Basement door struts and hinge blocks.

[Thomas James]

Hey guys, I had an issue before with one of my basement doors actually falling off as I lifted it up. So, I now have those "blocks" that install up in the c channel. Now, from what I've been reading here, there is one black centering block and two white ones??? Well, I ordered 12 of them and they're all one color-Black. I guess they're all the same? Anyway, I was just wondering. And the gas struts - I Know this ain't rocket science, but I am having a bear of a time just compressing them, then holding it that way so I can install it. Am I not doin it right or something?? Thanks in advance for any help.

[Carl Boger]

I can not give an answer about the blocks, but the struts are under a good bit of pressure.  You can open the doors as far as possible and have someone hold them or block them up in that position and install one end of the strut, but you will have to force the other end of the strut to compress enough to get it to clip on the ball

[Darell T Hostland]

I had a door fall off as well. The welds around the hinge were broken making the hinge lose. The gas struts have to be off on one end in order to get the door back on. The door has to be up just about flat on the wall above of the opening and it will slide into the hinge rail. If the welds are cracked or broken the door will keep falling off until the hinge rails are stretched out of shape. As the door frames and hinges are aluminum they are hard to weld. I drilled holes and used 1/8" rivets. If you look at the inside of the door you can see where to put the rivets so they will not interfere with the hinges and wont be seen on the outside or damage the paint.