of tension and should only be adjusted or otherwise serviced by a master. Newer versions of garage doors have tamper-resistant brackets that prevent the curious but not experienced among us from getting into trouble.