Movement caused by general wear and tear can cause these problems. This means that as part of regular garage door maintenance, your roller door should be regularly aligned and balanced by adjusting the tension. This helps the longevity of the garage door opener or motor and ensures it operates safely.
Do not attempt to tension your roller door, at risk of serious injury or death. Always contact a professional for roller door tensioning.
Common Mistakes When Tensioning a Garage Door
Garage doors are heavy and one small slip or failure of the mechanism can cause the door to become damaged or cause injury. This is why we always recommend enlisting the help of a professional.
After adjusting the tension, it's crucial to check the balance of the door and make any necessary adjustments. A trusted professional would never skip this step as they're aware it could be doing your garage door more harm than good.
At Steel-Line, we can take care of this for you as part of a garage door service. We'd never recommend you tackle this job alone, but here's an insight into how our team would go about it.
Tools and Equipment
Like any job we undertake, we gather all the necessary equipment before beginning. Loosening the U-bolts can release spring tension, risking the door coming down forcefully and can cause serious injury if not done properly.
The types of equipment we use include:
Tie-down straps or a length of rope to tie around the door
An impact driver with a long socket with an extension bar for easy one-handed operation
Stilsons—sometimes called a pipe wrench
Depending on the height of the roller door—a ladder
Professional Assessment Steps
The first step before adjusting the spring tension is to perform a balance test. From closed, the door is lifted to waist height. It's then carefully released, ensuring no people, pets or objects are in the way. If the door is hard to open or slams shut, it's out of balance and the spring tension needs to be adjusted.
We'd disconnect a motor first too if your door had one installed.
Professional Roller Door Tensioning Process
As mentioned earlier, we'd never recommend tensioning a door yourself. Once you've contacted a professional to help you with the job, these are the steps they're likely to take to ensure your door is in alignment.
Step 1. Tighten before loosening
Our technicians first locate the side of the door that will be used for re-tensioning, it's usually the side with the most room. If you have a motor, it's on the opposite side.
The U-bolts will then be loosened from the brackets before an impact driver is used to tighten the U-bolt where the door rolls up and down. The procedure is then repeated on the other side of the door.
Step 2. Get set to tighten
For the next step, a professional will enlist the help of Stilsons or a pipe wrench. A firm downward grip will be placed on the Stilsons as both U-bolt nuts are loosened.
As the U-bolt loosens further, tension can be felt on the shaft. This is then turned a quarter or half a turn until it's tight.
Step 3. Checking our work
An expert will continue to hold the Stilsons firmly whilst letting the door down part of the way to check the balance. Here, we are checking that the door moves smoothly and isn't making any grinding noises that indicate it needs further adjustment within the track.
If it is out of balance, we will remove the rope or tie-down strap but leave the door fully open before loosening the same U-bolt and wiggling the shaft into the correct position, so the door is in the centre of the tracks.
Finally, we tighten the U-bolt on the motor side and re-secure the motor.
You can Rely on the Professionals at Steel-Line
Adjusting the tension of a roller door is an essential part of a garage door maintenance routine to ensure longevity and safe operation. If the tension is too loose, you may find your garage door stops opening and closing correctly. If the tension is too tight, it can cause stress on the door's components.
At Steel-Line, we don’t just manufacture high-quality garage doors; we ensure they stay in peak condition to prevent minor issues from becoming costly repairs. To have a professional tension your roller door, contact us today on 1300 767 900.
