PHRASE OF THE DAY: “Safety First”
Garage Door Safety may not be something you or your family think about on a daily basis but it is certainly an important topic that should be shared! In these hard economic times we live in, we are always looking for ways to save money, especially by doing repairs around the house ourselves. All you have to do is turn on DIY network, Home & Garden TV or simply Google “How do I fix…” and you’re hit with “Do It Yourself” programs, YouTube videos and blogs everywhere! We all love these shows, I myself have gotten a lot of useful tips from them, however there are some repairs I would leave to the professionals. The ones that come to mind right away are electrical and garage door repair. Both of these can cause serious bodily harm and in some cases death.
Now, when it comes to things like maintaining your garage door, I can definitely recommend do it yourself preventative measures, like keeping all of the moving parts of your garage clean and free of debris. I can even refer you to this video on keeping all the moving parts on your garage door well lubricated:
BUT when it comes to the repairing and replacing of certain garage door hinges, bottom and top fixtures, cables and the entire line of springs on your door, these types of projects should be left to the garage door repair professionals.
I’ve heard over the years customers talking about trying to repair and/or rewind the torsion springs by using screwdrivers, ratchet handles, or a rebar etc… All of which are extremely dangerous. I’ve even seen customers trying to repair torsion springs using ZIP TIES & DUCT TAPE!! No! that wasn’t a typo, ZIP TIES & DUCT TAPE!! This is so wrong and DANGEROUS! Most people don’t realize the amount of tension that is on the springs of a garage door. Most doors in today’s market, especially Southwest Florida, are being wind loaded in the average ranges of 160 mph – 180 mph and up, which weigh anywhere from 300-500 lbs, and in many cases the larger doors, in the 1,000 lb range. The springs are what lift your door and when repairing the springs you have to handle all of that force, so duct tape and zip ties are not the answer, a phone call to a professional is! Trust me when I say, “The money you save isn’t even close to being worth the risk of injury” not to mention , in many cases you will spend the better part of a day trying to do the repair yourself.
Here are a few examples of what we have found onsite while repairing garage door springs:
We hope this Garage Door Safety blog was informative. If this blog makes only one person stop and call D & D Garage Doors for a repair and keeps them safe, then we are happy with that. Remember, “Safety First”
