Garage Door Safety Checklist

SPRINGS AND CABLES

On all Clopay torsion spring doors, the spring is installed around the torsion shaft so that, if a spring should break, it cannot snap free and cause damage or injury.

Conventional garage door bottom brackets are under extreme tension and can cause serious injury if deliberately or accidentally loosened or removed by someone inexperienced in garage door installation or maintenance. Clopay brand garage residential steel doors feature our patented Safe-T-Bracket™ which, under normal circumstances, cannot be removed while the door is under tension, thus significantly reducing the risk of serious injury.

Are you able to loosen the bottom brackets of the garage door?

Have you checked the spring on your garage door?
Beware of old springs. Keep in mind that garage door springs are tightly wound and under high tension. Eventually, all springs will wear out and break, even high quality steel springs like those used by Clopay. A breaking spring that is not properly contained could lash out and strike property or people. Properly installed Clopay doors have containment cables on extension springs and the shaft on the torsion spring will contain the spring on these types of doors. If you have an older garage door, be certain your springs are inspected by a professional installer and replaced if needed. If your door has two springs, replace both, even if one is not broken. This will not only prevent any damage caused by the breaking of the second spring, but also keep your door working efficiently.

Are there any frayed or have worn strips hanging loose on the spring system?
If the cables that attach from the spring system to the bottom bracket on either side of your garage door have frayed or have worn strips hanging loose, your cables are in danger of breaking, which could cause serious injury or property damage. Have the cables inspected immediately by a trained professional who is aware of the potential dangers from spring tension.

Is it a safety concern if the springs are noisy?
Sometimes older springs become squeaky or make a chattering noise. The noise is caused by the spring coils rubbing against one another. This is not a safety concern and can be corrected with a spray-on lubricant.

To ensure safe installation, are the services of a professional installer required for standard torsion spring door installation?
Manual winding of a torsion spring during installation or adjustment is extremely difficult and potentially dangerous. Torsion spring garage doors should be installed only by trained professionals.

Michael Dryer / Cookson Door Sales/ Clopay Building Products

Tags: Clopay, cookson, garage, garage doors, head room, headroom, Maintenance