How Do I Know If My Garage Door Is Balanced?

"Your opener is not gonna be able to lift it without that spring. The job of that spring is to really make that door weigh 5 to 10 pounds make it easy on that garage door opener."

- Alex Dalton, Garage Door Expert

 

Jim Klauck, Check A  Pro Joe, has asked garage door expert, Alex Dalton to join him on the show today.  Today's question - "How Do I Know If My Garage Door Is Balanced?"

Check out this episode to learn more...

 

For more information about Eco Garage doors in Austin, Texas log on to

https://www.ecogarages.com

 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is the check.
A pro radio show.
Check A Pro Joe has assembled a team of pre-qualified home service contractors to bring you the latest in services products and techniques.
Now,
here's your host,
the man with a hard hat and tool belt.
Check a pro Joe,
check a pro Joe here on the Check A Pro radio show with my good friend Alex Dalton from Eco garage doors in Austin,

(00:22):
Texas.
Hi,
Alex,
how are you?
I'm doing good.
How are you doing?
I am living the dream.
Thank you,
my friend.
Hey,
a question.
Come into the Checkup Pro Radio show studios and it's a garage door question.
Can you help me answer that question for listeners,
please?
All right,
here we go.
Question is very simple.
I think.
How do I balance my garage door and why is that important?

(00:45):
So why don't you start off by explaining what a balanced garage door is and how it should look and operate and why is that so critical?
So,
as everybody knows,
you got a spring above your garage door here.
Um,
your garage door that spring,
it's gonna weigh 102 103 £100.
You're not gonna be able to lift it without that spring,

(01:06):
your opener is not gonna be able to lift it without that spring job of that spring is to really make that door weigh 5 to 10 pounds make it easy on that garage door opener.
Uh,
if your door is not balanced properly,
you don't have the right springs on there.
Long term,
you're gonna have some damage to your opener and potentially your door.
um,
to check the balance of your door,

(01:27):
you're gonna want to take the,
uh,
the red cord on your garage door opener.
Pull that so it's disconnected and you're gonna wanna put that door halfway up.
Essentially,
that door should be sitting halfway up.
It shouldn't be falling down to the floor and it shouldn't be shooting upwards.
That's how you tell if your garage door is back.
And,
uh,
just,
it's,

(01:48):
it's important to have your garage door balanced.
So you don't have any long term issues of,
one of the most common ones that we see is there's a little plastic gear in those garage door openers.
And if they're lifting more than that 5 to £10 those things over time start to shred down and down and down plastic savings and your door is not gonna open anymore when you need to go to work.

(02:08):
Yeah,
Alex,
those garage door openers are really designed to guide the door up and down.
The majority of the work,
of course,
is done.
By the springs.
Correct.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And,
and I don't think a lot of people understand that they're like my garage door opener,
uh,
pulls my garage door up and pushes it down.
It kind of nudges it because,

(02:30):
you know,
you're right with the balancing thing.
When your garage door is balanced at any point in time,
you should be able to,
when it's disengaged from the garage door opener,
you should be able to move that garage door relatively easy with very,
very little effort.
Right.
Oh,
yeah,
you should be able to open it with one hand,
no effort at all.

(02:51):
Like I said,
that 5 to £10 will spring those,
most of the work there.
And so people can actually safely test this themselves by pulling the cord that's above your head and it'll disengage that garage door from the opener.
And if all of a sudden it comes shooting down,
if it's up,

(03:12):
uh,
that's a problem,
maybe you want to actually have it down before you pull that cord.
Wouldn't that be a good idea?
Always have that door down before you pull that cord because,
uh,
if you don't know there's a spring broken or anything like that,
that thing is gonna come crashing down,
that's gonna damage your door eventually harm you.
So when you perform this test,
always make sure that door is down and try to give it a good lift.

(03:33):
No,
I totally agree with that.
All of Alex's information is located in the description of this podcast.
He and his team are a quick click away as always,
Alex.
Thank you so much for joining me today on the program.
I appreciate you having me check a pro is your local source for pre-qualified contractors.
Stay tuned for more of the Check A Pro radio show.