Monday, November 19, 2007

An Immovable Object

My garage door won't open--at all. My car is inside, and it's going to stay inside until someone can open the garage door. I'm glad I have alternate transportation parked outside because I think this is a major repair job.

Nope, it's not the electrical system, which works fine; it's the garage door itself. I've investigated all the possibilities, engaged and disengaged the electronics, and the door won't budge, but the garage door opener does its thing just fine.

I'm expecting the repair person any moment. I carefully made sure I explained that it's the actual door that won't move, that I've tried releasing the mechanism, yada yada yada, so it'll be fun to see what the repair person says when (s)he arrives.

Above the door is a metal cylinder which, as I looked more closely at it, seems to be some sort of spring, and it's broken. I suspect that may be the problem, but the person on the phone assures me it's the cable.

No, I checked that and the cable seems to be fine--but the metal cylinder is broken, so that is probably the problem.

Well, we'll check the cable.

Okay, but please tell the person who is coming to my home to be prepared to deal with the broken cylinder above the garage door as well!

It's $95 to show up, with the repair work and parts added on. I'm seeing a bunch of bucks being wasted if the repair centers on the cable or the garage door opener, rather than on the pully mechanism that actually raises and lowers the door.
_________________
For a total cost of $285, both of the springs were replaced and the garage door now opens and closes! Hurrah! Not only was I correct in my assessment of the problem, but the servicemen were friendly, efficient, and instructional (they told me to clean the tracks and call them for service annually).

Problem solved.

No comments: