DIY garage door install?

Has anyone ever installed a garage door themselves before?

My shop has a sliding garage door as you'd find on a barn. I want to replace it with a regular powered overhead door. They don't look very complicated but I'm not sure where to buy parts and the torsion spring scares me a little bit.

Any tips?

I've put up several of them and it's not particularly difficult, they come with directions. The big thing is the torsion spring - be careful when tensioning them, but as long as you use care and the proper tools it should be uneventful.

Torsion springs scare the crap out of me. best $50 bucks to have a pro wind them for me.
I was inside the garage when one broke. Spring slapped the side supports no less then 6 times.

You can also look into the low profile roll up doors.

I bought my stuff from DDM Garage Doors. They also have great online tutorials and videos.

http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/

I've done a few like Datsun1500 described. Not difficult. As far as assembling it, you just stack the sections from the bottom up.

My door has two tension springs. Very easy to adjust if needed. Putting up the track is the picky part and getting it "square". Are you using a one piece door of a multi panel ? Going to have an opener ? Really the spring is the least of your worries.

FWIW, my current house has extension springs. I think the torsion are easier to work with.

i've done them all. none are hard, but the cheapest home depot quality doors are not the easiest because the tracks are so flimsy that they flex when the door is on the way up. they need more brackets added in the middle of the horizontal track.

torsion springs not horrible. just go get a couple pieces of 3 foot long 1/2" round bar stock for levers. the ones with the little screw that you just put a drill onto are cool too. extension springs blow

benmarc, do you have a link to your new canoe ?

-J0N

That's a quality bot, though, you gotta admit.

Yep