Single Garage Door - Spring Mount Broken
Hi all,
I have a carport + single garage J&E Eichler model, moved in 7 months ago. This is a garage door that opens vertically as a single piece, the original hardware, retrofitted with an automatic opener.
Couple of weeks ago, one of the spring mounts "let go" while trying to open the door (with an extremely loud thwack!), and now the door no longer really wants to open.
I finally had a garage door person show up this morning, and they tell me, "OK, the new homeowner's insurance will cash you out on the insured repair, sorry I can't do anything, this door isn't up to code, these parts are no longer made." That's it? I asked, "So can't we just get some new hardware so that I can keep my door?" "No sir, it's not up to code."
I have nightmares of the abosutely horrific garage door replacements I see on several Eichlers. This guy tells me, "yeah, given the clearance here, we'll need a rail with a sharp 3" radius bend which means you'll probably need 5 sections instead of 4." All I can think is, "I love this door the way it is, can't I just get it fixed?"
Any recommendations appreciated. I read on this site one article where modern-era garage doors can be faced with Eichler siding, but is there anything I can do to save the current door with new hardware and meet code requirements? I'm in San Jose.
Regards,
RobL
I have gone to OSH and bought a new spring with mounts and fixed it myself. They say you should replace both springs at the same time but I did not and so far I can't tell. In fact I forgot about it until I saw your post. I bet you could find a handymand to do that for you if you can't do it yourself.
-- Ralph
An update, for the record:
First of all, the only one-piece tilt-up door hardware that I could find available in the USA is the Holmes E900 kit. http://www.industrialspring.com/documents/One-piece-garage-door.pdf
Then, I found this ServiceMagic website, http://www.servicemagic.com, and decided to submit a request for service for one-piece tilt-up garage doors.
1 minute after I hit "Enter", two companies called me back, DoorMart (I think... communications pretty garbled) and a very local outfit called Heritage Overhead Doors (a new company, by the looks of it). Neither had read the "one-piece tilt-up door" requirement, but I explained it over the phone. It being Friday 6 pm, DoorMart said they'd call me back Monday (still waiting), Heritage were in general more responsive and hungry. The Heritage guys came by this morning, they had the E900 kit in the truck, which was great (I hadn't told them about the exact hardware requirements). The head guy tried to sell me on a new door, on his second attempt I looked at him and told him, "This is the door I want [pointing to existing door]- please take the hardware installation job or leave it." He understood. They are installing as I write this.
Now, the E900 system is _not_ like the original Eichler door hardware. The only Eichler-comparable hardware I found was on an Australian website. There is no rail, all the guts sit on either side of the door. You lose the rails - a plus for me - but you lose the very low profile side springs. As a result, you have a rather gangly-looking hardware mess on either side of the door.
So this is hopfeully the end of this particular episode. I'll report on the installation result once I get home this evening.
