How to Open a Garage Door with a Broken Spring
There is a very simple answer for this: DON’T.
If your garage door will not open and the spring for it is broken, your garage door is locked in place. It is not going anywhere anytime soon. Call a repair team and have them come out as quickly as possible to fix it. They will have the tools necessary to be able to lift the door and correct it.
When the spring breaks on your garage door, the door that was so easy to lift has now become a giant metal slab. This piece is incredibly hard to raise without the counterbalance that was assisting the natural movement beforehand. With a broken spring, the entire force of the actual door now weighs down upon the ground.
It is highly recommended to contact a garage door repair specialist to get it fixed. We cannot stress enough that to fix the door yourself would be outrageously dangerous. If you unhook the spring, it could spiral out of control, wrecking your garage and any belongings in it.
Sometimes you have no choice but to find some way to pry the door open. There are cases where you’ve called the garage door repair people and they will not be out soon enough. What happens if there is an emergency and your garage trapped the car inside? Without an alternative transportation method, you would have no choice but to run through the garage door, right?
In case of emergency, here’s how to open a garage door with a broken spring.
Get a great friend to help you out
You are going to be lifting a door that can weigh upwards of 350 pounds. When you need help, you need to get the best help you can get and also someone who will like you afterward. In fact, you could get as many friends to help you as possible if that sounds heavy.
Get two ladders and put them next to the garage door on either side.
Make sure the ladders are 6-foot ladders or higher. These need to be as tall as the opening of the garage door. They do not have to be as high, but the car will need to be able to get through the garage. Additionally, you will not be standing on these ladders. While you are doing the next steps, keep them close by, but completely out of the way.
Get two crowbars and place them under the garage door.
This is where the good friend comes into play. You will need two heavy duty crowbars to open the garage. Slip them underneath whatever the sealing part of the door is and make sure you get leverage.
Lift the door up
Again, you are lifting a door that is upwards of 350 pounds. It is outrageously difficult to do and not advised unless you are a professional. Be extra careful. One wrong move while moving this door could damage the garage and, even worse, you.
When the door is all the way up, clamp it.
You will need some heavy duty vice clamps for this step. Make sure that they can clamp down while having 350 pounds of pressure come down on it. You will attach both clamps below the lowest roller on the garage door. This will keep the door in place while you perform the next task.
When the door has been clamped, put the ladders underneath the door.
You will want to accomplish this one quickly. While the clamps should be able to hold up the door, they will not hold it up for long. The ladders are there to keep the door up. Additionally, this is a temporary solution because you have to get this door open. Be very careful when placing the ladders in.
Get everything you need out of the garage.
You probably don’t want to do this again until your garage gets fixed. Therefore, anything you can only get while the garage door is up needs to be gotten. Cars, boats, jetskis, motorcycles…anything important needs to be taken out of this garage now.
Call your garage door repair technicians
You should have done this beforehand as the very first thing but, if you have not done that, now is a good time to do it. When your garage door repair technician arrives, make sure you clear your garage of valuables and other precious items. This guarantees the safety of your things just in case.
Fixing a garage by yourself can be next to impossible. While Austin Garage Door Solutions always wants your business, we want you to get your garage fixed right. Let the professionals take care of any spring replacement utilizing their array of tools at their disposal. It is worth it.
If you need your broken spring repaired or if you need your car out of your garage, call Austin Garage Door Solutions. We can help you with any garage door needs right away.