Is your garage door broken? Before you call a repairman that’ll cost a ton, troubleshoot these 7 common issues garage door issues.
Always ensure that you take the proper safety precautions before proceeding, garage doors can be dangerous if not taken seriously.
If you’re ready, let’s fix your garage door.
7 Ways to Fix a Broken Garage Door
Before you work on or around your garage door, you need to turn your garage door on manual mode. You want to make sure that you’re safe while troubleshooting and the door won’t come slamming down on you.
1. Garage Door Opens and Closes
If you have transitioned from hot weather to cold weather, you may have found that your garage door stops and reopens. What’s happening is that your door was calibrated to work when the grease/lubricant was soft and the cold weather has made the lubricant on your garage door not be as effective.
How to Fix
You’re going to need to adjust the limit switch on the back of your opener. If the garage door makes it all the way to the floor and then reverses, you need to decrease the down travel limit setting.
If it stops above the floor, then you need to increase the down travel limit switch. Make small adjustments until your garage door is working again. Garage doors are all different, so find what works for you.
2. Garage Door Opens by Itself
Swear you closed the garage door after leaving the house only to come back to see it open? You’re probably not going crazy, it’s likely your neighbors or your garage’s opener is malfunctioning as it’s connected to both garage doors.
How to Fix
You can try resetting and programming your door opener. Your neighbor may have programmed their garage door at the same time as you, making their remote open your door.
If that doesn’t work, then your garage door opener might be malfunctioning and requires repair.
3. Garage Door Won’t Close All the Way
If the sensors are misaligned or are obstructed by anything, your garage won’t close. You’ll be able to diagnose this by seeing if the sensor lights are off, dim or flickering. Solid green lights on the sensors mean that they’re aligned.
How to Fix
Adjust the photoeye sensors until you see a solid green light on both. Take off the lugnut and move the garage door sensor around until you see it making a connection again.
Also, check if anything obstructing the path like leaves or toys that are lying around. If the sensors are in direct sunlight, this can also cause them to malfunction.
4. Broken/loose Garage door cable
If your door is making more noise than usual, it may be that the cables are on their last legs. You can inspect your garage door and see if it’s sagging to one side. That would indicate that the cables are frayed.
How to Fix
It’s best to leave this up to the professionals if you don’t know how to fix the cables already. It can be dangerous if the garage door isn’t secured properly and comes crashing down. Garage doors are tricky, and require some finesse to service properly (especially cable repair)
5. Broken/worn out Garage Door Rollers
Garage door rollers help your garage door to stay on track. If they are old, they can become noisy and start to become misaligned on the track. They normally last for around 10 years depending on the brand.
How to Fix
You can replace your own garage door rollers with ease. If you’re uneasy about doing the replacement yourself, you can call a repairman that’s comfortable working with garage door openers.
6. Broken Opener
The nylon gear on your garage door opener wears down over the years, causing the garage door opener to cease working. The logic board can also break over the years, causing the garage door to stop working.
How to Fix
It’s best to call up a garage door technician to take a look at your garage door opener. Garage door openers are not that expensive these days either, so consider replacing your entire unit if it’s less expensive than a repair.
7. Broken or Misaligned Garage Door Spring
If the torsion spring is unbalanced, then it will cause your garage door to be crooked or it’ll shift on its own. You can test to see if your garage door’s spring is unbalanced by putting your garage door in manual mode and then lift it to the halfway point. If it slams to the ground when you let go, then the springs are unbalanced.
Also, take a look and identify which spring system your garage door is using. Check for any damage as it can cause a broken garage door.
How to Fix
Your garage springs will need to be adjusted or replaced. Considering this is a dangerous job, you may have to call a professional to take a look at it. A broken spring can be dangerous, so it’s best not to take any risks.
Final Words
You should be able to pinpoint what the problem is with your broken door. It can be frustrating when your garage door isn’t working, but by taking the proper steps you’ll have saved a chunk of change.
If you haven’t fixed the issue, then you may want to look into a garage door repair technician to help fix your issue. Garage doors can be tricky to service, and if you aren’t sure what you’re doing, it’s best to leave it to garage door experts.
Common garage door problems can be annoying, but with the right know how, you’ll get your issue fixed in a jiffy.
