Your garage door’s cables work with its springs to gently open and close your garage door. Considering most garage doors have a starting weight of around 130 pounds, it’s safe to say that garage door cables serve an essential purpose when it comes to the safe operation of your garage door.

If you have a damaged or broken garage door cable, the experts at Precision Garage Door Service can replace it to ensure your garage door continues to open and close safely.

How Garage Door Cables Work

Garage door cables run from the bottom of your door and up the sides, connecting to your garage door pulleys and springs. When you open your garage door, the cables wrap around the pulleys. This turns the pulleys and stretches the springs. The cables also help the springs balance the weight of the door so that it raises and lowers smoothly.

This process is reversed when you close the door. The cables unwind from the pulley, which loosens tension from the springs. The springs allow the door to lower, as the weight of the door pulls on the cables. The tension from the cables wrapping tightly around the pulley and the support from the springs allow the garage door to lower slowly and safely.

If you have a damaged or broken garage door cable, the experts at Precision Garage Door Service can replace it to ensure your garage door continues to open and close safely.

Signs of a Broken Garage Door Cable

If you suspect you have a damaged cable but don’t see any visible signs, use your garage door to look for clues. Check for these telltale signs of a damaged cable:

Your garage door is making strange noises such as squeaking, screeching, grinding, or other noises that are out of the ordinary. While your garage door won’t be completely exempt from making noise, it shouldn’t sound like a chorus of mice.
Your garage door is stuck, and nothing works when you try to open and close it. In this instance, it’s best to leave your door alone and call a professional immediately.
Your garage door is angled or crooked. This is another situation that warrants calling a professional immediately to avoid personal injury or damage.
Your garage door is shaking. Shaking is a symptom of instability. An unstable garage door is a safety hazard, which can be deadly in some instances.
Your garage door has fallen completely. Perhaps the most obvious sign is a fallen garage door, which can cause serious injury and leave your home vulnerable to theft.

If any of these signs seem familiar, contact one of our garage door repair experts immediately for service.

The Danger of Broken Garage Door Cables

Serious Injury

The cables support the entire weight of your garage door, so if one or both cables are damaged or broken, it compromises the whole system. If your door becomes unbalanced, there’s a good chance it could suddenly fall to the ground, potentially injuring those around it. Considering the weight of garage doors, this is one danger that you want to avoid.

Restricted Access

A faulty cable cannot properly support the entire weight of your garage door. As a result, the door may get stuck, preventing you from driving your car in or out of your garage. This could prove to be extremely inconvenient should you need to leave your house immediately for an emergency.

Damaged Property

Your garage houses an important investment: your vehicle. If your garage door falls due to a damaged or broken cable, it could cause major damage. Your garage door also has the potential to land on other valuable items that you have stored in your garage. There’s also a good chance that your garage door will chip your cement if it falls, resulting in even more property damage.

Broken Garage Door

If you avoid dealing with your damaged or broken garage door cable, you could be setting yourself up for a much bigger problem. Your cable is one of the mechanisms that lowers your garage door to the ground gently. If your garage door crashes to the ground unexpectedly, it could damage the garage door itself. In this case, you’d be looking at a garage door replacement in addition to replacing the cables, which is proof that procrastination can come at a high cost.

Don’t take the risk. Contact a Precision Garage Door Service professional today to replace your damaged or broken garage door cable.

Maintaining Your Garage Door Cables

In order to avoid broken garage door cables in the future, schedule regular maintenance to ensure your cables remain in good condition. Our service professional will perform the following task to maintain your cables and ensure safe operation of your garage door:

Clean your cables on a regular basis so they are free of debris. Debris creates friction, which wears cables down faster. If you notice that your garage door isn’t going up or down as smoothly, dirty cables could be the reason.
Lubricate your cables with a lubricant that’s specifically designed for garage door cables. Using other types of lubricant can attract debris, which will make them less effective and shorten their lifespan.
Examine your cables for visible signs of wear and damage. If we notice anything out of the ordinary, we’ll repair it immediately. We’ll also inspect the condition of your door to determine whether it’s uneven. If it is, we’ll fix it.

Garage door cables are pulled extremely tight with tension. Attempting any type of maintenance or repairs on your garage door or cables could result in serious injury. If you need maintenance or repairs, call a trained professional, we have the right tools and training to complete the job safely.

Trust the Pros at Precision Garage Door Service to Replace Your Garage Door Cables

It’s extremely risky to let any issue with your garage door cables linger. Doing so puts you, your family, pets, and property in danger. Don’t waste an opportunity to correct this potential hazard around your home. For garage door cable repairs that you can trust, call on the experts or find the Precision Garage Door Service professional nearest you.

Garage Door Cables