Yesterday, my garage door went down.

Actually, my garage door would not go up or down. It was down as in inoperable.

I had to close my garage up as well as I could last night. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get any unwelcome visitors. I have seen a few stray pets around and needed to keep them out.

When I opened my garage door yesterday, one of the rollers jumped the track. I was able to get the roller back in the track, but when I started putting the door down I found out that the roller was not the only problem.

The cable in the picture above was no longer in the proper position. It had come unwrapped from the gear, shown below, and instead was wrapped around the shaft.

I could see how the cable was supposed to be routed and how it was attached. I put some thought into how to fix it, but soon realized that I needed to let a professional do the job.

The main factor in that decision was these two springs and the big warning sign. I knew that I did not have the proper tools or expertise to tension the springs.

I had also heard a few horror stories about people working on their own garage doors and getting injured from springs.

I then did some quick research and made a phone call. Since it was a Sunday I was only able to leave a message with A Dependable Overhead Door Co.

I kept my garage door open most of the day while waiting for a call back.

I did get some Yard Work done, including getting the lawn mowed.

Once the sun started going down I decided it was time to close the garage door the best I could. See the first picture above.

This morning I received a call back just after 8:00 and the technician was in my driveway just after 8:30. He made a quick assessment and went right to work to make the needed repairs.

The technician reattached the cable to the tensioning gear and pulled out his special tools that are needed to work with the springs.

The bearings in my rollers were in very bad condition so he suggested that I replace them with new nylon rollers.

In less than 45 minutes the repair job was done, including the replacement of the rollers and realigning the rails.

Over the years my garage door had become very noisy when opening and closing. It rattled and shook and you could hear it throughout the house.

Now the garage door opens smoothly and quietly and you can’t even hear it operating when the door to the inside of the house is closed .

Now to remember to lubricate the garage door every 3-4 months.

Steven