There’s nothing more frustrating than attempting to open or close your garage door only to find that it simply won’t budge. In some cases, your garage door may even open or close halfway only to get stuck in the process. The very first thing that you should do if your garage door seems to be stuck is to check the batteries in your remote. You’d be surprised at how often this is the root of the trouble. If dead batteries were not the issue, then use the following four tips to further troubleshoot your garage door.
1. Check the Garage Springs
The springs are an essential component to your garage door in that they enable the door to be lifted or lowered easily, despite its weight. If either of the springs are broken, then the door will become stuck. There are two types of garage door springs – torsion springs and extension springs. Torsion springs are located near the top of the door, whereas extension springs are located on each side of the door. If your garage door uses torsion springs, check for a gap between the springs to identify whether they are broken. If you have extension springs, look to see if a piece of the springs are hanging from the side.
If your garage door springs are broken, then they will need to be replaced. However, attempting to do the job yourself can be quite dangerous. Unless you have experience replacing garage door springs, leave the job to a specialist.
2. Inspect the Garage Door Opener Engine
If the engine of your garage door opener isn’t working properly, then your garage door probably won’t be working properly. If your garage door gets stuck and you hear a grinding sound coming from the garage door opener, then there’s a good chance that there is an issue with its engine. That issue is that the main drive gear probably needs to be replaced. The main drive gear is most common of the garage door opener’s components to fail. It is a plastic gear that takes some know-how to remove and replace, which is why you should strongly consider hiring a professional garage door repair service for this particular issue.
3. Check the Garage Sensors
Every modern garage door is built with a sensor due to a mandate passed by the government back in the 1990’s that required garage door opener manufacturers to install safety devices. To meet this mandate, most garage doors have a sensor installed on each side of the doorway. They are often referred to as photo eyes since their main function is to maintain visual contact with one another. If that visual contact is broken by an obstruction, then the garage door stops in its tracks. This is meant to prevent the garage door from closing on a vehicle – or even worse, a person.
If the sensors are malfunctioning, it can cause the garage door to get stuck. One of the sensor lights will typically begin blinking if they aren’t working properly. The first thing to check for is an obstruction in the path of your garage door. If the doorway is clear, then check to see if the sensors are properly aligned. If they are out of alignment, then they can’t see one another and their line of vision is broken. Re-aligning them should result the garage door becoming unstuck if this is the case.
4. Check the Lock Switch on the Wall Button
Almost every garage door opener wall control unit has a lock button. The lock button is sometimes referred to as the “vacation button” because it’s usually the only time that it is used. By pressing the lock button, you lock out all garage door opener remotes. The purpose in doing so is to ensure that nobody gets a hand on one of your remotes – such as the one left in your car – and using it to break in while you are away from home for an extended period of time.
Once the lock switch has been activated, you can only control the garage door via the wall control unit. You may have forgotten to de-activate it after coming home from an extended period away, which is why the garage door seems to be stuck whenever you attempt to use your remote. Check to see if this is the case and simply unlock your remotes by pressing the lock switch again.
If your garage door has become stuck, then use these four tips in order to troubleshoot. While you may be able to fix it on your own in some cases, in other cases it would be wise to hire a professional garage door repair service such as Garage Door Medics.
