Like most home maintenance projects, whether or not they can be completed by the owner depends on the skills, tools, and time available to the person doing the work. When it comes to garage doors, however, additional caution must be taken to ensure that work is done safely, as the components and weight involved make these repairs especially dangerous. Even though it may seem like a pretty straightforward task to buy and replace the roller wheels on your garage door, there are a number of things to consider before diving into a replacement project.
- Incorrect Parts – Not all rollers are created equally, and it can be tricky to identify the exact specification for your particular door leading to poor outcomes and additional repairs down the road. Rollers that are too big will render the door inoperable or can lead to bent tracks in addition to causing additional risk during installation; rollers that are too small can cause excessive noise or even a loss of balance in the door leading to slippage and other damage.
- Tension Adjustment – Garage door repairs almost always require adjusting or otherwise temporarily easing the tension to allow easy access to the parts being replaced. This easing requires adjusting the garage door spring, which can be incredibly dangerous if done incorrectly. Garage door springs carry enough tension to raise and lower the door which can be as heavy as 400lbs and if it snaps during an adjustment it will release that pressure all at once, creating extremely dangerous conditions. This is why it is typically recommended that spring adjustments only be completed by professionals.
- Bent Tracks – DIY guides will occasionally instruct users to bend their tracks to remove and replace the old rollers. While this may seem to work quite well at first, a bent track will eventually lead to the need for additional repairs as the dented track frame can wear out new rollers more quickly or cause the door to drop or slip. If a track becomes too bent or warped as the result of a home repair, it will also need to be replaced–at a cost much higher than the original roller repair.
- Time – You probably don’t replace the rollers on your garage door every day–but a trained professional does! Even something that seems simple like replacing the rollers can quickly escalate from a single afternoon to a whole weekend project. You only live once, so call the trained professionals at Mr. Spring and have them do the heavy lifting for you–quickly and efficiently.