A garage door replacement is never as simple a job as it looks. For one, a garage door is a lot heavier than you think. Most of them are made of aluminum or lightweight steel, but if you have ever had to manually open a garage door, you know that even aluminum can be heavy. When your contractor arrives to remove the old garage door and install the new one, here are all of the tertiary things that need to be removed along with the door itself. 

Hinges

Some garage doors have hinges. It just depends on how the door opens and closes and how old the style of door. Your contractor will check out all of the components of your garage door to see if there are hinges involved, and then remove the hinges to get started. If there are no hinges, then the contractor moves on to springs. 

Springs

A lot of garage doors have springs because it is the springs that allow the doors to open and close softly and without very loud "BANGS!". If the problem with the door is the springs, then all the more reason to remove the springs in the course of replacing the garage door. The door does have to be in the closed position before the springs can be removed so that the door does not slide all the way down and land on someone's head by accident. 

Cables

Cables are used to help hoist the door up and back. If you have your door attached to a garage door opener, then you definitely have some sort of cable and pulley system. All cables have to be disconnected and removed as well before the door can be taken out. 

Door Guide Hardware

Some garage doors also have guide systems for casters along the edges of the doors. These systems may only be left in place if the new garage door can make use of them. Otherwise, the guides will have to be removed and recycled for metal scrap. The old garage door will easily and quickly fall away when the guides are removed, so be prepared to see the door collapse when the guides are no longer present. 

Wiring

If there is electrical wiring involved on the garage door, it has to be disconnected. Disconnecting the wiring prevents accidental electrocution. Your contractor will find these connections and turn them off before starting the job. 

To learn more, contact a garage door replacement professional.