This is one of those days.

[Redneck in training]

Bad things come in threes. Just walked in the house, sat down to check on TBN when whole house shook like something exploded. So I run to the garage. Nothing obvious there. I run in the shop. Nothing obvious there. While returning back in the house the walk in garage door was locked. When I used the remote keypad for the big garage door, the door didn't go up and I heard opener V belt squealing inside. Fortunately the patio door was open so I got to the garage trough the house and stopped the garage opener. One of the large coil springs that balance weight of the door broke. The problem is that the door weights a lot (is 36ft wide) and there is no way we could lift it by hand so we can't get cars out of the garage.
We spilled popcorn on our sofa. When vacuuming it the whole house vacuum digested a sock hidden between the cushions and it got stuck somewhere in the piping. I tried to dislodge it by blowing air backwards by shop vac. It would move the sock back somewhat making the vacuum work for few seconds and then the sock would get stuck again. So tomorrow I will cut the pipe between suspected elbows in the attic and use drain sneak to clean it. I think I still have one of the coupling somewhere in the junk pile in the shop.
What will be the third disaster I will know tomorrow. Hopefully I will not fall through the ceiling while cleaning the vac.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Thank goodness nothing got hit by that garage spring! If you luck is anything like mine, if it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all!

 

[stuckmotor]

Mama said there'd be days like this. I'm glad no one was hurt.

 

[oosik]

When you have lucky days like that - you just know you won't get hurt. The Gods want to be sure you are around to make it all right again.

Years ago - I was sucking ashes out of our wood stove with the wife's expensive Electrolux vacuum. I had waited 24 hours for all to cool down but it wasn't quite long enough. The wife let our a scream - I looked back and that uber expensive vacuum looked just like a jet engine when the afterburner kicks in. She enjoyed shopping for a new vacuum.

 

[Thomas]

Bright side having the spring break now instead of dead of winter.

 

[Redneck in training]

Bright side having the spring break now instead of dead of winter.

That exactly what my wife said. She said I should park one of our cars in the shop just for the case.


Here is the offending spring. For size reference the ribs on the ceiling are one foot apart.

 

[Mendonsy]

Yep, that spring has definitely sprung!!
I had the same thing happen to my FIL's garage door a few years back. It was a real PAIN to replace it!

 

[BKBoiss]

Yikes. It's a good thing that didn't happen when someone was in there. My brother in law and my little sister had just bought their first house with a little detached garage. Goes in there one day and the place is destroyed. Turns out it had one of those doors that lifted as one slab and tilted back and up with two huge springs on either side pulling up. Well one of the mounts pulled out at the top and that " snake " put up a death fight in there.

 

[dickfoster]

That exactly what my wife said. She said I should park one of our cars in the shop just for the case.

View attachment 485917
Here is the offending spring. For size reference the ribs on the ceiling are one foot apart.

Seems to me you could use a farm jack or something to get the door up a bit. Once you can get under it you should be able to use something to get it the rest of the way up, your front loader maybe.

 

[CobyRupert]

Seems to me you could use a farm jack or something to get the door up a bit. Once you can get under it you should be able to use something to get it the rest of the way up, your front loader maybe.

The "door" get lighter the more you lift it (i.e. you lift less door the more you lift).

The cable connected to mine broke a couple months ago, taking out the safety cable inside the spring that is suppose to prevent it from flying across the garage. Luckily it went flying the other way and didn't smash in my head. Literally.

THERE'S SOME SERIOUS ENERGY LURKING ABOVE!

The safety police are always so outraged if somebody disconnects the seat switch, gives their child a ride on the lawn mower or drills a hole in their ROPS to mount lights, but NOBODY ever worries about this loaded weapon 18" above their head that they walk under every day.