Common garage door problems and what causes them

Find the symptom below, and the page that deals with it properly is named beside it.

A bang, and now the door will not lift

A spring. The door has not got heavier; the counterbalance is gone. Do not run the opener against it, because that is how the gear kit strips. The spring repair page covers torsion against extension, why they are replaced in pairs, and why the wire size, the drum and the cable length all have to match the door.

The door hangs crooked, or binds partway up

A roller out of the track, or a cable off its drum. The off-track page covers what causes it, why forcing it makes it worse, and what putting it back properly involves.

The door starts down and goes straight back up

The photo-eye pair near the floor, or the down force on the opener. The safety sensor page covers reading the LEDs, the three things that are usually wrong, and how to tell when it has stopped being the sensors and become the opener.

The motor runs but the door stays put

Usually a stripped gear kit in the motor head, sometimes a trolley that has come off the carriage. The opener repair page covers what fails inside an opener and what is worth replacing.

The door will not move at all

Could be either half of the system. The stuck door page has the check order that separates a door fault from an opener fault in about five minutes, starting with the release cord and a manual lift.

Noise, shaking and a door that has got slower

That is wear rather than failure: dry or flat-spotted rollers, loose hinges and brackets, and springs that have lost a little tension. It is the stage where a service visit is cheap. Left alone it becomes one of the faults above.

CMHC's maintenance calendar for homeowners lists lubricating the garage door motor and chain as an every-year task, next to oiling the door hinges.

It only happens in winter

Cold stiffens steel springs and thickens old grease, so a door that was fine in September drags in January and the opener works harder against it. A bottom seal frozen to the slab will stop a door dead. Both are covered on the stuck door page.

Where we do this

Ottawa: Ottawa, Ontario (613) 845-9950
Mississauga: Mississauga, Ontario (289) 975-9045
London: London, Ontario (226) 270-9715
Brands installed and serviced: Garaga, Amarr, Stanley, LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Genie

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Garage door problems: what people ask

Short answers on what usually breaks, what a visit involves and what it costs to put right.

What is the most common problem with garage doors?

Broken torsion springs, then cables and rollers. All three are wear parts with a cycle life, and a door that opens and closes several times a day is spending that life whether anything looks wrong or not.

Is a noisy garage door a problem or just annoying?

It is usually the early stage of a real fault. Rattling is loose hardware, grinding is a dry or seized roller, and a bang or a pop on the way up is often a spring or a hinge. Noise is the cheapest moment to deal with any of them.

How often should a garage door be serviced?

Once a year is the normal interval for a residential door, and more often for one that runs many cycles a day. A service is an inspection of the springs, cables, rollers, hinges and brackets, a rebalance, a lubrication, and a test of the safety reverse, which is the item most likely to have drifted out of adjustment without anyone noticing.