An older garage door can weigh anywhere from 250 – 450 lbs. This weight coupled with deteriorating hardware makes old garage doors a frequent scene of home accidents. Still many of us enter and exit in our homes through the garage door more than through the formal entry door. Read this article – This article will tell you the difference between a safe and unsafe one.
This will also give you tips you won’t find in the manufacturer’s instructions to correctly and safely install garage doors with the Torsion Spring and do it yourself tensioning. Cost of installing a new double garage door yourself saves you 700 dollars and takes it to 12 hours if you are very handy. To build a budget friendly garage, you can do the new garage door installation project yourself but should require help for removing the old door.
Two Types Of Springs
Garage door springs come in two styles – Torsion which mounts on the head above the door and extension which floats above the upper roller track. Earlier extension springs were safe to install but did not have containment cables running through the centre of the spring. Without cable, these springs were dangerous, heavy whips when they break. They tend to be noisier than Torsion springs and were recommended to be used only if you don’t have the 12 in. of headroom above the door that a Torsion spring needs.
Torsion springs have 3 advantages over extension springs – they are safer, quieter, and easier to fine-tune. They are quieter because you don’t have a spring knocking against the roller track. They are safer because when spring breaks it stays on the bar. You can fine-tune the tension on the Torsion spring so the door is perfectly balanced. Setting the tension has always been very dangerous, but torsion and extension spring systems with easy do-it-yourself tensioning are available. If you don’t use these DIY friendly easy tensioning systems then you should hire a professional to release and set the tension on the Torsion spring.
Buying A Steel Door
The standard double garage door is 7 feet high by 16 feet wide. Single-doors are 7 feet high by eight or nine feet wide. As the doors are so large, some home centres and some garage door stores keep many doors in stock so expect to order one instead of buying it off the shelf. Garage doors are available in fibreglass, wood, and steel. Steel doors are light, maintenance-free, affordable, and have insulating value high as R-19.
You can choose from 3 basic types of steel doors – (1) .steel, (2). Steel with insulation on inside and (3) .steel on both sides with 1- ⅜ to 2 in. of insulation. Other features are thicker insulation and Windows – insulated Windows. The do-it-yourself tensioning systems also add to the door’s cost. You should be sure to specify what you want.
Installation
When you install a garage door replace all the hardware. If your automatic opener does not have an automatic reversing system that includes photoelectric eyes, replace it. Doors with openers also need two extra pieces of hardware, a support structure. For doors having tension spring located over the door, spend dollar 50 to have a garage door professional release tension.
After your new door is installed, remove old material on the outside of the door and replace it with the type that has a rubber weatherstrip gasket. Install the stock material with the door closed and with the gasket resting against the door at a 45-degree angle.
