Rites of Spring (Part One)

I have had bad experiences with garage doors.

As a youngster I unwittingly stood too close to the concrete counterweight on the manually operated up and over door at my childhood home. I seem to recall that I should not have been messing about with the garage door anyway but having been brought up in the Thunderbirds TV culture the opening and closing of a door was exciting and always accompanied by a rendition of the theme tune from that series.

As the door slammed shut the pendulum shaped concrete bulk shot down onto my foot. It was very painful at the time and as the bruised and battered toenail shrivelled, died and fell off over the course of a few days following I had a persistent reminder of my larking about.

Just this week I had cause to remember that incident as the large double sized doors to the integral garage at my own grown up house developed a problem and refused to open more than stooping height.

I was understandably cautious to investigate the cause given my traumatic experience in the past.

Technology where garage doors are involved has not progressed much really in 40 years, compared to other everyday domestic aids. There may be remote control and powered systems on the market but the principle remains the same; the door opens and shuts.

I flicked the switch for the motor to stir into action and the heavy metal sheet door stuttered down from its pathetic attempt at opening. Pressed a second time the mechanism took up the strain but the usual smooth motion was awkward and within a couple of seconds the door stuck again.

I approached to investigate, fearful that something would happen to threaten my appendages,by edging slowly, crab like and attempting some protection to head, torso and genitals or as much as two hands can.

The problem appeared to be on the inner right hand operating arm.

It consists of a pivoting metal plate that moves in sympathy with the attachment to the back of the door itself. That alone is not enough to provide resistance to the opening and closing process. My youthful folly was with that concrete counterweight. I had, some four decades later, inherited a spring loaded version, a very tightly coiled green enamelled spring, as fierce and intimidating as any historic concrete thing could be.

It was however dead.

I mean that it was hanging down loose and totally useless as the looped connection to the operating arm had snapped off. Such is the tension in the spring that this failure must have been very audible, not to mention violent. I could see no trace of the missing part either on the garage floor or more likely, embedded like a bullet in the masonry or ceiling.

The previous owners of the house must have suspected that this would occur and had kindly left a brand new, replacement spring hanging up on the wall. This had mystified me at the time of purchase but made sense now.

It took some time to unscrew the fixing of the bottom of the spring to the garage door frame. This formed a critical anchor point for the mechanism and consisted of a threaded bolt with nut and washers. When coaxed free using a spanner and pair of pliers, allowing me to hold aloft the damaged coil, I saw that the fixing was not physically attached but just wedged into the inside of the spring. It was firmly embedded and could not be moved, even with manipulation of the coil like one of those Bullworker power and body building aids of the 1980's. I could not salvage it for re-use with the new spring.

I am not known for my logical thinking but decided to see what the arrangement was at the other side of the door.

It was different. There was a longer length of spring but with a distinctive bolt and round eye securing it to a mounting bracket on the frame. I took a photo of it to remind me of what to look for when I got to the DIY store later on in the day.

The door would have to remain  inactive. As a family we had to go out of the front door and walk the long way around the terraced block to reach the car before leaving for work.

I was by now quite tired and poorly prepared, mentally and physically for what would be required in the next few hours to seek out what would no doubt be a rare and elusive bit of hardware.

(To be continued)