Garage Door Repairs You Should Never Consider Doing Yourself

Every garage door needs maintenance work to keep it functioning perfectly for years.

At some point, it’s going to need some repairs, too. After all, a garage door does have plenty of moving parts, and it’s only a matter of time before one or a few of them cause issues that affect the entire door’s operation.

Some garage door fixes are simple enough for any homeowner with a penchant for DIY work to do. 

Lubricating its moving parts is one thing you can do without much effort. 

Tightening hinges, bolts, and nuts to fix noises that your garage door may be making is another. 

You can even replace the weather seal to prevent critters from sneaking in under the door.

However, repairing a broken garage door spring is an entirely different story. Whatever you do, don’t even think about addressing the problem the DIY way.

Let’s look at broken springs and garage door other problems that you shouldn’t even consider tackling on your own.

Repairing Broken Springs

A typical garage door is heavy. Most garage doors weigh a little over a hundred pounds, while some could weigh up to 400 pounds.

Whenever you open or close your garage door, its torsion spring bears the brunt of that weight.

On top of the weight it’s designed to carry, garage door springs are also wound tight. That means a garage door spring stores a lot of energy. 

Over time, your garage door spring will suffer from wear and tear, sometimes to the point of breaking. 

When it does break, all the energy and tension it has in store will be released and cause accidents that could lead to injuries to fingers, hands, and even heads.

Because of the danger of handling anything that has to do with your garage door’s springs, the only thing to do to address the problem is to call a garage door repair professional who has the training, experience, and tools necessary to perform the task safely.

Replacing Bent or Corroded Tracks

Tracks guide the door every time you open or close it. To make the process run more smoothly, you can add more lubrication as needed.

That should be the extent of your DIY work when it comes to garage door tracks. When you see that the tracks are bent or corroded, get thoughts of repairing them yourself out of your head.

Tracks help hold the door in place. One wrong move while trying to repair their bent or corroded parts or putting them back on track can send the entire door crashing down and hurt you, your children, and your pets, if you have any.

Tinkering With Your Garage Door’s Installation

Let’s say that professionals have already installed your garage door, but you’re not happy with their work. You feel like there’s something off about it. It could be the way it closes or the sound that it makes while in operation that makes you think there’s something wrong with the installation.

If you feel that way and you want your concern addressed immediately, the sensible thing to do would be to call the pros who installed it for a do-over, if necessary.

However, if you’re the type who takes pride in your DIY skills, there’s a possibility that you’ll want to redo the garage door installation yourself. You might also think of it as an opportunity to save money since you won't have to pay anyone else for the service.

Still, unless you’ve had the same kind of training and experience that garage door professionals possess, removing the whole thing and reinstalling it on your own is a terrible idea.

It may seem simple to you, but garage door installation is a highly complex process. There are plenty of parts involved, and it’s easy to make mistakes that could render the entire door inoperable. With garage door installation mistakes, you’ll end up paying more for a professional to undo the mess.

Garage door installation also requires special tools and equipment that you probably don’t have. If you insist on doing it yourself, you may have to spend more money buying them from your local home improvement store. 

Most importantly, your lack of experience and expertise makes a DIY garage door installation risky for you and other members of your family. 

Keep in mind that garage doors are heavy and that alone puts you at risk of an injury. Aside from the physical strain involved in its installation, a garage door has parts like the spring that could hurt you if you handle it incorrectly.

Simple fixes are fine, but for more complicated repairs or replacements, leave the job to skilled, experienced, and adequately equipped garage door repair professionals. It’s the safest route to take when your garage door starts acting up.

Guest Contributor: Irene Trentham