Is This the Most Important Part of Your Garage Door?

While your garage door depends on lots of moving parts, there’s one that might be considered the most important part of all – at least for how the door operates.

Without this one part, it would be almost impossible to lift the door without an opener. And you’d have a hard time stopping the door from crashing down every time you closed it. If you did have a garage door opener, it would need to be far more powerful and expensive than current models. All without this one part.

The Garage Door Spring

Due to its size, your garage door is very heavy. To help counteract and balance the weight of the door as you open and close it, the door is connected to a spring. There are two types of garage door spring that your door might have.

1. Side-Mounted Extension Spring

Running above and almost parallel to the door track, one end of a side-mounted extension spring is attached to the support that suspends the track from the ceiling. The other end of the spring attaches to a cable and pulley system that’s anchored on the roller track and connects to the door itself

2. Torsion Spring

Mounted on a metal shaft the runs parallel to the top of the door, one or more torsion springs are usually used for larger doors. Each side of the metal shaft has a pulley with a cable around it that attaches to each side of the door.

If your door won’t open or is difficult to open, chances are the spring is broken or its tension needs to be adjusted. Every garage door has a different weight and, regardless of which type of spring your door uses, the spring tension must be adjusted precisely for that door.

While it’s possible to adjust or install springs yourself, it can be a difficult and risky job. To avoid personal injury and/or damage to the door, you should call a professional service technician, like those at Whitby Garage Doors, to install or adjust your garage door springs.