Garage Door Extension Springs
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INSTALLING A GARAGE DOOR WILL REQUIRE A SET OF TOOLS!
We spoke earlier about the most important part of a garage door – the torsion spring
We spoke earlier about the most important part of a garage door – the torsion spring, and while in the article, we also mentioned that there are other kinds of springs also which are used in a garage door. Those are the garage door extension springs, and are also quite important to the functioning of the garage doors.
Like the name suggests, extension springs are attached to the rail over which the garage door moves, and they are the part which are subject to maximum wear and tear as the door is opened and closed frequently. These are extendible kinds of springs, and as the door closes, they extend to let it close. To open the door, the spring comes back to its original shape and
size, pulling the door along with it. There is a shaft that runs along the rail and the spring is wound around the shaft, so that the shape of the springs is retained.
Basically, there are four characteristics to garage door extension springs.
- Length
- Inside Diameter
- Wire Size, and
- Type of end
Though it sounds technical, it isn’t in reality, and the names of the characteristics pretty much sum up their meaning. But we normally don’t hear about these daily, as they come pre-loaded with the garage door opener that we choose. It is only when the extension springs of our garage door turn up with some problem that we rush and get the manual book that we’ve forgotten someplace after the garage door was installed by the company people! The manual will contain all the necessary characteristics mentioned above.
Garage door extension springs have three types of ends, which are decided based on the weight of the door which they have to operate. For lighter doors of less than 200 pounds, a double loop or an open loop extension spring end will do. For heavier doors of over 200 pounds, the end of the extension spring is most likely clipped. Garage door extension springs for residential use are normally fitted with lift increments of 10 pounds. So if you have a garage door that is heavier than your neighbor, your garage door will need extension springs which have higher lifting power than your neighbor’s garage door. Not that it makes a difference to you – your garage door expert will anyway take care of it all. But it is nice to know!
Like a lot of other products used in garage doors, the length of extension springs also is standardized. For normal 8′ high garage doors, the size of the extension spring is 27″, not including the loops at the end. For a 7′ garage door, the spring is 25″ in size. Then there are two kinds of designs in which extension springs are available. While one is the common two spring design, the other is the pulley design, which can make do with just one spring. But like we said earlier, these technicalities will anyway be handled by your garage door installation company. Just be sure that you engage the services of a professional company