Garage door replacement a DIY project?

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I have a small garage with a door that gets opened quiet frequently by kids for bikes, power wheels, etc. It's an old heavy wood door and it's rotting out and becoming dangerous. Is this a project I can do on my own being there is already an opener installed? Basically swapping out the door part?
 
That rolled up spring at the top of the door is under very high tension, especially on a wooden door. I would be very leary of dealing with that.
 
I did one a while back and it was very straightforward, Home Depot has them in stock. If you can put together a piece of Ikea furniture you can install this door. A cordless driver with 7/16" socket will help running the lag bolts for the track in and make things much easier on you. You'll also need a second person to help lift the panels in place and hold them as you assemble the track.

The trickiest part is getting rid of the old door, I cut mine up and threw it in the dumpster at work.
 
Originally Posted by jayjr1105
I have a small garage with a door that gets opened quiet frequently by kids for bikes, power wheels, etc. It's an old heavy wood door and it's rotting out and becoming dangerous. Is this a project I can do on my own being there is already an opener installed? Basically swapping out the door part?



How bad and where. Post a pic or two. I've repaired mine a couple times ( I like all others HATE wooden doors.). I notched mine out and replaced the pieces with 2x 6 . I recessed and ran long screws in so it was solid. It's primitive easy if you've ever done any car body work. I just used wood filler to finish the cracks , sanded with 80 grit and primed then painted it. the big add on was a FAR BETTER aluminum strip with deep hollow seal than it came with. That gets it way up out of the watery slop. It should have been that way since day 1 but the installers never mentioned it🤥.
Here's the rub with me, I need the crap wood due to the slope of the floor behind sideways along the door. Plans change last minute🤬. Had I a choice I'd have switched to aluminum without a second thought. I had to go to wood to cut the 3" or do taper to follow the floor.

Here's The deal on the springs. Mine worked fine for 18 years up there until one broke. I did not know you were supposed to keep those overhead torsion type springs oiled. I expect Few folks know either. They have a duty cycle of around 10,000 up and downs before they start to get worn out supposedly. Oiling them helps so Oil the top of the coils. . When you buy the springs you got to get the right one for the door weight . I don't know what the variances is in the adjustment capability really is between the two types and if backing off enough tension will take care of it if you switch. Someone else probably will. In order to adjust those critters you have to use a hardened steel rod and make sure you hang on real tight so it doesn't fly off and tear you to pieces. They sell rods as well as the springs on Amazon and eBay whatever. I checked on the price to have mine done when my spring broke and it was only $25 more than if I bought everything myself so Why bother.

Post a pick or two off what you've got
 
I had mine (door and tracks) installed by professionals.
Took them two hours and everything lined up.

Letting them deal with the Torsion Spring tension was money well spent.
Before attempting yourself, think of your children.

Most garage door springs have a 10,000 duty cycles.
I spent a little more money and bought 40,000 duty cycles.
There longer, bigger diameter, and heavier wire gauge.

[Linked Image]
 
My grandfather and I did multiple when I was growing up. They all had extension springs, so that part was easy to deal with. All were single-wide...
 
We had a non-insulated one installed for under $1K, including a wifi opener, steel door with windows, and old door haul away. Install was around $200 of the total. Hardly worth it for DIY.
 
I paid someone to replace the springs on my double wood door . Charged me $500 .

I realized later I got screwed. He never measured or weighed the door. He put springs that were much too small and had to be wound too tight. The door is too heavy when down and at about halfway up the spring become too strong and jump up against the opener.

Fought with credit card company for 2 months finally got the money back.

I have since purchased new heavy duty springs of the correct length and gauge myself.
 
Originally Posted by loneryder
That rolled up spring at the top of the door is under very high tension, especially on a wooden door. I would be very leary of dealing with that.



This is the most important thing. If you have a torsion, let the pros do it. If you have extension, you can do it yourself. The springs come in different color coded "strengths". Get ones that balances your new door which will be most likely lighter than the old one.
 
I installed a SOMMER garage door opener (not the spring tensioner or such).

By the way EZ snap-in assembly mostly, and German made, lifetime warranty, the quietest opener I have ever experienced.
 
Yes, the springs contain a large potential energy but with caution I found them to be rather easily replaced when mine broke. I cannot comment on replacing the door itself but it doesn't look overly complicated- maybe just awkward.

I used springs from DDM Garage Doors Inc when I did mine and they had some great info.
 
Originally Posted by loneryder
That rolled up spring at the top of the door is under very high tension, especially on a wooden door. I would be very leary of dealing with that.

When I was a young doctor I saw 2 guys within a few days in the emergency department with broken forearm bones from trying to fix the springs in garage doors. I wouldn't touch them.
 
I had extension springs on a wooden garage door, one day while closing the door I heard a loud bang and the door stopped moving, one of the springs had broken and went thru the back window of the garage, finally found it 50 feet out in the woods.
 
Originally Posted by bobbobtar
I had extension springs on a wooden garage door, one day while closing the door I heard a loud bang and the door stopped moving, one of the springs had broken and went thru the back window of the garage, finally found it 50 feet out in the woods.


My dad had a big mess in his garage when one of those extension springs broke and apparently ricocheted all over the place knocking things over and breaking stuff. Fortunately it was unoccupied when it happened.

I would hate to have been in there when that thing let go. He ran steel cable thru all of them so when the next one broke the cable caught it and held it captive.
 
I lost one in my old garage...left a divot in the stud it hit.

Extension springs are pretty easy...torsion springs are dangerous.
 
Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
...torsion springs are dangerous.



I have adjusted the torsion springs on my 18ft wide door. I have the 2 rods to do it. But i agree its fairly dangerous if you are not sure of what you are doing and don't have the right tools.

Lots of stored energy!
 
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I put in 2 8 foot sectional doors back in 2011 on a repo house I bought and remodeled, installing the door was easy. If you have to ask, have it done and put a good quality opener in it.
 
Changed springs in both wood doors that had extension springs. Held doors all the way up with a prop rod to relax the tension, We ran wire through the spring as mentioned in previous post. Took my time and got tension same on both sides and oiled every thing that needed it.
 
I installed a double wide door by myself. Also replaced the old extension springs. Old ones: one was rusty, one was stuck in the wall. So I also run a cable, after i took down in pieces the old door which had been rammed/hit hard.

Make sure you have all tools in place. all hardware. clear space to work. make sure you have the right springs and buy the safety steel cable. make sure you have the right loops.
have a helper, 3rd hand or gradual cut pairs of 2X4.
I used 5 gall buckets, as they where the size of one panel at a time.
i worked bottom to top, one panel at a time, lifted the whole door one bucket height at a time, then when up, clamp locking plyers on tracks, connected the cables.
I also used new rollers.

My test was how easy i could lift the door, when motor disconnected.


I re-used the existing tracks and motor.

Make sure you have at least 2 c-clamps or locking plyers to keep the door in place.

This is a case of SAFETY FIRST!

If you cannot lift a full door and have not at least qualified helper, and you have torsion spings, and everything said in the thread is strange to you, pay a good tech.
 
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