Garage door springs play a central role in the operation of a garage door such that making the smallest mistakes when installing new springs is bound to make it almost impossible for you to open and close your door. But knowing what to install and how to install it is not the greatest challenge when it comes to replacing a garage door spring. What most homeowners struggle with is doing the repair work without putting their safety at risk. This is because most garage door springs are usually under great tension in that the slightest mistake can cause you serious physical harm – that is in addition to damaging your door.
The following are garage door safety tips. They will come in handy in helping you to stay safe when replacing a faulty garage door spring.
Clamping the door
Garage doors tend to be heavy. Add to this the tension that a door's springs are under and allowing the door to move freely when working is a disaster waiting to happen. To be safe, you have to lock it down before you start to loosen the springs.
Locking pliers are great when it comes to clamping a garage door to its track. If you have a C-clamp, it can also work.
Positioning your ladder
When working on garage door springs, it is important to ensure that you are always out of the way – in case anything breaks and releases the springs. Positioning your ladder in such a way that it is always to the side of the spring ends is a step in the right direction. And when testing to see whether the door is well-balanced, make sure that you get off the ladder and move out of the way before you unclamp the door.
Disconnecting the garage door opener
Disconnecting your garage door opener from its power source will help to protect you from electric harm. It will also ensure that the garage door electric system is safe from power damage.
Using winding bars
Using the wrong set of tools is a mistake that most homeowners make when replacing a broken spring. This is something that usually puts their safety in danger, especially when unwinding or winding garage door springs. Why? Because most tools do not usually provide the grip, leverage and arms-length distance that is necessary not only to do the job effectively but also safely.
Therefore, using pliers, pin punches and screwdrivers to unwind garage door springs that are under extreme pressure is a safety hazard. Winding and unwinding garage door torsion springs is a job best reserved for winding bars.
Share17 June 2015
I thought the most difficult part of teaching my son how to drive would be out on the roads, but I didn't think about what he could do to my garage door before he even left the driveway. It took one small tap with the car to damage the garage door. Even though the garage door itself looked to be fine, the impact had caused some damage to the mechanical components, and we couldn't use the garage for a while. My blog explains what we had to do to make the repairs and will give you some tips for avoiding this type of accident around your home.
