Garage Door BANG!

[Fred]

Hello all,

You may remember me posting about troubles with my garage door before. Today it has gone bang!

I was closing the door - bang - the next thing I knew the spring was hanging down. I think that whatever the spring is attached to on the left hand side (as you stand outside looking towards the door) has broken, causing the spring to fall off.

I'm sure this is the worst time of year for this to happen as everyone will be stopping for Christmas soon.

Is it worth repairing? I suppose I need whatever has broken on the end, plus a re-tensioning kit. How easy are they to retension?

I was thinking of ripping it out and getting a new door as this one was here when we moved in and I don't know how old/used/abused it is. I would also like to replace the frame which is no brilliant IMHO

I notice Screwfix sell doors and frames for those doors.

None of the photos of their doors have handles. Do you have to fit these yourself? I thought they would have been factory fitted.

Screwfix sell frames to fit the doors but they are quite expensive, about £90. I suppose for convenience it's good but this being UK DIY, if I wanted to make my own frame, what is the minimum size of wood you would use?

Would you buy or DIY?

How do I make a mortice in the frame? I haven't got a router, but even if I did, I thought they only went a couple of inches deep. Do you have to do it from both sides and hope the holes meet in the middle?

In the meantime I need to make a prop to keep the door open. What is the minimum size of wood you would use for this? Is there a table anywhere of what weights different thicknesses of wood will support?

The broken door was a canopy door. I understand that retractable doors are smoother. If I replaced the door with a retractable one, would I need to add anything else? Presumably there are tracts for it to retract into; do these need to be supported, and if so, by what?

Thanks in advance.

[Fred]

Sorry to add to my list of questions but one last one:

Is GRP preferable to steel? I suppose it's lighter? Is it any less secure? I suppose an angle grinder would get through either (or even the wall!) if thieves were that desperate to get in.

TIA

[The Natural Philosopher]

In my case it was always te spring that broke., I successfuully shortened it and re hung it about 4 times...

Ultimately the 5th time it went I left it for a year, propped open, and then got a complete new spring kit. About 80 quid IIRC.

A LOT less trouble than replacing the whole door assembly and door.

I used a bit of 2x2 on mine. The weight was not large.

In my case hangers from the roof trusses.

I have tow vertical runners, going up each side, and two hrozopntals running back into the garage: the rear ends of these are simply hung on

4x2s from a convenient truss.

The springs - twin in my case - are tension units in a casing over the lintel inside, and steel wires run over pulleys to the door base roughly, where the rollers that run in the rails are.

My [parents old house had a wooden door, top runners but no vertical ones - the lower part of the door was controlled by a lever system. Massive springs went from this point to above the door altogether.

In uyour case a quicfk and doirty fiix - shorten the spring etc - is probab;y te way to go pending a proiper planas to what to do.

In my case one day the whole garage will be replaced altogether ;-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

GRP can crack and split in sunlight.

Galv steel is better.

[Matthew Ames]

I bought a screwfix GRP door and frame. The door come with 3 point locking (top and one of both sides). The frame to be honest is nothing special, but saved me from the effort of making it! I got the frame and soaked it in some wood preservative for a few days and then pulled out the old door & frame, wacked in the new frame and with the help of a mate put the new door in.

When it comes to fitting the door a few small pieces of wood to lift the door from the ground is a bonus. I did think the screwfix frame left rather a large gap around the sides though. The screwfix frame uses the min-sized wood, iirc. Once the door in attached to the frame then you have about a million and one screws to remove / adjust before it all working. It has been in a few a few months and is working well.

I suffered the same issues with my old door where one of the metal runs snapped and the wire vanished. I was a bif lazy in actually doing the job, and in the meantime some toe-rag broke into my car while it was parked on the drive way, smashing the passenger side front window :-(

[Harry Bloomfield]

Having just put time into researching a this very subject - if you are considering fitting new....

My suggestion would be to consider replacing it with a powered roller door. If your door opening is around 7 x 7 foot, for £450 you can get a remote control powered roller door, which is insulated, made to measure for you and look completely draft proof. They need just 300mm of space between the top of the opening and the roof and of course a mains power socket.

They do look much less troublesome to fit too and are about the same cost as rigid up and over doors without remote operation. Check them out on Ebay.

[The Natural Philosopher]

they are pretty thief proof as well

[Fred]

[snip]

I wondered about getting one from Wickes. They can be bought with a

*metal* frame. Is this better than a timber frame?

Thanks.

[Andy Hall]

That depends on the metal and on the timber.

If it's the typical thin metal frames of the mass market doors then from the security point of view they are about as much use as a one legged man at an arse kicking party. A timber frame with metal runners would be more secure because it will take longer to break into it. A more substantial steel frame would be better than both.

[Peter Johnson]

You could consider finding a local garage door fixer in the yellow pages or similar. When one of the wires came off one of my doors I did that and had it fixed within an hour, for £35.

[Fred]

The brochure says that it's 68mm wide, though it doesn't state a depth. How strong do you think that would be?

Is a retractable door better than a canopy? I presume retractable doors are much more stable. We had problems that if you lifted the canopy door from the side, it caused all sorts of problems with the wires getting tangled up. Would the tracts stop a retractable door from twisting as it opens?

I'm told that retractable doors go further into the garage. How much further do they go that canopy doors? Do they retract completely into the garage or is there still some "canopy" outside?

[Fred]

Having just read Wickees leaflet 27, it looks as though canopy frames are 54mm x 35mm and retractable frames are 68 mm x 60 mm in galvanised steel. HTH?

[Fred]

Hello again,

It seems that there's a month's delay getting the pre-fitted frame, so I'll be making one myself after all. The Wickes recommendation is

70x70mm timber. That's the size of the Screwfix frame too. Is this substantial enough or should I go bigger?

Thanks.

[newshound]

That seems very reasonable; my neighbour has one (not eBay) and it looks and works well, except when my 17yo learner driver son reversed into it and bent about four slats, seizing it up. The service repair including callouts was over £400...