Why You Should Avoid DIY Garage Door Repairs

We live in the times of Joanna Gaines, Property Brothers, The Home Edit, and all things DIY. And while we’re a fan of a good DIY project, sometimes we have to close the door on your bad ideas and let you know why you should leave certain projects to the professionals. It is one thing to take on white washing your home, or painting your front door, but one curb appeal aspect you should not try to do on your own is fix a garage door.

There is a running joke that garage door repair isn’t cheap, but it’s more expensive if you try to fix it yourself first and that could not be more true. Fixing your garage door may have many more complications than what YouTube is telling you and you won’t know unless you call in an expert. We’re aware that it feels really cool to Do something yourself, but you know what isn’t cool? Getting hurt, spending money on something that you didn’t mean to, or making a repair that just ends up falling apart weeks down the road.

How To Properly Inspect Your Garage Door

If you are hearing a strange noise or notice something seems off with your garage door, we encourage you to take a look around. You are home every day and therefore you are the one who will notice if something doesn’t seem to be working properly. Make sure that you are using common sense when inspecting this heavy machinery. What are a few things you can do to ensure your safety?

1. Always make sure that your car is outside of the garage when you suspect that something is wrong.
2. Check to see if the garage door closes all the way to the ground without light shining through.
3. When it is open is it sitting where it needs to be?
4. Check for any broken cables or springs.

With that being said, you are not trained to know what is wrong with your garage door. When you suspect that something is off, give us a call. There are multiple reasons you want to leave fixing your garage door to use instead of trying to do it yourself.

Why You Shouldn’t Do It Yourself

It should go without saying that DIY garage door repair is just a bad idea in general. It is dangerous, you have had no training on the project, and it is a waste of time and money.

It Can Be Incredibly Dangerous

The amount of accidents that happen whenever people do home projects is very high. You may not think about it often, but thousands of people are hurt or killed from falling off of ladders every single year. On top of the fall risk, garage doors can weigh anywhere from 130 to 400 pounds. Whenever you are not really sure what you’re doing, that is a lot of weight to be messing around with. And even more so, the hydraulics and springs are strong enough to crush you or break a hand or foot.
To avoid getting yourself hurt or killed, The Garage Door Guys are never far off, ready to take over and get the job done correctly and safely for you. We go through vigorous training and safety is our number one priority.

If you do a repair on a garage door on your own, just keep in mind that the door can fall from the hinges and land on top of you. You are putting yourself at risk for all sorts of injuries including but not limited to

• • Broken bones
  • Electrical shock
  • Lacerations
  • Bruising

Rely on a company that has the proper equipment and training necessary to save yourself money on medical bills and the frustrations that come with getting injured.

You Do Not Know What You Are Doing

If you haven’t figured this much out yet – you do not know what you are doing. You don’t have the proper tools that are required to fix garage doors and that alone is enough of a reason to avoid the project altogether.
Some things cannot be bought in your neighborhood supply store, such as cold-rolled steel winding bars, spring stocks, and gauges, torches, aircraft cables, etc.

Did we mention that you do not have the proper training? There is nothing worse than working hard on a project, only to realize that it was not done correctly. Garage door repairs have to be done in a very specific order of operations. If things are done out of order, the entire project will have to be redone.

Without proper training, you will likely buy the wrong parts and waste money on items that you do not need. Or waste your time fixing something when in reality, you may be wrong about what part needs to be fixed.

DIY

We understand the appeal of doing it yourself projects. You have convinced yourself that you will save yourself money and time and will just be able to watch tutorials on YouTube. But trust us whenever we say that in the long run, you will save yourself time, money, and a lot of pain and frustration if you just don’t do it yourself and you let us do it for you.
We promise that you will have the opportunity to feel like Joanna Gaines when it comes to other parts of your house, but not on this.
If you noticed something wrong with your garage door or want us to come to check it out for you, give us a call at (501) 412-2475​ or book a consultation with us here.