Repairing a garage door

Badgerpoo · 6 Apr 2009 at 15:40

My garage door made a loud bang the other day and it seems whatever mechanism that counters the weight of the door has broken. Its a standard up and over door. Has anyone had any experience repairing one of these themselves? I'm willing to give it a go but as the whole mechanism fell off when it broke I'm not sure what I need. The door still opens and closes, you just need to hold it up.

kinda motors related

Sneaky Peaky · 6 Apr 2009 at 15:51

If you just want a temporary fix you could attach a couple of large hinges to the outside of the frame, open the garage door and open out the hinges to support the door. My Dad's has been like that for the last 5 years

Badgerpoo · 6 Apr 2009 at 15:54

I'm currently employing an out of work curtain rail as a door prop

tbz_ck · 6 Apr 2009 at 15:55

I had mine go. The 2 cones (the bits that uncoil/coil the steel wire) and the spindles (the bits that go in the guide with the wheel on it) were replaced and the whole thing relubed.

Cost £126 (£70 labour, £56 parts) from Coventry Garage Doors.

Not cheap but the garage operates like new now.

MrKeeno · 6 Apr 2009 at 16:37

tbz_ck said:
I had mine go. The 2 cones (the bits that uncoil/coil the steel wire) and the spindles (the bits that go in the guide with the wheel on it) were replaced and the whole thing relubed.

Cost £126 (£70 labour, £56 parts) from Coventry Garage Doors.

Not cheap but the garage operates like new now.

Same thing happened to me but I only paid £70

I did a bit of research before contacting the repair guy and came across a lot of advise against trying to fix a garage door yourself, potential for serious injury if you get it wrong.

encephalopathy · 6 Apr 2009 at 17:55

mine (up and over type) had the wire on both sides jump off the spindle when i tried to pull it down and one side jammed on a piece of wood in the garage.

it was 90 quid to get it fixed and retensioned. the guys said what folks commonly do it snip the metal cable that has jammed in oder to close the door once its stuck. if you do this it then requires a new pair of cables at 40-50 quid. i unscrewed the brackets holding the cable instead and avoided this.

be warned the tension the springs/wire is under will esily be enough to take a finger off if you fiddle around yourself. just don't do it....