A Quick Guide To Garage Door Removal

Whether you're actually replacing your garage door or making way for more living space, one of the first tasks you'll face involves removing your old garage door. Fortunately, the job isn't as difficult as you'd expect, but it does require a little patience, a bit of expertise and plenty of safety precautions. The following shows how you can safely and successfully remove your garage door.

Disconnecting The Garage Door Opener

If your garage door happens to be controlled by an electric garage door opener, then you'll have to disconnect and remove it before proceeding. Before you start, make sure the garage door is in the closed position.

First, unplug the garage door opener from its wall outlet and then disconnect the wiring leading to the garage door opener switch. Next, disconnect the control arm from the door. At this point, you can either remove the opener in its entirety (if you don't need a garage door anymore) or leave it in place (if you're replacing the door).

Removing The Garage Door Springs

The next step in the process involves removing the garage door springs. Most garage doors use extension springs that are located above the upper tracks on each side of the door. Using the garage door's manual safety release, open the garage door and have a helper attach a C-clamp to the tracks on each side of the door. This will help hold the door open after the springs have been removed.

Use zip-ties to tie each spring to its track. At this point, you can go ahead and carefully disconnect the extension spring from the back of the garage door rail. Use a pair of pliers to disconnect the lift cable from the door rail closest to the garage door. Now you can remove the support cables and the extension springs from the garage door.

Removing The Garage Door

Now with the springs gone, it's now time to remove the door itself. Place a piece of wood underneath the door landing to prevent it from closing all the way, then have a helper or two hold the door in position as you remove the C-clamps. Afterwards, you can carefully lower the garage door.

Now you can set about disassembling the brackets holding both the door sections and roller hinges together, starting with the top section and working your way downwards. On most garage doors, the panels will come apart in sections and you can just set each section aside as you work on the next panel.

At this point, it's up to you whether you want to completely transform your garage area into another living space or simply replace the garage door itself. If you plan on completely replacing your garage door with a patio door or a wall, then chances are you won't need the door tracks or trim anymore. You can simply remove these with a pry bar and hammer. Afterwards, the wall frame and curb should be exposed.

What If Your Garage Door Has Torsion Springs?

Torsion springs are a different type of spring mechanism commonly used to help lift and lower garage doors. The main difference between these springs and the extension springs commonly used on other garage doors is that torsion springs are always under constant tension. This makes torsion springs much more difficult and dangerous to remove than a typical extension spring.

Given the potential for serious injury, it's usually best to leave torsion spring removal to the professionals. If you have no choice but to remove them on your own, it's important to exercise plenty of caution and to carefully follow instructions when dealing with these types of springs.

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