You may be frustrated that your garage door isn’t closing, possibly adding yet another costly repair to your list. Fortunately, most problems with your garage door are easy fixes. For assistance, contact the best garage door repair professionals in Orange County.
We’ve provided this list to first address the simpler issues preventing your garage door from closing, followed by problems that may require more serious attention.
Issues You Can Fix on Your Own
There’s Something Blocking Your Door
It could be rocks, dirt, or even one of your child’s toys blocking your door’s path. Any of these items will keep the door from fully closing and cause it to reopen any time you try to close it.
Your Sensors Are Blocked
Small sensors called photo eyes are placed on both sides of your garage door, sending signals back and forth when the door moves. This signal could be interrupted by a dirty lens or an item physically blocking the signal’s path. The door will not close properly if the signal is blocked.
If the sensors are dirty, simply wipe them clean with a napkin or alcohol wipe if necessary. Occasionally, a glare of light could block the sensors. Move anything that could be blocking your signal and try to close the door again.
Your Sensors Are Misaligned
It’s pretty easy to tell if your sensors aren’t lined up correctly. The sensors should face each other to send signals, and the sensors will emit a steady light. If they are misaligned, the lights will blink. You may have to move the sensors back into place until the lights stop blinking.
When You Should Call a Professional
If you find that none of these issues apply to you, you may be dealing with an uneven or unbalanced door. If this is the case, you should address this as soon as possible before you encounter any irreparable damages to your garage door. If your garage door is off track in any way, it’s best to have a professional look into it.
For your safety and the safety of others, you should never attempt to repair your garage door on your own. The garage door springs hold a lot of potential energy to lift the door. The average garage door may appear light, but the typical garage door weighs hundreds of pounds. If you attempt to work on the door while it’s open, you’ll have a very dangerous object hanging over your head.
Aside from the potential of the heavy door falling on you, there could be some electrical parts that should not be tampered with by untrained individuals. Our technicians at Garage Door Medics are trained to navigate this equipment while mitigating any risk of injury to themselves and to you. Contact us to have a professional repair your garage door for you.
Detecting an Uneven Door
If your door is uneven or unbalanced, you may notice any of the following signs when you attempt to open or close the door:
- The door is slanted or sagging when fully open
- The door springs make unusual sounds when moving
- The door takes a long time to open or close
- The door will not open at all
You can perform a balance test on your own to determine whether or not you’ll need professional help.
You should perform the following steps periodically to test your garage door:
- Close the door
- Remove the door from its opener by pulling the manual release rope.
- Manually lift the door halfway and slowly release. It should stay in place.
- Reattach the opener
This test requires no tools and will allow you to see where your door is off balance.
Possible Reasons Your Garage Door Is Uneven
The Springs Need Attention
The garage door uses overhead springs to support its weight. When you hit open or close on your door switch, the springs wind or unwind to pull the garage door along its tracks. If the garage door is unbalanced, the overhead springs may be providing too little or too much tension to balance the heavy weight of the door.
It’s possible one of the springs is broken. If this is the case, you should contact a professional to replace your door springs before this leads to a more expensive repair.
A Cable Is Damaged
The door springs usually work with electric cables to open and close the door. It’s possible that one of the cables is frayed or worn out. If one of these cables is loose or snapped, the lack of support could cause the garage door to be uneven on one end.
Sometimes, cables and springs will break at around the same time, so if you notice damage to one, it’s best to have the other inspected as well. Call a technician to have these parts replaced as soon as you notice any issues.
An Issue with Your Tracks or Rollers
There are many moving parts to your doors, so, unfortunately, there are multiple opportunities for a malfunction.
Your tracks are the path that the garage door travels along, and the rollers spin along the tracks to help move the door. If you notice your door is crooked, it’s possible the rollers that move the door have jumped their tracks. If this happens, you will likely see the door struggling to open and close properly if it’s able to do so at all.
If the rollers manage to jump the tracks completely, the door is unlikely to open or close all the way. You are also probably dealing with a roller or track issue if the door pulls more to one side when opening. You should have a professional technician see to this before the door falls too far off its tracks.
Garage Door Medics is available to help you learn how to replace garage door bottom seals to help prevent some of the simpler issues that throw your garage door off track.
Call Garage Door Medics today at (888)-997-2423 for quick, reliable garage door repair service in Orange County, CA.
