In order to highlight how dangerous garage doors can be, I'm going to share a story of - how a trained professional was fatally injured working on a garage door, and hopefully discourage those of you who are the handy-type of homeowner from attempting to fix your garage door.

 

The maintenance mechanic worked for a maintenance company, which was hired by a shipping company back in 2004 to install a 1,000-pound commercial roller (overhead) garage door.

 

A week later, when the door wasn't working properly, the mechanic and a coworker returned to fix the top panel and install additional springs. During the repair, the garage door got stuck with the bottom 3 feet from the ground, so the mechanic used scissors lift to attend to the top of the door. He used a screwdriver to disengage the emergency release from the chain-drive motor because the manual release cord wasn't working.

 

Both the mechanic and his coworker believed the door would roll the 3 feet downwards, but instead, the door sprang upwards, knocking the scissors lift in the process.

The scissors lift and the mechanic fell to the floor, a fatal 15-foot fall.

 

An investigation revealed that the few required safety measures were taken, that the mechanic had worked on overhead garage doors in the past and was employed with the maintenance firm for more than two years, with the shipping company as a frequent client. However, it was also discovered that several parts were initially installed incorrectly, which caused the door to jamb in the first place.

 

Also, it was thought that the garage door had 6-inch drums, so two additional springs were installed to help with the weight of the garage door when in reality it had 8-inch drums, and the additional springs might have contributed to the door springing upwards, rather than closing downwards as expected.

 

Before you begin making excuses for why this wouldn't happen to you, the point of sharing this sad story is to show how quickly mistakes can happen to even the most careful of individuals. This mechanic had many years of experience working on commercial garage doors and confirmed his prediction with his (equally trained) co-worker before making the adjustment.

 

Mistakes can happen even to professionals, which puts an untrained person at a much greater risk; an untrained and inexperienced homeowner attempting what appears to be a quick fix can wind up in the emergency room or worse. All it takes is one slip, one instance of I didn't know it would react that way, one surprise to become a statistic.

 

Before you risk your health or your life, call the professionals like Canadian Garage door repair for your best chance at a safe, reliable and efficient garage door repair.