When your garage door isn’t working right, it’s a major inconvenience. And, while it’s tempting to save time and money by trying to fix it yourself, certain repairs can only be done by a garage door professional who has the tools and training to do it safely and correctly.
How do you know whether to do it yourself or call in a pro? Check our symptoms and solutions list below.
If your garage door won’t close all the way, there may be an issue with the photo eye, a safety feature that uses an infrared beam to prevent your garage door from closing on a person, pet or other object in its path.
If the photo eyes are misaligned or blocked, your garage door will stop closing before it reaches the floor and reverse open. The light in your garage door opener will blink on and off rapidly when this happens.
To fix it:
Ensuring that the sensors function, stay parallel to one another, and have nothing blocking them is an easy fix that takes less than five minutes and avoids an unnecessary service call.
Noisy garage doors are usually caused by worn rollers, loose hardware, or metal parts that need lubrication -- all simple fixes.
You may need to call a garage door repairman if your garage door is still making loud noises after you tighten and lubricate the metal parts.
Cleaning the exterior surface of your garage door will improve your home’s curb appeal and prolong the life of the door.
A broken garage door spring is one garage door repair that you should NEVER attempt to do yourself. Always call a professional.
The first clue that you have a broken garage door spring is often the startling sound of a loud bang coming from the garage.
When a garage door torsion spring breaks, the coil separates into two pieces leaving a gap in between that is sometimes several inches wide.
Garage door springs are wound under high tension that can release and cause injury or property damage. When they break, the spring unwinds in less than a second and creates a loud noise due to the coils spinning on the shaft.
Here are some other likely signs of a broken garage door spring:
Replacing a broken spring is a common repair and most professional garage door companies offer emergency service so your car isn’t stuck inside the garage or worse yet, buckled in the opening.
Depending on the extent of the damage, garage door spring replacement usually takes 30 minutes to an hour. A reputable dealer will show you exactly what parts need to be replaced and provide a quote prior to starting the job.