Three Signs That Your Garage Door Spring Needs A Professional's Attention

4 March 2016
 Categories: , Blog

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You might not spend much time looking at it, but your garage door's heavy-duty spring plays an integral role every time you open and close the door. Mounted horizontally above the door, this spring is constantly under tension, which means that it can occasionally break. When this problem occurs, it's time to call a garage door contractor. The average homeowner should never attempt to work on a damaged door spring himself or herself. Removing the old one is dangerous because of the tension and installing a new one is also dangerous. This task is simple enough for a professional, though, and your local contractor will have the work done quickly. Here are three signs that will let you know of a spring problem.

A Loud Noise

If your garage door spring happens to break when you're in the garage, in the front yard or even anywhere in your home, there's a good chance that you'll know something has happened simply by the sound that you hear. The sudden brake of a garage door spring is characterized by an extremely loud noise that often sounds like a "bang" or a "snap." Few other noises around the noise will be as loud or as unique, so hearing this noise emanating from your garage means that it's time to get your local garage door contractor to pay you a visit. 

You Can See A Gap

When healthy, the spring above your garage door should appear as one continuous coil. If it breaks even partially -- perhaps when you're not home and you weren't alerted to the problem by the noise -- you'll often be able to see a gap somewhere along the length of the spring. This gap typically stands out easily because it provides a significant contrast to the other tightly wound coils and serves as a sign that it's time to schedule a repair visit.

Garage Door Won't Operate Properly

Because the spring is so integral to the door's operation, a door that fails to operate correctly often indicates that the spring has broken. Sometimes, the door will open a few inches but not move farther; in other cases, you won't be able to get the door to budge at all. Discovering this issue isn't a sign that you should try harder to open the door; if it's not opening properly, you need to have the problem investigated by a local garage door contractor (such as Door Doctor Inc).