Garage Door Repair: What You Can Do, and What You Shouldn’t

Every part of your home will need some type of maintenance sooner or later, and you will be faced with a garage door repair at some point. Just as with the rest of your home, there are some types of maintenance that you can perform yourself if you are the do-it yourself type. On the other hand, unless you have special training and experience, there are some kinds of repairs that you should not attempt to do.

You can perform minor maintenance and cleaning of your air conditioning system and major appliances, but without the proper knowledge and training, it would not be safe to attempt to repair a refrigeration problem or to get involved with electrical repairs. The same is true when it comes to garage door repair.

So, what kinds of garage door repair are safe for the average homeowner to do? Well, preparing for and applying a fresh coat of paint or replacing a broken pane of glass is easy enough. You can also check that the tracks are clean and lubricate the rollers (don’t lubricate nylon rollers). If you have detailed instructions, you can check the alignment of the tracks, verify the correct adjustment of the safety switches, and check the balance of the door. These last items are approaching the border between the “highly qualified do-it-yourself” homeowner, and the “it’s-time-to-call-a-professional” homeowner.

Keep in mind that your garage door weighs hundreds of pounds. If a safety switch is not set and operating properly, serious damage or injury could result. If the tracks are not aligned correctly, or the balance is incorrect, the door could jam or the door opener could be overloaded. One specific caution: never attempt to adjust or replace torsion springs. They are pre-tensioned to enormous pressure that could easily break a wrist or even be lethal. You definitely need to call a professional garage door repair technician for this.