Question:
Now if any of you have not removed a garage door before, please, please
do not do it with the door closed. Do it only with the door open and
when there is no spring tension. I was lucky I didn't get killed.
When I removed the last bolt on the bottom roller attachment on the
bottom panel, the bracket, hooked on the cable pulled by one of the
springs, flew up and made a big hole on the celing plaster in the
garage. God had mercy on me. If I were a few inches closer to the
door, it would have taken out my face.
After the near miss there were no more hair raising incidents. Except
I made the usual mistake of just dove right in without looking at the
installation instructions first. The second panel from the bottom
where there are prepunched key holes ended up being installed at the
top which I had to redo. I also got lazy not wanting to remove the old
tracks only to find out the old tracks were shorter than the new ones.
So the top panel of the new door would not close to seal the opening,
which I also had to redo.
Overall I think I still did a fairly decent job. The installation
instructions say it takes 9 to 12 hours to install one door. Despite
of my blunders, I came in just under 12 hours. It included two trips
back to Home Depot first asking them why the door won't fit (because I
used the old tracks), and then why the door won't close (Which they do
not have an answer for. The new door closes and come back up. My
younger son suggested hooking the opener attachment to the second hole
on the top panel which solved the door coming back up problem.)
Still I am not clear how the two adjustment screws on the opener
functions if I had to troubleshoot again. Could someone explain to me?
Answer:
I've dad several garage doors replaced (in separate houses) and they always
close the door and then unwind the coil spring above the door (you can't even
get to it when the door open). They use two pieces of rebar to use as a set
of spokes to unwind the wheel.. Works great and they then remove the top panel
and work their way down to the ground. Assembly is in the reverse as
indicated above.
If you are by yourself, use a rope and pulley to release the springs if they
are pull springs mounted beside the rack. I have used nylon motorcycle tie
down straps to help remove the springs too. Safer than trying to lower a
heavy door by yourself.
Depending on what springs you have opening the door , removing the springs
then lowering the door for disassembly is reasonable. With the pull springs
mounted on the sides of the track, opening the door first would work.
Torsion springs mounted above the door generally you will need to release
tension first as there is no room to release the springs because the door is
in the way!
