Garage Door Repair Is Needed When A Cable Snaps

If you're lowering your garage door and one side suddenly falls quicker than the other and the door is uneven, the problem could be a broken cable. A garage door spring has cables on each end that connect to pulleys that open and close the door. If one of the cables snaps, the spring can no longer control one side. Since the spring still controls the side with the good cable, one side will continue to lower or open and cause the door to get uneven.

The door might even jump the track. This could be a serious problem if you can't get the door to close manually because your garage would be exposed until a repair service can arrive. Here's how this garage door repair might be done.

The Technician Takes Off The Old Cables

The technician will check the cable to make sure it's the problem and not the spring. It's easy to tell when a cable snaps since you can see the break in it. The technician will finish taking the cable off. They may also remove the cable on the other side. Cables connect to a hook on the bottom and top. The top is also wound around a pulley. The garage door repair technician might need to unwind the garage door spring to allow the cable to get loose enough to unhook from the pulley. Loosening the spring is a dangerous job since the spring has tension and a slip could potentially cause serious injury.

New Cables Are Put On

The technician may replace both cables at once when one snaps so both cables will have the same expected lifespan. Connecting cables is a matter of winding the top around the pulley and attaching the top and bottom of the cables to hooks. That's the easy part of the job. The difficult and dangerous part of this garage door repair is tightening the garage door spring. The spring has to be tightened as many turns as it was loosened. Tightening the spring helps pull the cables taut so they have the right amount of tension and are able to operate the door. Once the cables are in place, the spring is tight, and the cables have proper tension, the garage door repair technician can test the door to make sure it opens as it should.

Make Other Garage Door Repairs If Needed

If the track was damaged when the spring broke, the technician may need to pop the door back in and bend the track so it holds the rollers in place. If that doesn't work, the track may need to be replaced. The technician may also want to clean the track and lubricate the rollers and spring so the door glides smoothly when it operates. 

For more information, contact a local company like Town & Country Door LLC.