This makes the day suck...

[Bungleau]

My wife and a friend of hers went out to a mom's club meeting tonight, and I offered to handle all the kids while they enjoyed themselves. Her friend's husband is out of town, and she was going to skip it... so what the heck. No big deal, and I can always throw in a movie to calm 'em down

That worked, but when the time came to get ready to go, I hit the button to open the garage door so they could get their stuff out. As I closed the house door, I heard a funny noise. Opening the house door, I saw the garage door still down. After several checks, I determined it wasn't opening, for reasons I couldn't quite fathom.

A few minutes later, I looked at the garage door objectively, and noticed that the spring on top -- that huge, tension-packed spring designed to hold the weight of said door -- appeared to be in two pieces. Sure enough, upon closer inspection, it was... broken, quite in two.

No problem... just have to use some muscle to get the door open. 'Cause my car's still in there, I have to catch a plane to Boston tomorrow, and it's a long walk to the airport.

No such luck. It won't move... and I've got five kids running around the house and yard at 10PM, hollering and screaming.

I take a closer look, trying to decide why it won't open up. I discover something... on the sides of the garage door, there are cables that ensure that the door won't go flying if the spring snaps. Useful things, really... and they're lying around quite slack.

At least, one of them is. The other has just plain snapped. A case of advanced age, but it's easy to see where it used to be one cable, and is now half a dozen threads of steel.

This has now graduated beyond anything I want to fix.

I call one of my neighbors to help me with the garage door. Man, are those things heavy! I think I'll be feeling it tomorrow...

So... in the morning, I get to call a garage door place, have them inspect and tell me what's up, and have them fix it. And then I'll leave, and leave my wife behind with the kids, the dog, and the broken garage door.

Now, to go game and kill something... just to help me feel better

[Ziroc]

Yeh, I hear ya. Ours is kinda dying too.. it's 8 years old now. When it gets cold in the winter, it won't react to the activation (pusing the button to open it) until you push it 100 times, then finally it opens.. same for going down.

(Pushing it a lot must warm up the circuit board and finally work it).. Sounds like a soldering connection is loose.. Also, I gotta replace the bottom rubber thingy.. its all sun-baked hard now.. cracks..

[Chewbacca]

Dude one word- Chainsaw! Think how great it would feel to kill the door instead of some video game baddies. You could throw an axe into the mix for variety too.

[Bungleau]

Called a door company this morning, and it looks like it should be less than $200 to get the spring and both cables replaced. Even though the other one didn't snap, it's just as old... nothing to be gained by not swapping it out now.

I've replaced our bottom gasket a couple of times. We've got chipmunks around here that like to chew through it to get to the nice warm garage during the winter... !#$%!#$% rats.... [img]graemlins/madhell.gif[/img]

LOL @ the chainsaw, Chewey! If the door were not in good shape, I'd do it... but it's fine. It's just the pieces that need to go.

[Mack_Attack]

Bung that ccomment about the rats had me rollin on the floor. Must be early here.

Dam garage doors. Sounds like it is under control. And props to taking the kids. I usally end up crying on the floor then my wife walks in and all is good again. I am the first person to admit being a stay at home mom is the hardest job out there. But the most rewarding in the long run.

[Cloudbringer]

Ouch.. I know it's a pain when things don't work around the house and even more so when they need replacing. I'm wishing I knew a good roofer, electrician and plumber most of the time.

Glad the garage door isn't going to be too pricey and I hope it's one of those 'Call them, they come and fix it, you pay, they leave, it works fine' deals!

Want some treerats? We've got those and cottontails in abundance here... one or the other ate the tops of 2/3 of my lilies, the @$#%$#@!#$! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 07-11-2006, 02:55 PM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

[Micah Foehammer]

Originally posted by Bungleau: Called a door company this morning, and it looks like it should be less than $200 to get the spring and both cables replaced. Even though the other one didn't snap, it's just as old... nothing to be gained by not swapping it out now. I've replaced our bottom gasket a couple of times. We've got chipmunks around here that like to chew through it to get to the nice warm garage during the winter... !#$%!#$% rats.... [img]graemlins/madhell.gif[/img] LOL @ the chainsaw, Chewey! If the door were not in good shape, I'd do it... but it's fine. It's just the pieces that need to go.

You might consider getting an aluminum door replacement. They're light weight and easy to open even IF the springs snap. Not cheap though - single door would run around 800$ but that's with the automatic opener.

[Bungleau]

Replacing the door is a possibility... just not right now. We've got other areas where we want to spend money [img]smile.gif[/img]

When that time comes, I'll investigate aluminum doors. One thing I'll need to look at... insulation ability. Being up here in Michigan, and with the garage attached, I need to make sure I know what the tradeoffs are. I don't want to heat the garage and the outside world during the winter, but I also don't want to have to heat the inside more because the outside is cooling us down too much.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow... and perhaps I'll be told we need a new door and opener anyway [img]smile.gif[/img]