As a door expert witness, I am called upon many times a yearto evaluate garage door injuries. Garage doors come in many shapes and sizes.
Their functions range from basic security of an area to cosmetic concealment.
Most doors can be broken down into a few basic styles or categories. Typical
modern garage doors for residential applications tend to be predominantly of
the overhead sectional variety. That style of door comes in many
configurations, materials, levels of insulation, and a wide range of appearance
possibilities.
They are available as a prefabricated kit, or built as acustom design to complement the decor of any building. Commercial warehouse
type installations often dictate higher security requirements. A good choice
for this security type of door is the "roll-up" style that resembles
a roll top desk type of door. This door can be manufactured with a variety of
materials that can be as strong as the adjacent walls, making forced entry
through this opening very difficult.
The garage door repair cost can varydepending on the type and severity of the issue, as well as the location and
the company you choose to work with.
Minor repairs like replacing a broken spring or fixing atrack can cost anywhere from $100 to $300, while more complex repairs such as
replacing the entire door or motor can cost upwards of $1,000 or more. It's
important to get a quote from a reputable garage door repair company before committing
to any repairs to ensure that you're getting a fair and accurate price.
Other common commercial installations include lightweightaluminum single or sectional panel doors. These doors function more for closing
off an already secured area than for assuring point security.
In the past, the biggest concern with operating an overheadgarage door was the potential risks associated with the springs used for
balancing the door weight. Pre mid 1960's garage door installations typically
relied upon a pair of stretched (tensioned) springs to assist the operation of
the garage door pivoting hinges. These springs became loaded (tensioned) as the
door was moved into the closed position. Unloading (releasing) of the stored
spring energy occurred as the door was opened to the horizontal overhead
position.
One of the most dangerous aspects of these spring systemswas that after a period of time, often without any maintenance or inspection,
the points of attachment of these springs would rust or become weak. This weakening
of the springs or points of attachment would often lead to an inadvertent
explosive failure flinging the broken spring components across the garage,
embedding the spring or steel components into the garage walls, cars or other
items in the path of travel.
Unfortunately, sometimes people were in the path of travelof these explosive occurrences. As these springs failed, as an attempted
safeguard, some manufacturers devised a "caging" system for the
springs.
These cages were retrofitted onto the stretched springs inan attempt to capture the parts that would release if a failure occurred. While
these caging devices were helpful, they were not completely effective.
Some of these spring devices are still in use today.Whenever this condition exists or the quality of garage components are
questionable, a qualified professional service technician should be consulted.
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Old Style Garage isdangerous?
In response to the inherently dangerous old style garagespring issues as above, a newer and safer system for opening the overhead
garage door was created. The idea was to transfer the load or weight of the
door via a cable and pulley system to a vertical rod now equipped with a
torsion (twisted) spring. This type of spring is installed with specialty
hardware and bolts to a fixed plate at one end, while the entire spring is
installed around a horizontal pipe. This load balancing device is normally
installed directly over the header of the garage opening.
Using appropriate cables, connectors and pulleys, the weightof the garage door is transferred into the torsion spring system. The
difference between the old style stretched spring and the newer torsion spring
is the way that the spring energy is stored.
With the old style stretched spring, the energy is storedand released by pulling on the spring or returning the spring to its
un-stretched condition. With a torsion type of spring, the energy is imparted
or removed by rotating the spring clockwise or counter clockwise depending upon
the direction of usage.
With professional installation, the complete loading of thetorsion spring is controlled by the garage installer, and is determined by the
weight and size of the garage door that it is operating. When this type of
torsion spring fails, it remains attached and intact to the location on the
horizontal control rod where it was mounted.
I have not heard of or seen any torsion spring fly across agarage, creating injury from failed components as with the stretched older
style garage door springs. This is not to say that injuries have not occurred
with the torsion style spring.
Installation of springis Safe?
The installation of this type of spring is generally safewhen left to a trained garage door installation professional. Severe and
serious injuries have occurred when untrained, unqualified individuals have
attempted to install or service this type of spring.
In most installations, a warning tag is left attachedadjacent to the torsion spring when the garage door is installed.
This tag warns of the danger associated with the storedenergy of this spring, and alerts untrained individuals to not attempt any
repair, adjustment or to even touch the spring and associated hardware. When
the label that should be attached to this spring becomes damaged, is removed or
tampered with, it is important that a new warning label be reattached
immediately to show the dangers of this spring tension
Garage doors can be operated manually (by hand), as well asautomatically (by power assisted motor). In both cases, the proper operation of
the garage door is determined by the proper balancing of the garage door
weight, springs and related component hardware. An automatic power assisted
motor cannot overcome an improperly balanced garage door.
The weight of all garage doors is normally deceptive. Due tothe fact that a properly functioning door appears easy to open and close, many
users do not realize the combined overall weight until springs fail to assist
the door in its operation.
In all cases, regardless of the type of garage door, theentire system of hinges, track, hardware, and door opener work as a team.
Problems with misalignment, shifting, or jamming can lead to problematic
operation of a door.
Counter forces imparted to a garage door, not engineeredinto the components, can lead to injury. Inappropriate maintenance or complete
lack of maintenance has led to severe bodily injuries. Forcing the operation of
a garage door, when one or more components have become damaged or broken has
led to serious bodily injuries.
In all cases, maintenance is a crucial and important aspectof proper operation of all door systems.
In contrast to an overhead type of garage door, be itsectional or single panel, roll up doors have a totally different type of
operating system. When these doors are used, they can be concealed in an
overhead or under mounted trough.
Special Way to Operatea Door?
These doors operate similarly to a roll top desk door exceptfor how they are stored when not in the closed position. They normally coil as
they are retracted, and require significant gear trains to reduce the effort
required to move these doors up and down into position. Often the forces needed
to move these roll up doors require a reduction type of transmission that
allows a very heavy door to be operated effortlessly.
These doors can be chain driven either manually, or can beautomated using electric motors. Roll up doors require more frequent evaluation
and servicing than a standard overhead garage door.
The tracks that are mounted vertically on both sides of thegarage opening need maintenance and cleaning more frequently, and are often
blocked by foreign obstructions or damaged by collision of some type.
These roll up doors are often held open by some type ofratcheting action. Proper balancing of these doors is often more important than
an overhead type of door, as the weight of these type of doors is normally much
greater than an overhead door. Visit us
