5 Reasons Your Garage Isn’t Working, and How to Fix Them

Garage door problems can be a big ol’ pain in the you-know-what. If your garage door won’t open and you can’t get your car in or out, it can be a real hassle. When your garage door won’t close, it can be a security risk. If your garage door randomly falls shut, it can be incredibly dangerous. To help you figure out the culprit behind your garage door problems, here are the most common reasons why contractors are called to make garage door repairs:

1. Dead Batteries
   We aren’t trying to insult your intelligence with this suggestion. You’d be surprised how often contractors get called for garage door problems, only to find that the batteries in the transmitter need to be replaced. Even though the transmitter inside your garage is attached to the wall, it is still most likely battery operated. Before you call a garage door repairman, change out those double-A’s and see if it fixes the problem.
2. Garage Door Starts to Close and Then Stops and Reopens
   As a safety mechanism, there are sensors on either side of the door that send an invisible beam across the doorway and the door stops if anything interrupts the beam. If the photo eyes of the sensor are not directly pointing at each other, the misalignment will make it think that there is something blocking them from seeing each other and it will stop the door from closing. Otherwise, if dirt or debris gets on the lenses and the sensor can’t read what’s in front of it, it will do the same thing. Try cleaning and adjusting the photo eye sensors if you find this happening.
3. Garage Door is Having Ghost Openings
   If your garage door is opening and closing on its own, you probably find it disconcerting. This issue could be as simple as having something resting on top of your electric garage door opener, or it could be that the radio frequency of your transmitter is picking up your neighbor’s remote. In the latter example, you may need to have a repairman install a different frequency transmitter.
4. Garage Door Struggles to Open
   When you press the little button on your remote to open your garage door, it gives a little boost to the springs on either side of your door which pushes the door open until it counter-balances and gravity does the rest of the work. If your garage can’t seem to get enough traction to open all the way, it could be that one or both of the springs are worn out. Keep in mind, you want to replace both springs at the same time, even if only one is in damaged. The springs need to be precisely balanced on each side in order to work properly.
5. The Remotes and Transmitters are Working, But the Door Doesn’t Listen
   When you can tell that your garage door opener is running, but your door does not respond, it is likely that the disconnect switch is engaged. As a safety measure, all garage doors have a disconnect switch that will allows you to manually open your garage door even if the power is out. Simply find the disconnect mechanism associated with your garage door and make sure it is intact before you call a repair man.

Have you experienced any garage door issues that we didn’t mention? Please share them in the comment section below.