what you need to know when buying a garage door

How Well Do You Know Your Garage Door Springs?

Automatic garage doors are an amenity that most modern homeowners don't want to live without. An automatic garage door relies on a series of components to open and close without any direct effort on your part.

Despite the convenience they can provide, automatic garage doors can also pose a risk to the safety of your family and property. Garage door spring failures are often to blame for serious accidents.

Learn more about your garage door springs so that you will be better prepared to repair these vital components in the future.

What Do Garage Door Springs Do?

Springs are integral in the efficient operation of any automatic garage door.

Both torsion and extension springs rely heavily on tension to help raise and lower a garage door. A significant amount of force is transferred to the springs when a garage door closes. This transfer of force winds the springs, allowing them to store the tension for future use.

The stored energy within the springs is released once the garage door is opened. It is this transfer of force that allows heavy garage doors to be raised and lowered with ease.

Why Do Garage Door Springs Fail?

The constant transfer of force between your garage door and the door springs can lead to fatigue over time. Fatigued springs are not able to withstand the same amount of tension and force as their fresh counterparts.

The constant winding and unwinding of force puts a lot of stress on the metal used to construct garage door springs. Eventually, the springs will not be able to bear the tension load placed on them, and your garage door will come crashing down without warning.

With garage doors weighing anywhere from 125 to over 300 pounds, spring failure turns your door into a dangerous weapon.

How Can Garage Door Spring be Fixed?

In the event that your garage door springs do fail, it's important that you don't try to address the problem yourself. Even a broken garage door spring can have stored energy, causing it to move and react in unpredictable ways.

Only a certified garage door repair technician should be called in to remove the damaged spring and replace it with a new one. These professionals have the experience and tools required to safely work with faulty garage door springs.

The new spring can be maintained through routine inspection and regular lubrication to help prevent premature failure after installation.

For more information about garage door repair, contact a local company, like A Z Garage Doors.