Hey guys, I'm new to the board here. I've been contemplating building a garage for quite some time now, but the cost of doing so is more than my budget will allow. I was looking at my home on the way up the driveway this afternoon and it hit me. I have a full unfinished basement with a perfect spot for a garage door. My house/basement is 28' x 40'. The wall in which I want to put the garage door is a 40' wall with an access door opening 13 blocks (8" x 12") from the inside corner. I haven't had a chance to measure, but roughly 13.3 or so feet from the inside corner, 13.8 ft from the outside corner to the edge of the door opening. There is currently a small window in between the door and the corner. There's a 2nd level deck on the other side of the door, so putting it on the other side is out of the question. Anyway, I wanted to put in a 9' x 7' garage door in the space I described above. By the way, the wall is 11 full blocks tall with approx. 3" of block on sticking out of the floor on the first row. Once again, I haven't measured...I would estimate the height of the celing to be about 8.5-9 feet...the thought just struck me and I thought I'd see if this would work before I got too far into the project. I have one true concern and a couple questions.. First of all, with this being load bearing wall, will I be able to cut a door opening large enough to accomodate a 9' x 7' garage door? (8' x 7' will work but I'd prefer to go with 9 x 7). I mean, is there any way I can brace the upper row of blocks with metal or a piece of 2x8 or 2x10 lumber? Now assuming this will work, will I be able to remove most of the blocks with a masonary blade on a circular saw? If not, what tools would be recommended? Also, for a 9x7 door, how large would the opening need to be in order to build the frame? I haven't much experience in this kinda thing, but I'm a quick learner and can do anything I set my mind to...paying somebody else to do it is not an option. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time and I truly will appreciate any replies. Paul

Heard an awful noise in the garage. The spring on the torsion bar broke-the actual spring itself. While the opener seems to work, I lost all tension for opening the door. I have installed both garage doors and openers and know the torsion bar can be dangerous to work on. But I need to know if I can get just the torsion bar and spring as a kit. Any ideas, comments, or recommendations for me out there? Car is stuck in the garage until I can get some help raising it, and then replacing this unit...