Garage Door Repair

[Jeff423]

Last night we came home to find one of our garage doors wouldn't open - trapping one car inside.
One of the two torsion springs had broken. I did a little research on YouTube and concluded that I could have repaired it if I had the springs and bars to release the tension slowly. I didn't so this morning I called two repair places.
Company A didn't immediately answer the phone so I called Company B. The guy from Company B came out in his personal truck with some springs in the back and quoted me $700.00. I protested this and he got down to $550.00. He also needed my ladder. I declined his kind offer.
As I was doing that, Company A seeing they had missed a call, called me back. He said he would be less than $200. I was skeptical but didn't have much to lose. He was there in about 20 min., replaced the springs in about 30 min. and charged less than $200.00, He had a real work truck with boxes, tools, ladders, etc. and his company name on it. He was also the owner.
After Company A had left someone from Company B called and got the price down to $450.00.
Is this common for garage door repair?
Company B had great phone service, texted me, had the driver call etc. But I got the feeling they were some kind of a service to bilk the gullible.

 

[oneounceload]

Neighbor had that happen to him a few weeks ago right after Irma hit here. Called a company, they were there within 2 hours, replaced the springs and wires for ~$90. A good deal since they're in their 90s and their daughter was awaiting a double lung transplant and we all just went through a hurricane. Like your guy, name on the truck, licensed, insured, etc. and very professional. Took him maybe 30 minutes

 

[mdhillbilly1]

Yes, it is very common in the repair trade of various appliances in the home including garage door repair. Sometimes you might find a company employee that might offer to do the work on the side cheaper.

We have found by reporting these employees their employer actually lowered the repair price. They fired their employee for stealing parts and business from their company.

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

 

[DeathGrip]

Company B had good customer service.

You have to pay for the receptionist, the estimator, the mechanic, the owner, the shop dog and the cat. Also with prices like his it was little wonder that they answered the phone right away.

Company A called you back and the owner showed up ready to do the job. Looks like this time it was better to use the smaller guy.

I followed a garage guy to his shop just before Irma. I was thinking about bracing the door but he said it wouldn't be worth it. It would add weight to the old *** door and require new springs and cables. He got me a new Hurricane rated door and installed it before the storm. Priced reasonably and installed right. I got lucky. He was also the company owner.

which brings up another story,

He was a newer business owner and happy to be working for himself. I know the feeling.

He didn't see that the door wouldn't close all of the way due to the new mounting requirements. Oops.

I knew he was gonna try to up me for having to cut the concrete a bit but before he got there I reminded him of our previous conversation above.

"Remember when you worked for someone else? You got to go home at night and let the boss worry about the goof up. Or you got paid extra from the boss for staying late to get the job done. Welcome to business ownership." Needless to say he didn't hint at upping my bill after he at first got a sheepish look on his face then the light bulb came on and he just laughed. Lesson learned.

 

[Rule3]

This is why you call for 3 or 4 estimates and maybe get 2!

As to releasing tension on those coil springs, unless you know what you are doing it is best to leave it the guys that do it all the time.Very easy to injure or kill yourself.

I am a certifiable DIY guy and would not mess with mine when it broke,

 

[jrm53]

I used to work with tooling engineer who enlightened me on those big springs, he had decided to fix it him self, what I got out of his deal was that you have to be very careful as he was using a big screwdriver and it got away from him and got slung through the wall at the other end of the garage. Jeff

 

[oneounceload]

Those old springs do a great job when mounted to a base plate with a steel target on top......

 

[Steve912]

I had a spring let-go earlier this year.

Had car up on jackstands, replacing shifter bushings. Came into
house and was walking through the kitchen when the spring
popped. I thought the car had fallen off the jack stands!

I looked at some of the DIY sites, and youtubes. Figured out
a dual-spring set up was what should have been used originally.
Local Ace hardware had L & R springs in right range. It was about
$110 for the springs. Cut & ground a couple of pieces of rebar for the
spring bars.

If you follow the bar-handling guidelines, it's a pretty easy job.

 

[chief38]

Repairmen count on most people just being happy they actually showed up and be so joyful they wouldn't dare question price. I've seen this happen many times when Neighbors tell me their experiences with service people.

I am quite lucky & thankful that I have the mechanical ability, tools and know-how to fix pretty much anything in and around a house and vehicles. I feel bad for people who are at the mercy of repairmen.

That is why I am willing and able to help my friends & neighbors out with most things.

The only things I will NOT do is landscaping and painting the house. For that I hire out, but do my homework first.

Glad you didn't fall pray to the rip-off guy!

 

[chief38]

Jeff423,

Just so you are aware, it is quite common for automatic garage door mechanisms to break springs, have cables unravel, have pulleys cease up and have wheels wear out.

I do actually check mine every few months and have replaced springs, pulleys, cables and wheels at least 3 times over the 22 years I'm in this house. My garage door is very heavy, oversized (one continuous 21 foot door with insulation and weighs over 700 pounds) and the parts are HUGE! I would hate for them to let loose! I always look for signs and replace before they break. I do the work myself and so the cost is not too bad. To replace the entire set of springs, cables and pulley's takes me a few hours and cost me about $175 I last time I did it (3 years ago).

VERY VERY IMPORTANT!!

You SHOULD install a safety cable through the spring from end to end of door (if it does not already have one) so that in the event the spring does break, it will only be able to travel along the safety cable. This is actually now building code in my area but when I originally had my door installed it was not. I have since installed the safety cable.

 

[STCM(SW)]

I've had several springs break. After several CO, I got a guy who showed up with in a few hours. He was the owner and he weight the door on a scale. I asked him why. He said that if you don't do that, how would you know what springs to use....
Never go back to the other CO I've had do the work.
Replaced both springs for around $200 I believe.

 

[jmr986]

I’ve had that happen to me twice. Paid around $200 for both. Wasn’t that much more to have him replace both springs while he was at it. I think it was an extra $90. So I did.

BTW the guy showed me how to get it open temporarily (electric door). You push the open button while lifting the door simultaneously. Might need two people.

Also, it does look like a DIY but those springs are dangerous if you don’t know what your doing.

 

[Targets Guy]

Your Company B is common in our area. They have given us pretty good service over the years. I think it helped that I bought a new set of doors from them.

 

[chief38]

I've had several springs break. After several CO, I got a guy who showed up with in a few hours. He was the owner and he weight the door on a scale. I asked him why. He said that if you don't do that, how would you know what springs to use....
Never go back to the other CO I've had do the work.
Replaced both springs for around $200 I believe.

Weighing the door is an EXCELLENT beginning! When you buy the Springs directly from a Professional Supply Outfit, it's been my experience to get Springs that are pre marked with different color paints that indicate weight capacities. My Springs are 4" in diameter and approximately 3.5 feet in length relaxed so I would NOT buy them in any Home Store even if they carried them. I get them from a Pro Supply that has them segregated by weight.

Your guy was smart to weigh the door as he is not taking anyones past installation to determine the exact spec's. Sounds like you found a good guy!

 

[chopshopcop]

This just happened to me Wednesday night. Sitting there watching TV, dogs are crashed out and all is quiet. Suddenly there was a tremendous crash from the front of the house, the wife and I both had a second of W-T-flippin hell? I had a revolver on the end table next to my seat, jumped up and started clearing rooms to the garage. I half expected to see a rock through one of my windows, or a firebomb.

It wasn't until I tried to raise the garage door that we realized what had happened, it would only come up about 4-5 inches and stop. She called a guy in our area that advertises on FB all the time, he told us what had happened and said he'd come out early Thursday morning. $245 was what it cost, but it was necessary, that job is beyond my skill set in home repairs. The spring on the right had broken, luckily this was the type that is encased inside a pipe that runs above the door. No damage to anything except our sanity. The man had the new parts installed and operating in about 50 minutes.

After we figured out what happened that night, we both poured a double Scotch to steady the nerves.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Last night we came home to find one of our garage doors wouldn't open - trapping one car inside.
One of the two torsion springs had broken. I did a little research on YouTube and concluded that I could have repaired it if I had the springs and bars to release the tension slowly. I didn't so this morning I called two repair places.
Company A didn't immediately answer the phone so I called Company B. The guy from Company B came out in his personal truck with some springs in the back and quoted me $700.00. I protested this and he got down to $550.00. He also needed my ladder. I declined his kind offer.
As I was doing that, Company A seeing they had missed a call, called me back. He said he would be less than $200. I was skeptical but didn't have much to lose. He was there in about 20 min., replaced the springs in about 30 min. and charged less than $200.00, He had a real work truck with boxes, tools, ladders, etc. and his company name on it. He was also the owner.
After Company A had left someone from Company B called and got the price down to $450.00.
Is this common for garage door repair?
Company B had great phone service, texted me, had the driver call etc. But I got the feeling they were some kind of a service to bilk the gullible.

Do not do the repair yourself. Unless you know what you're doing, that spring and the spanner bars used to tighten it can take your head off . . .

 

[chief38]

Just wanted to do a PSA and post pictures of the Safety Cable properly installed through the Spring. This is necessary to prevent the spring flying all over in the event of it breaking. It can't go anywhere but along the length of the safety cable. Easy and inexpensive to install yourself JUST IN CASEE yours does not have this. Here, it's now Code.

 

[NYlakesider]

Do not do the repair yourself. Unless you know what you're doing, that spring and the spanner bars used to tighten it can take your head off . . .

I saw a guy get clobbered by playing with those torshion springs. As others have said if you do not know what your doing,--- DON'T!

As far as working on the coil springs that run along the track they are easy to do. Heck the hardest thing with them is getting the door back up high so you can do the job. Vise grip pliers on each side can hold the door up once you and a couple friends get it back up high.

 

[H Richard]

Yes, not a direct comparison but last Dec. my Daughter in Denver needed a coil spring replaced and the only place they found was the close Home Depot. Charged them $350. (Was a contractor working through the Home Depot). Ironically when we got back to IL I found my spring broken and called the local company that had originally installed the door. They had the repair man out that day, he had a variety of springs in his truck and cut one to length. Total charge was $135 and he was gone within an hour.

 

[4barrel]

Springs get rusty. Wipe them with an almost drippy oil rag every once in a while. Not WD40. Oil the rollers also. The door will move 3 times easier.