YIKES!

[pbray]

Yesterday's snowstorm dropped over 20 inches here--wind piled it up against the house making it even more fun. But I managed to shovel myself out, helped a neighbor with his steep stairs, and was feeling fairly proud of myself.

Came back inside and a few minutes later I heard a loud BANG from the garage. I looked in, and saw that the boxes for recycling had fallen over--they were next to where I'd put the broom back after sweeping off stairs so I assumed the broom had shifted. It didn't seem like enough to have caused that noise, but I shrugged and went back inside.

Just went to run an errand and discovered garage door will not open. Mistress of the obvious that I am it takes me a couple of moments to realize that one of the tracks is seriously broken--the steel spring is gone, the cable is snapped and the rail itself is no longer attached to anything. Amazingly the old fashioned heavy steel spring and the block it was attached to had flown across the tiny garage and bounced off far wall without hitting my car. Other bits and pieces of the system are scattered around.

Happy that my car is okay, but with only one rail, it's unlikely I'll be able to get the garage door raised and get my car out. jpsorrow promises to come over later to mock my pain try to help.

Comments

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Amazingly the old fashioned heavy steel spring and the block it was attached to had flown across the tiny garage and bounced off far wall without hitting my car.

Wow. That's just amazing nothing happened. I've been in the same room when one of the old style springs goes; I'd hate to think what it would be like if one of the new fancy torsion spring contraptions explodes.

Tell Josh that you'll play TTR if you get shoveled out. ;-)

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Lucky, then.

You might want to save the broken pieces to take into work as proof.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Whoa!
I'm glad your car's ok, at least. And that you weren't standing near any flying parts.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Honestly, if anyone had been in there at the time, they could have been seriously injured. But my luck held.

I'm offering Josh bribes of alcohol and chocolate.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Josh will be my witness, and everyone will MOCK MY PAIN.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I was incredibly lucky twice over.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

How kind of him. Just remember, once he's fixed the door, you can always (whispers)push him in a snow bank.

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if the garage settled or shifted due to the weight of the snow. Possibly that caused undue strain on the spring, causing it to snap. With all the snow we had in the Inland Northwest last year, a lot of roofs collapsed.

Not to rub it in or anything, but we are sure glad it's you guys with all the snow and not us this year. Hopefully the pattern will follow and you will have a mild and nearly snowless winter next year.
Dave

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I think more modern installations have a safety cable strung through the spring that will keep it from flying madly about the garage.
Dave

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

You can buy kits to retrofit the old style springs with a safety cable at Lowe's and The Home Depot. Of course, when my parents' spring went, they hadn't even thought it was possible. Having a spring flying around the room like that would certainly disabuse them of that idea.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

This is an old installation (20+ years), and it was obviously done by a homeowner rather than a pro. But as long as it worked, I didn't want to mess with it.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that would be scary.

One of the rails (tracks?) is completely disconnected from its supports and the cross-braces also failed, so I think I'm looking at new structure not just new springs. Alas.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Josh helped me get my car out AND he brought me cookies! I can't push him in a snow bank...

well not today.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Parts of the support structure also failed, so not sure if it was the house settling or moving a bit with the snow, though honestly we've had much worse storms since I've lived here. Or it could just have been a really crummy installation-- jpsorrow looked at the remaining bits and agreed that it's amazing it lasted as long as it did.

[katatomic.livejournal.com]

Why am I suddenly envisioning you, knee deep in snow, wearing a ridiculous antebellum dress and shaking your fist at the garage shouting "As JOSH is my witness, I'll never go carless agin!"?

I guess it's just me....

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

No, not after he brought cookies.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Not so much Scarlett O'Hara, more John McClane. Friends gave 50/50 odds that if we couldn't get the door up I'd just drive right through it, and deal with the resultant mess afterwards.