Usually the biggest mechanical item in your house is the swinging garage door, which you drive your car through, sometimes without even opening it, I know you do :-).

The main and most dangerous component of the overhead door is the garage door spring (or springs depending on the design), which supports the entire weight of the door panels (sometimes over 400 pounds) and helps it lift / lower the complete door assembly. I have personally installed 3 overhead garage doors with 2 different types of springs, and you have to trust me on that: Garage door springs are under enormous pressure and you can be seriously injured or even killed doing such work. If you decide to take the risk, it is imperative that you follow the instructions to the last detail! Even if you have a friend or a professional do it for you, read it and check everything after the installer finishes the job. Overhead garage doors don’t have safety brakes (at least I haven’t heard of one), that would keep them from falling over when the support spring fails. I did find a few US patents for such devices, but apparently none of them were implemented in an actual garage door.

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, accidents involving overhead garage doors account for thousands of injuries each year (average 30,000 per year). For example, these injuries are: fractures, crushing and amputations. It is believed that not all injuries are reported in the United States. (CPSC)

There are basically two types of garage door spring systems that use rails/side rails (at least these are the most common types in Illinois and probably the rest of the US):

1. Garage door torsion spring(s) coiled on a rod above the top section of the garage door opening (door header)

2. Garage door extension springs that attach to both sides of the door and stretch along the horizontal part of the rail when the door is closed

You can also have an old one-piece door that swings outward as it goes up and up. This particular design will have springs mounted on the sides of the door opening, at approximately waist height, secured to a toggle bracket system that extends the springs toward the ceiling when the door is closed. It is an old and extremely dangerous system, which is no longer manufactured. If you have such a system in the garage, I highly recommend replacing it.

Garage Door Torsion Springs: There are single or double spring designs. Typically, the spring will break while under maximum tension, which is when the overhead garage door is closing/pulling down, or is already fully closed (NORMALLY). If you are closing it manually and it happens during this operation, don’t try to prevent it from being squashed, let go…well, unless your foot is where the door will close!

When one of the two garage door springs breaks, you need to replace them at the same time! It will cost some extra money, but to have an old and a new spring installed:

– put much more emphasis on the new

– the door will lose its proper balance

– the remaining old garage door spring will most likely break soon

Torsion springs for residential overhead garage doors have between 5,000 and 30,000 life cycles. Those digits represent an average total number of times you should be able to open and close the door before anticipating garage door spring replacement.

Garage Door Extension Springs – You may have one or two on each side of your overhead garage door, the spring can slide freely on this cable! When the garage door spring breaks without the cable inside, the broken ends can seriously injure anyone within its reach. Wires should always be included with overhead garage door hardware (assuming they come equipped with extension springs), but MANY PEOPLE forget to install them or don’t read the instructions and may assume they’re not necessary. Unlike the torsion spring, which doesn’t actually show any visual wear until it breaks, extension spring wear is much easier to spot, because they simply change dimension – the coils are overstretched (best seen when the garage door is open). If you notice such behavior in your garage door springs, it’s time to replace them.

And for both types of garage door springs, their tension must be adjusted evenly (in a two-spring system) for the swing door to ride properly on its tracks; to test it, stop the door slightly above the garage floor (1″ or two). ) and make sure its bottom/top edge is perfectly horizontal. Measuring the gap along the bottom might not be the best way to confirm, as garage floors are often uneven, Placing a level somewhere in the center section of the top edge of the garage door will give you the best reading (remember the door shouldn’t close all the way!) this level without any assistance (garage door opener arm is disconnected).

Important things to remember:

1. Check your swing garage door rollers/hinges, cables and springs for smoothness to ensure they are in good working order

2. Educate your kids about garage door safety

3. Never leave children and disabled people alone near or in the way of the garage door

4. Keep your body out of the way of the door when closing

5. Don’t leave personal property under an open garage door

6. Read more about garage door opener and other garage components