How to Balance Your Garage Door
If your garage door isn’t sitting right, you may need to balance it. An unbalanced garage door can put a strain on the door’s system as well as create a potential safety issue, so it’s important to take care of your balance issue as quickly as possible. If you’re not sure whether or not you need to balance your garage door — or how to do it if you need to — read on!
Do I Need to Balance My Garage Door?
To see if you need to balance your garage door, simply lift the garage door a little more than halfway and release it. It should come to rest between three and four feet above the ground. If it stops lower or higher than this range, you need to balance the door.
How to Balance the Extension Spring on Your Garage Door
Use a step ladder to hold the door open and take pressure off the door spring. You will then move the spring depending on where the door needs balance. MAKE SURE THE SPRING IS FREE OF TENSION BEFORE REMOVING. If the door is going down too far and too quickly, move the spring one higher hole on the bracket. If it is going up too far and too fast, move the spring down one on the bracket. Adjust springs on both sides of the door so they are parallel to each other.
Once this is done, test the door again to see if it you have balanced it. If not, go through the procedure again until you achieve balance. Once you are satisfied, close the door and use a level to make sure the door is hitting the ground evenly on both sides. If it is not, adjust the spring tension.
Caution: many doors are now made with torsion springs, which can be very dangerous if not handled correctly. Please contact us immediately if you are experiencing problems with a torsion spring and our experienced team will be happy to assist you! To see if your door uses an extension or torsion spring, please visit the Clopay Garage Door Springing Systems guide.
Consult Continental Door for More Assistance
If you’re in or around Spokane, WA, Northern Idaho or the surrounding areas, Continental Door can help you with any of your garage door issues. If your attempt to balance the garage door is unsuccessful, get in touch with us and we’ll come down and take care of it without a problem.
In fact, if you have a garage door balance problem, we recommend calling us right away. Any garage door maintenance, even simple procedures, can put you at risk of injury and void your garage door warranty.
At Continental Door, our trained experts can fix your problem fast and right, and inspect your door for other potential issues that we can take care of right away before they become an expensive problem. We’re ready and waiting to help you resolve your garage door maintenance and repair issues.
If you have any problem with your garage door at all, contact Continental Door today.
