23 October 2018
 Categories: , Blog

Have you recently damaged your garage door by backing into it? Do you need to get it replaced as soon as possible but you're not sure when you're going to have the time to do so? If you're an avid DIYer, you may be expecting that you can simply pull out the damaged door, put in a new one, and you'll be good to go. However, this is unlikely to be the case. There are a number of reasons why you might find it more difficult than you expected and why you should just hire a professional instead. Some of the most important reasons include:

Safety: One thing that you may not realize is that garage doors can actually weight over a hundred pounds in total, depending on what they're made from. The reason why you don't notice this is because the weight is counterbalanced by one or two large springs that pull with just enough force to make the door seem like it only weighs a handful of pounds. As part of the ordinary course of garage door installation, new springs will likely need to be added. Due to the size and power of the springs involved, this can be a dangerous undertaking. If the spring slips, it can cause serious damage or injury to anyone or anything in its path. A garage door professional will know how to handle this situation with minimal risks to both themselves and your garage.

Parts: You may well be able to order the garage door panels yourself but that may be as far as you'll get. Many garage door manufacturers realize the dangers involved in garage door installation and will refuse to sell replacement parts except to authorized garage door companies. As a result, you may be unable to find the springs and other parts that you may need unless you attempt to go with dubious 3rd party non-OEM parts that may not even fit correctly. It's best if you simply get an authorized person to handle the installation for you.

Cost: Although hiring someone to install your garage door isn't free, it can certainly be a lower-cost solution than attempting to do it yourself. Buying and potentially re-buying various parts in an attempt to find ones that work can be an expensive undertaking. Even if the seller is willing to refund you for parts that don't work for your garage door installation, you could still be out the cost of shipping. By the time you add up all of the costs to get a garage door that mostly kind of works, it likely would've been less expensive if you'd simply hired a professional in the first place.

Contact a company, like J & B Door, for more help.