We went out to open our garage door this afternoon, and it wouldn’t open. It turns out that a roller on the section a foot from the bottom of the door has fallen out. Doing some research on fixing a garage door roller online, we are seriously wondering if this is something we can fix ourselves, or if this is a professional fix. What do you all say? Have you fixed a garage door roller before? Was it fairly easy? Is it something where it’s worth it to call a professional and not have to worry about having heavy garage doors fall on you and stuff?
Also, I saw a recommendation that you replace all the rollers at once - is this accurate, would you say?
the rollers can be replaced by a person with some ordinary skill. you replace the rollers one at a time with the door in the full down position.
you can visually inspect the rollers with the door in the full down position. you can wiggle the rollers slightly and that is normal.
why did the roller fall out? did the roller fall off the shaft? if so it needs to be replaced.
did the roller come out because the track was not straight? you might not need to replace the roller but you need to straighten the track. if the roller is in one piece fit it back in, then have a person watch from the inside as the door is operated and watch how the rollers ride. rollers that wobble need to be replaced. if the track isn’t straight even a good roller might pop out.
You should be able to replace a broken roller yourself, with only simple tools and common sense. Is your roller actually damaged, or just off track?
You didn’t give the size or type of overhead door, but common styles of roller are available in the hardware bins at any big box type home center.
The bottom rollers are most likely to fail first (in my experience, no cite), I believe because the track near the floor is prone to misalignment and damage. The door should move throughout it’s stroke without binding. If it does not, a new roller will not fix the underlying problem.
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Uh, I am not entirely sure how this relates to fixing a garage door.
It’s just a regular sized carhole door. The door wasn’t going up, so we tried to pull it up manually, then it was falling down again instead of staying up, and I let it drop (which I realized I should not have done when it fell with a tremendous crash). Jim looked at the roller and said it was broken; it may have just been out of the track before the door fell down, but it’s good and broken now, apparently. We’ll check the track too, and see it it is warped.
Do NOT do any repair work or adjusting to the springs/torsion springs on your garage door. Call a pro for that part if it seems necessary. It sounds like they are exagerating when they say it can result in serious injury or death, but probably not as much as you think.
I am a real DIY, almost nothing scares me, I’ll try to fix anything kinda guy. I messed with a garage door spring once. I’ll never do it again.
A visit from a professional will be a couple hundred dollars if it is a simple fix.
Typically the parts are bolt on so fairly easy to replace. The track usually can be loosened for adjustment. I am not sure where to find the parts though, that is one area where a pro is going to have a real advantage.
Something that can happen with an older garage is actual shifting and settling of the structure putting the door out of alignment. If beyond the adjustment of the door you need to square, level, and plumb the wall - something that a garage door installer probably can not do. I do recommend checking the opening with a level and measuring the diagonals to check for square.
Seconded. I’m a DIY guy too, and I wouldn’t mess with those things…there is a LOT of energy sitting in that spring waiting to injure you badly if you don’t know what you’re doing.
That said, anything that DOESN’T involve the springs is pretty simple. I’d check all the hinges that separate the panels on your garage door…I had one break once, and it created enough play in the panels that I could have easily lost a roller. All the hardware is pretty standard and available at the big-box stores…just take your old stuff there to make sure the size matches up.
Another DIY guy chiming in. I have replaced door springs before, but only the ‘extension’ spring types that run horizontally along the top rails. You install and adjust those with the door raised and thus without a great deal of energy stored in the spring. They are safe if you are careful and have them secured before lowering the door.
I would not mess with the ‘torsion’ springs - but there are hearty souls who have accomplished repairs to them.
Okay, we took out the old, broken roller and went and bought another one (it looks to be a standard size). Next phase - putting the new one in. Wish us luck (and warmer weather - it should be going up close to zero C tomorrow, so it will be more tolerable for working out there).
Should be a pretty quick job. Assuming the roller goes through the outer hinge, just take off the bolts holding the hinge on, slide the roller shaft into the hinge, insert the roller itself into the channel that it travels in, and bolt the hinge back onto the door.
You might be able to jockey the roller in without popping the hinge, but it would probably be easier just to do the above. Good luck!
Garage door update (cause I know you were all on the edge of your seats) - we got the roller in just fine (it was only about $7 and a standard size), but now the damned spring is broken. A quote from a garage door fixing guy is $250 to replace both springs (parts and labour) because you replace both springs at the same time, apparently. Sigh. Good thing we’re not new to home ownership, or we’d be surprised by this.
You can replace the springs yourself if they’re the tension type (one on each side of the door, attached to a sheaf pulley at one end). You can pick up new springs at your local Home Depot/Lowe’s for around $50. They’re color coded by the weight of the door they’re designed for; just make sure you get the right color, and you’re all set.
I’ve replaced a couple sets in my 17-year-old home; it’s not especially hard to do. If you did the roller replacement by yourself, you should be able to do the springs.
Just did this a couple of years ago. The price sounds about right, and we also replaced both springs at the same time. I knew you would be reporting spring problems when you said that the door fell down on its own.
As others have said, if these are the springs that are alongside the track they are pretty easy to replace. If your springs are the ones that are wrapped around a metal rod that traverses the length of the garage door (torsion springs) then it’s really better not to fool with them and have a pro do it. The price you quoted is a bit higher than what I’ve paid in the past for a torsion spring but that was quite a few years ago. They always change them in pairs using the logic that “if one’s bad the other probably is about to be.” Whether this is true or just a way to jack up the price, it seems reasonable to do them both at the same time so there’s only one labor charge.
If you’ve got the guy coming out anyway, he should check the door alignment too.
This is our first garage - we’re learning as we go.
The guy doing the springs doesn’t like the looks of our door or frame; he is recommending a $1200 complete replacement. We’re crossing our fingers and hoping we’re not making a mistake by just doing the springs now - we’ll replace the whole door in a couple of years when we insulate the whole garage and hook up the furnace that’s in there. Ah, home ownership - not for the faint of heart.
I think we own the same house. We were told the same thing when our springs were replaced. Our garage door has been limping along for a few years with me adding hinges, and support strips, and also keeping my fingers crossed.
