In these “How We Fixed It” series, we go over projects that we worked on. We’ll discuss the initial diagnosis of the problem, what might have caused it, and how we fixed it. With these project examples, we want to showcase why it’s important to fix small issues early, why you shouldn’t work on your garage door without having experience, and how we can help fix whatever garage door issue you might be having.
Initial Diagnosis and Review
We were recently called to Surprise, Arizona to help a customer with a double car garage door that wouldn’t work, it was completely dead weight. When looking over the garage door we found that the single spring was broken and without that spring in working order, the garage door had no counterbalance to allow it to open as it should.
The homeowner wasn’t fully aware of what the issue was with their garage door before it completely fell off (like it’s seen in the images above) so they kept trying to open the door. As we’ve talked about, this normally causes additional issues and in this case it did. Since they continued to try and open the door, in result they ripped out the top strut and bent the door.
Potential Causes
While the reason for the door being bent and the top strut being ripped out is due to the constant try to open the door, the garage door spring being broken could be a few reasons.
Garage door springs are something that need to be replaced over time. They are constantly under pressure and strain when you open and close your garage door causing them to wear down. The more they wear down, the more they wear down, the higher the probability that they’ll break which makes the door become dead weight due to the motor not being able to pull up the full weight.
How We Fixed It
Since doing the initial diagnosis, we realized that the panels didn’t need to be completely replaced (saving a lot of money). There were a few things that needed to be replaced though.
We started with replacing the broken single spring with a pair of high cycle springs. This will help counterbalance the weight of the door so that it can easily be opened and closed without putting a lot of strain on the motor.
We then replaced the bent strut that was broken when trying to open the door without a spring with a new strut. We also added an additional one to the lower part of the top panel.
Last but not least, we reinforced the operator bracket and replaced the rollers with new ones so that the “friction” of the door isn’t causing other parts to work harder than needed.
All in all, we were able to get the door back in working condition and save the customer a lot of money by reinforcing and not needing to replace panels. Another successful garage door repair done. If you’re in need of repairs to your garage door, you can click the button below and we’ll give you a free estimate on whatever repairs you need!