When it comes to residential garage doors, knowing their weights will be essential in the maintenance and replacement of certain parts. With the help of having the accurate weight of the garage door, homeowners will be able to balance the door correctly and replace the torsion springs with the right dimensions properly.
For those who are asking what is it worth? Well, if you take the wrong weight and choose the wrong springs, your door can easily get damaged as the springs are used during opening and closing.
Here are the steps on how you can weigh your garage door correctly:
- The very first thing that you must do is to disconnect the garage door from the opener arm. Many people make the mistake of just removing the trolley from the drawbar but this actually just gives a wrong measurement unless the opener will be disengaged.
- Next, grab an analog scale and bring it near the center of the door. Analog scales should be used because digital bathroom scales are not accurate due to sensitivity. Commercial digital scales may be used but analog scales are more available at home.
- Now that you have practically disconnected the garage door from its opener, you will be able to take a good average measurement of your door. In order to do this, you need to use a winding bar or a pipe wrench to pull down the cone of the spring. Once the cone is pulled down, the door will be lifted up and you can slide the analog scale under the door right in the middle section.
- Before taking the measurement, check if the cables above are hanging loosely. If the weight of the door is still supported by the cables, then the measurement is wrong. It would help if you have someone assist you in this process especially if the door is heavy.
- Slowly release the cone of the door so that the weight will be transferred to the cables again. Slide the weighing scale out and re-engage the opener arm of the door so you could use the garage door as normal.
