The garage is an important part of any home. A garage is used not just for keeping vehicles, but also used as a space for storing household items, as a play area, game room, or even as a guest room. With so many different purposes, you need to have a sturdy, properly functioning garage door at all times. However, like any other home repair, with the passage of time, your garage door might need repairs too due to continuous use and wear-and-tear. One of the components of the garage door that might need repairs or replacement are cables. Let’s take a look at what these cables are, how they work, and how you can get them repaired.
What are garage door cables?
These cables are long “metal ropes” that are an important part of the garage door opening mechanism. These cables are made up of smaller woven wires that are crimped at the end to fasten to the garage door and cable drums. When the garage door lifts up, the cables get wound around the drums. This allows the garage door to lift up. The more wires that are used to make the cable, the stronger the cable will be. Heavy duty drums accommodate thicker cables and lift bigger garage doors.
How do cables work and what causes them to snap?
Although cables come in pairs, they usually snap one at a time. You will be able to possibly see a snapped or frayed cable hanging from its drum or coiled on the floor. Your garage door will be unable to operate and might be unbalanced. It might also be hanging at an angle. Additional garage door parts such as rollers, springs, or track will also be effected by snapping cables. If you see frayed cables, get them replaced right away before they break away entirely. This will save you the expense and additional hassle of having to get the cables replaced. Like everything else, fraying and wear-and-tear- over a period of time cause these cables to snap. Improperly installed and loose springs, damaged pulleys, and damaged weather strip are other common reasons that can also lead to snapped cables. Broken cables can also cause damage to accessories in other parts of your garage door assembly.
Cables are part of a complex counter-balance system and are under tension. Serious injuries can result if inexperienced homeowners try to repair or replace these cables themselves. With a broken cable, your garage door will not open properly on one or both sides. Needless to say, this is a dangerous situation and homeowners should stay away from the garage door and not attempt to fix it until it is correctly repaired by a professional garage door repair contractor. With Cooper City Garage Door Repair in Florida, you can rest assured that not only will we repair any snapped cables you may have, we will also look over other parts of your garage door and make sure that the bolts are tightened, there are no bent tracks, the pulleys are working fine, parts are lubricated, and everything else is in good shape. With being a licensed and insured company, having trained technicians, using top quality tools and parts, and giving special discounts, we are proud of our topnotch garage door services.
How do you get snapped cables repaired?
As mentioned before, attempting to repair or replace broken cables is a very bad idea that can result in serious bodily injuries. The best option is to call a reliable and experienced garage door repair company to properly replace snapped cables and test to ensure that your other garage door components are working properly too. When the cables snap, whatever position your garage door is in, leave it in that position and do not attempt to force it up or down. Doing so might damage other parts of your garage door assembly and cause any remaining cables to snap as well. This is a dangerous situation and utmost care must be taken to keep from another accident or damage to occur.
Even if you have your vehicle or other item(s) stuck or damaged under the door, it is not a good idea to try and move them or move the door. Just unplug your garage door opener and call a licensed garage door repair company. Many garage door repair companies provide emergency and 24-hour services, so you might not have to wait very long before someone can come in to fix the cables for you. No matter how or where the cables snap, the replacement has to be performed on both sides of the door and on top. What also goes hand-in-hand with this replacement is adjustment and tightening of hinges, springs, rollers, and tracks. Lubricating the parts is also done to ensure smooth functioning.
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