Is garage door repair a DIY project?

As any homeowner knows, household maintenance can feel like a never-ending project. While you are able to pick up skills you never knew you would need along the way, everyone knows some jobs require a professional, and there is no way around it. Garage doors are often an afterthought–a part of everyday life that you expect to run smoothly. You don’t notice it until it is broken. However, this seemingly necessary technology is a fairly complex machine which can require a set of knowledge and skills that are next to impossible to acquire without specific training.

When your garage door needs to be repaired, the cause can range from electrical problems (in the motorised systems), to a track alignment issue, spring tension, or a basic bracket adjustment. While some of these may sound like simple repairs, garage doors are an interdependent system making it extremely important to have the full range of skills to fully diagnose the problem. Garage door repairs can be more than an annoying inconvenience. Repairs can be a long, costly, and difficult process. However, it is not a process that you should undertake on your own for a variety of reasons.

The first reason is that you can incur extra cost because of the interdependent nature of garage door systems. It is far too likely that a non-professional will cause damage beyond the original problem. For example, a crimp in the track line left unaddressed for an extended period can create a point of tension along the track which will affect the stress of the springs putting added pressure on the motor. Repairing any one of these problems will not automatically correct the others, causing you to need to spend more money on repairs down the road, possibly even requiring a full system replacement. An error in repairing the simplest part of a garage door system can create more problems that will need to be addressed. Professional diagnoses will uncover all of the problems in the system and allow the most efficient repairs to be made.

Another reason to avoid repairing your garage door yourself is that it will cost you time due to the complicated nature of garage door repairs. It can take a non-professional exponentially more time to diagnose the problem, find parts, and install the replacements than a professional. What seemed like a Saturday afternoon spent replacing a bolt in a bracket can quickly turn into a week of constant Google searches and trips to buy new parts to complete the repair. A professional repair will be as quick and efficient as possible which saves you time, and can ultimately save you money. It will also keep you free of the added stress of worrying if you have completed the repair correctly.

Finally, you should not repair a garage door on your own because it is dangerous. Garage door repairs are not merely expensive or time-consuming, they can be hazardous to you or your property as you are working on them, and hazardous to your family if you have not completed the repair correctly. Garage doors can weigh hundreds of pounds, which makes it necessary to have every part of the equipment functioning properly. If a garage door is suspended over your car or other property stored in the garage, and the spring is broken or improperly repaired, it can cause terrible damage. Even worse, a garage door falling off the tracks can harm someone. A professional repair will minimise these dangers to the people you love, and to your property in the garage.

Garage door repairs are not a do-it-yourself project that is worth undertaking. It can be tempting to avoid the cost of professional repairs, but by doing so, it is possible to make the problem much worse. Hiring a professional certified technician to repair your garage door is not only the safest option, but it is also ultimately the most efficient and cost-effective.