The Dangers of Garage Door Springs
If you’re in the market for a new garage door, or even a new house that happens to have a garage and its door attached, then you’re probably concerned with things like what it’s made out of, and what it looks like. You may spend considerable time and money insuring that you have the very best quality, most durable and most beautiful door possible. However, behind that big door is a lot of little parts that are what actually makes it work, and these also deserve your consideration. In particular, consider the springs.
Where the springs are placed depends on the kind of door you have. If you have the kind that swings on a pole, then that is where the springs will be. Most of us however have overhead doors, and in that case the springs attach to the top end of the door. It is from there that they are able to work to take the weight of your door so that it opens and closes smoothly.
Garage door springs are extremely strong generally under a great deal of pressure, especially the sort of single, large spring that is fixed across the top of the door. They are actually quite dangerous because of the pressure they are under. Such springs are made to be extremely strong in order to lift and lower the weight of the door. Anyone who seeks to repair or replace a spring of this kind is actually facing a certain amount of danger, especially if they don’t know what they’re doing.
If the garage door itself requires repair, then the usual practice is to detach it. Before this can be done, the spring or springs have to be detached, for the safety of everyone involved. This should only be done with great care, and with proper precautions taken. People have been known to severely injure themselves attempting to detach a spring without the proper approach. You can buy training manuals that help explain the correct process, as well as proper safety measures.
In the case of garage doors which have one spring on each side, a safety break should be used. The doors are so heavy that if they start moving without something to stop them, the worker could be put in danger. Usually they do not have such break preinstalled. It is absolutely necessary that such doors have a spring on both sides, because one is not enough to take the weight of the door. At the least, the door will not open and close properly, and at the worst, it will become dangerous.