Imagine a typical midday moment when your garage door suddenly sounds like it’s struggling. You’re not alone. Garage door spring issues are common, and understanding them can save you stress and unexpected repair costs.
Weather and Wear: What’s Really Happening to Your Springs?
Residing in Middle Tennessee, particularly in Franklin, TN, we have gleaned a thing or two vis-a-vis our singular climate and its effects on home upkeep.
Garage door springs are specifically susceptible to seasonal stress and are under significant strain from our unique environmental conditions. The typical lifespan for a garage door spring is 7-10 years, but we have seen them fail at much higher rates.
Unlike the more temperate climate of the West Coast, we have humidity and swings in temperature that serve to accelerate the wear and tear on these devices. Metal fatigues, microscopic fissures develop, and before you know it, your garage door is struggling to lift smoothly. We’ve seen constant humidity and temperature fluctuations make matters even worse.
Your Garage Door is Trying to Tell You Something
Your garage door conveys its condition in quiet signals. It is necessary to be attentive and monitor them. In a failing spring, the signs are clear and hard to ignore. A good door moves, as it is supposed to, with no up or down shimmy—sadly missing on one side if the door is balanced—and it is practically silent. A good door may hum if it’s being operated electrically, but it should never grind or creak. If your door is doing any of those things, it is definitely in need of repair.
Here are some important signs to look for:
• Lifting is uneven.
• Making loud popping or creaking noises.
• Visible gaps in the spring.
• Door feels heavier than it usually does.
What is your next step? Concentrate and don’t disregard these clues. A malfunctioning spring can very rapidly morph into a safety risk.
You May Be Interested In: How Do I Fix A Noisy Garage Door In Franklin?
Can You Really Fix a Garage Door Spring Yourself?
Allow me to be perfectly clear: replacing a garage door spring is not a do-it-yourself job for the vast majority of homeowners. Torsion springs are under a lot of tension and can and do cause serious injury to those who don’t know what they are doing when the springs are mishandled. And those potential failures can be quite catastrophic.
Warning: Tension springs can be perilous. If you lack confidence in your skills to deal with them, it’s better to just call in a pro at Nash Garage Door. We’ve seen plenty of earnest homeowners end up in the ER because they were trying to do tension spring work and save money.
The cost of having a professional replace the garage door springs generally runs between $200 and $400. That sounds like a lot, but it’s a small price to pay for the potential medical bills that could result if you tried to do it yourself and something went wrong. It’s also a small price compared to the near-guaranteed further damage your garage door system would incur if the problem is allowed to persist.
How to Make Your Garage Door Springs Last Longer?
Your best protection against the early failure of springs is maintenance. You can have repaired for you doors of new construction or those of historic design, and in both cases we have worked in, we find that a difference of care makes a huge difference in spring life.
Make it a point to have professional inspections every year. These will ensure that all the components of your garage door are in good working condition, and that anything needing attention is taken care of before it becomes a major hassle. You can easily schedule an inspection with our team here on Google Maps.
Inspections usually involve:
- Seeing to it that all the components are working smoothly
- Doing a good visual inspection to find any wear that may have developed in the past year
- Checking spring tension
- Checking for any odd noises that may signal that something is about to go wrong
- Making any necessary adjustments
You can make several small and safe adjustments that will help extend the life of your garage door springs. They include keeping the door tracks clean and making sure that nothing is in the way of the door’s movement. These adjustments are easy and inexpensive.
Your garage door is a delicate system. It’s best to treat it like a friend and to talk nicely and treat it with respect. It has so many close friends (circuit boards, power supplies, mechanical parts) that if it starts to have problems, you’d better take it to the shop and have a diagnostician look inside. Or else.
Final Words
By staying proactive and informed, Franklin homeowners can prevent unexpected garage door spring failures. Remember, understanding your door’s needs is the first step to long-lasting, smooth operation.
