Your Old Garage Door Could Put Your Family in Danger

Your old garage door has served your home well for a lot of years, but it is high time for a replacement. You pick out a door you like and have it delivered, gather your tools, and roll up your sleeves. Before you tackle this garage door installation on your own, you should know that installing a garage door is a lot harder than what it looks. It is always best if you work with a professional for garage door installation, especially when you will be replacing an existing door. Take a look at some of the problems DIYers often run into when replacing the garage door. 

The tension springs will not release. 

Before you can take down the existing garage door to install the new one, you will have to release the tension springs, and this is not always as easy as you would expect to be. If the springs are rather old, they can refuse to open up all the way, making it so you can't slip them off of the header. They are supposed to loosen when you insert a steel rod into the winding cone and turn, but it is not at all uncommon to do this and see no results. A professional uses special tools to get these springs to properly release. 

The track is not lining up properly. 

When you install a new garage door, it is best to install a new track and brackets to support that track. While this sounds simple enough and looks easy with the pre-drilled holes and instructions to guide you, it can actually be difficult to get the tracks lined up just right. This is even true if you pull off an existing track. The track has to be perfectly level with the house or the door will not open and close properly. 

The slack from the pulley is not getting tight enough. 

Once you have your new garage door assembled, you have to attach the cables to the pulley system. The cable has to be tightened precisely to hold the garage door securely. Unfortunately, a lot of DIYers have a problem getting the suspension cable to tighten up to the proper slack. In some cases, this is because the cable itself is too long or is not winding around the pulley correctly. In either case, it can be a real headache to finagle with the thing for hours to try to get it just right.