Replace / repair garage door sections?

[Abhijit Dey]

We had a small accident.. my wife was in big hurry to get out of the garage, and she started backing the car from within the garage as the door was still opening. The door opened enough for the rear of the car to get out, but the power antenna caught the garage door and broke. Once we had the car back in, we noticed the following damages

1) Some of the rollers had come off the tracks 2) The metal string (?) has come off the pulley on one side of the door, causing the door to be hanging in a tilted position (torsion spring mechanism at the top/middle of the door).

With the help of a friend, I have managed to fix both of the above - friend had some knowledge about how to work the torsion spring). HOWEVER, now I notice cracks on 3 of the 4 sections of the door - about

2 inches long.. near where the sections curl up and meet each other. This must have happened when the door was unbalanced (one side pully working and the other side hanging by it's own weight).. maybe something else, like the impact).

Now how do I fix these cracks? I am not much good at welding / brazing and I have already messed up the paint near one of the cracks (about

2"x2" area) trying to braze it. Is this repairable? Or must I replace all sections of the door? The rest of the door seems structurally just fine.. auto opener works - everything is ok. But the sections now have cracks! 8 (

Thanks!

[doordoc]

It sounds like there's more to that story, but I won't go there.

Personally I would recommend that you replace the sections since they will continue to flex back & forth each time the door is used. Therefore the cracks will get bigger until the door bows so much they will buckle & may even come out of the track.

While you could brace the inside of the door to prolong it's use the cracks will be difficult if not impossible to repair. As you have discovered any type of welding is going to burn the heck out of the paint.

Doordoc

[Abhijit Dey]

LOL. No really - no more to that story 8o)

Great. Since I have no idea how the garage door industry works, I can use some guidance. I am in Chicago suburbs - Naperville area. What would be the best way to find some reputable contractor to do this? Where can I buy the sections? Home Depot? Lowes etc..

Basically, just trying not to get ripped off by some garage contractor.. so can really use some education, do's/don'ts etc. Any cost estimates? It's a regular 16x7 feet sectional door.

Thanks doordoc!

[Art]

Check the yellow pages to see if there is a Wayne Dalton store near you. THey make great doors and service all brands and I've always found them to be reliable. Their IDrive opener is particularly neat since it fits above the door instead of in the middle of the ceiling. Lowes sells them too but WD stores will probably sell and install it for less or fix the old door if possible.

[BobK207]

How could a car power antenna cause all this damage to the garage door?

cheers Bob

[Abhijit Dey]

Good question. When I heard the crashing sound coming from the garage, I ran over there and found the following.

1) Garage door halfway open 2) Car antenna bent 3) Car now back fully inside garage.

I am sure the back of the car (or the bumper) didn't hit the door as there is no damage to the car except the antenna.

I didn't pay much attention to the door at this point.. it looked okay at first look. Then I ran the auto opener to open the door fully - and the fun started.

The door opened, but some of the rollers came off of the track, and the door was partially "hanging". When I tried to close it (manually), it would not come down all the way, with one side of the door not level with the other side. At this point I noticed, that the right hand side string is off the pully.

(Read my first post to learn what I did to "fix" the door somewhat)

So, yeah - not sure what caused what.. but this is the best I can figure out.

So, any ideas on how I can go about fixing the damage in a economical & sensible way? Thanks.

[DanG]

It sounds like all the problems are related to moving the door, not the surface condition of the panels.

It sounds like the door uses coil torsion springs to carry the load. These are large springs wound around a heavy steel bar mounted on the wall just above the door. THESE ARE DANGEROUS!!!!!!!

There is a steel cable that goes down each side of the door and coils on a drum at the ends of the heavy steel bar. It sounds like the cable has jumped or the drum is out of time. THIS THING IS DANGEROUS!!!!!!!

The best thing to do would be to hire a local professional to reset the door. If you insist on trying, you might study this site:

(top posted for your convenience) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) [e-mail]