3 Reasons Why You Should Not Attempt To Replace Your Garage Door's Springs Yourself
Posted on: 19 December 2018
If your garage door is no longer opening and closing correctly, or it is making horrible screeching noises whenever it moves, you may have discovered that the springs are either stretched or broken. In an attempt to save money, you may have decided to take on the task yourself of replacing them. While it is possible to replace the garage door springs, there are some reasons why you should not try to do it yourself.
1. You May Take a Lot of Time Completing the Job
One reason you should not try to replace your garage door springs is that while you may end up saving some money doing the job yourself, you will find that you will have to spend a lot of when changing them yourself. When looking at videos and reading through instructions, it may seem as though removing and installing new springs will be a piece of cake.
However, because the springs have to be lined up correctly and set to the correct tension for your door, you will find that you have to spend a good amount of time on the tedious task of making minor adjustments to get everything right. And even if you are able to get everything perfect on one side of the garage door, you may have trouble repeating the same results on the other.
If you have a professional service replace the springs, however, they have the necessary know-how and tools to get the job done quickly. You will not have to tie up a whole afternoon or even an entire day trying to do it yourself.
2. You Run the Risk of Damaging Your Garage Door
Another reason that you should never try to replace your own garage door springs is that you run the risk of damaging your garage door. Even if you think that you have installed the new springs correctly, even the slightest miscalculation in position or tension could cause you to end up with a garage door that no longer works correctly.
For example, if you set the tension differently on one spring than you did on the other, the door will not pull open at the same rate. After a few uses, the door will become misaligned, and the uneven tension could put stress on the door. If this continues without being fixed, the door could buckle and crack, leaving you with either a repair bill for the door or the need to replace the door completely.
3. You May Wind Up Hurting Yourself
When you are dealing with large springs that are holding a lot of tension, there is always the risk that they could come loose while you are either trying to remove or install them. When this happens, you will lose control of the spring and could wind up hurting yourself in a couple of ways.
First, the ends of the springs are often very sharp. If one of them comes up and hits you, you could suffer a deep cut that may require stitches.
Second, since the springs are often close to the ceiling of your garage, you will probably have to use a ladder or step stool to reach them. If the momentum of the spring coming toward you causes you to lose your balance, you may fall and injure yourself.
Because of the risks involved in changing the springs, you should seriously consider leaving the job up to a professional. If you have decided not to attempt the job yourself, contact a business that offers garage spring repair and replacement services to discuss your options for having them do it for you.
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