Most garage door faults in London, Ontario show up as one of eight symptoms, and the table below pairs each with its usual cause and the London page that deals with it. The month is a second clue. London averages roughly 80 days a year when the temperature crosses zero, and those days bring their own set of calls. The London branch handles all of them from 1003 Farnham Rd in Westmount, where customers are seen by arrangement. Call (226) 270-9715.
| What the door does | Usual cause | London page |
|---|---|---|
| A loud bang, then the door is too heavy to lift | Broken torsion spring | Spring repair in London |
| Hangs crooked, one corner low, a roller out | Cable off its drum, or a roller out of the track | Off track in London |
| Starts down, then goes back up with the light blinking | Photo eyes blocked or out of line | Sensor repair in London |
| Motor hums or runs and the door sits still | Stripped gear kit, or the trolley let go | Opener repair in London |
| Nothing moves, by button or by hand | Frozen seal, packed snow, or a spring | Stuck doors in London |
| One worn piece: a torn seal, a cracked roller, a lost remote | A part at the end of its life | Parts in London |
| Rust through the bottom section, creased panels | The door itself is finished | Replacement in London |
| Louder, shakier and slower than last year | Wear, not yet a failure | A service visit |
If two rows fit, leave the opener switched off until the door has been looked at. Running it against a broken spring is how a gear kit gets stripped.
January and February: cold that stays
At the London airport station the temperature never gets above zero on 57.4 days of an average year, 19.3 of them in January, by Environment Canada's 1991 to 2020 normals. Grease that was fine in October goes stiff, and the opener hauls a door that is harder to move on every cycle. The first symptom is a door that runs slow and loud. The last is a bang on a cold morning, which is a spring, and the London spring page sets out what wears one down.
March: thaw by day, freeze by night
The same normals put the low at or below zero on 24.7 March nights, and the high stays at or below zero on only 7.4 March days. Take one from the other and roughly 17 March days go both ways, more than any other month; December is next at about 14. That is the pattern that glues a door to its slab. Meltwater runs under the bottom seal in the afternoon, sets overnight, and a door that opened at five in the evening is held fast at seven the next morning.
The opener either stalls with its light flashing or pulls until the seal tears off the retainer. Freeing it safely is the first section of opener repair in London. A seal that is already flattened or split lets in more water each week, and a new one is a parts job. If the slab itself has heaved along the door line, the fix is at the floor, covered on installation in London.
Slush has a second target in March: the photo eyes, about six inches off the floor. When a door reverses only on thaw days, check the eyes for slush and water before booking sensor repair in London.
Spring and summer: the season to catch wear
From May to September the normals record almost no nights below zero, so a problem in those months is rarely the weather. A roller that grinds or a door that shudders at the halfway point is wear, and it costs least to deal with now. A replacement booked in July also means the wall stands open with no snow against the slab. The one summer exception is an opener that goes dead after a thunderstorm, which opener repair in London covers.
October: before the first frost
Nights at or below freezing come back in October, 3.8 of them on average, then 15.7 in November. Fix the split seal and the noisy roller in October, before either turns into a January call. A service visit from the London branch covers the springs, cables, rollers and hinges, the balance, and the safety reverse, in one trip.
Call (226) 270-9715 or use the contact form. Say what the door did, and whether it moves by hand with the red cord pulled.
Everything we do in London · Garage door problems: what the job involves
London branch
- London
- The van leaves from
- 1003 Farnham Rd, London, ON, N6K 1S3
- Phone
- Brands installed and serviced
- Garaga, Amarr, Stanley, LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Genie
Related
Everything else we repair and install
Every one below has a page of its own, written the same way this one was.
Garage door spring repair in London, Ontario
Broken garage door springs? We replace torsion and extension springs safely and professionally to get your garage door working properly again.
Garage door safety sensor repair in London, Ontario
Garage door sensor repair: the door starts down and reverses, or the opener light blinks. What the photo eyes are telling you, and when it is only alignment.
Garage door off track in London, Ontario
Garage door off track or not moving properly? Protech can safely realign the door, repair damaged tracks, replace rollers and get it running smoothly again.
Garage door parts in London, Ontario
Springs, cables, drums, rollers, hinges, brackets, seals and opener parts. What is on the truck, what is matched to the door, and what is not a DIY part.
Stuck garage door in London, Ontario
A door that will not move, or stops halfway. The check order that tells you whether it is the opener, the springs, the track or ice, before anyone touches it.
Garage doors in London, Ontario
Steel, aluminium and glass, wood and composite garage doors from Garaga, Amarr and Stanley. What the material, the layers and the insulation actually change.
Garage door installation in London, Ontario
Headroom, backroom and track type decide which doors will fit an opening. What an installation involves, and why the springs are sized to the new door.
Garage door replacement in London, Ontario
Panel damage, rust at the bottom section, repeated failures and an uninsulated door on a heated garage. The four cases where replacing beats another repair.
Residential garage doors in London, Ontario
Raised panel, carriage, flush contemporary and full-view residential garage doors. How the style, the windows and the hardware change the front of a house.
Asked before booking garage door problems
Answered for London, on the number this branch answers.
The door froze shut this morning after working fine yesterday. Will it keep happening?
On every night after a thaw, until the water stops reaching the seal. Keep snow and slush swept away from the bottom of the door in the afternoon, and do not press the button while the bottom is stuck. If it happens every week, look at the seal first: a flattened or torn one lets meltwater straight under the door.
The spring broke and the opener sounds wrong too. Which is fixed first?
The spring. With a spring broken the opener is trying to lift the whole weight of the door, so testing it then tells you nothing and can strip its gear. Once the door is balanced again, the opener gets checked on its own.
Our door is as old as the house, from the 1970s. Repair or replace?
It depends on the fault. A spring, a cable or a roller on a door whose sections are straight and sound is a repair. Rust through the bottom section, or panels creased across their width, is where [replacement in London](/london/garage-door-replacement/) becomes the better spend.
Talk to Protech Garage Doors today
Call (226) 270-9715, or email info@protechgarage.ca for a new-door quote with no rush.