Garage door spring replacement
 

Hello

Looks like the torsion spring (the one that runs along the top of the door) on the garage door has snapped.
From what I can gather this is a rather precarious job if you try to fix it yourself, so I was wondering if anyone else had a similar hishap and can share advice on how best to fix it, how mucg it is likely to cost, etc.

Cheers, and karma available for any info

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

Info from Home Depot

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

Once you know the spring rating this site explaines it all:


http://www.garagedoor.org/residentia...eplacement.cgi

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

Those things can be exceptionally dangerous. I wouldn't attempt to repair it yourself unless you really know what you're doing, and you shouldn't attempt to do it without a skilled partner to help you.

If you plan on staying in your house for awhile, you may want to consider replacing the door with a roll-up style door, which would be much safer to deal with if/when it does break again.

FWIW, I once had a neighbor who had the spring of her garage door snap as she was opening the door. She was pulling on the door from the bottom (the handle on the face of the door had broken), so when the spring snapped, the door fell onto her hand like a guillotine, and cut half of a finger off of her hand. Needless to say, since witnessing the aftermath of that incident, I'm quite careful to keep my hands as far from the bottom of the door as possible whenever opening or shutting it.

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

Get a quote for it from a garage door specialist Davy, DON'T try and do it yourself. It has to be wound up properly, if you don't know what you're doing, It can be very dangerous. :)

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

Hire a guy to do it...it's a tough job.

Ours went a few months ago leaving our car trapped in the garage...it is supposed to have a release lever that allows the door to go up manually, but this jammed.

We called a guy and he came the next morning...they are used to emergency calls. It was $100ish to get it fixed.

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

Thanks all - managed to sus out the release thing to get the car out but was just concerned about the cost.
For $100 or even $200 I certainly won't be doing it myself - got better things to do off a weekend :beer:

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

And, as a special bonus offer to you all switch onto ESPN now for the 63rd annual us soap box derby - looks rather entertaining

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

I think we must have the roll-up style door...the house is 8 yrs old. The springs on our doors run along the side of the doors when they are open. My husband has replaced ours several times....they usually go after the hot summer weather for some reason.

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

Yep - apparently they use extension springs - mine uses a torsion spring - looks like a nasty peice of work and would involve a deal of ******* about so I'll leave well alone.
Now to deal with the wasps living in the wall of the house :rolleyes:

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

I got so fed up with wasps and carpenter ants last year I called Terminex. A guy comes round every 3 months treats the outside of the house. He will also come back at any time within the 3 mths if we have problems. Seems to have worked because this year we haven't had a problem with wasps....or bees as they always call them.

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

Had the wasp problem with our apt, sick of our apt in general so definitely gonna be moving. Had several maintenance and bug people come to help deal with the wasps, (they couldnt figure out how they were getting into the apt, bloody idiots). ended up just me screaming and running for spray when i saw em and them dieing out in the autumn :rolleyes:

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

You need to hire one of these.....

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

That's a bit extreme...we would have no house left. :scared:

Re: Garage door spring replacement
 

trust me id love to do that to our apartment complex