Urgent Garage Door Repairs: What Homeowners Need to Know

Your garage door is a large, heavy moving structure that protects your home. When it fails, you could be an emergency situation. In Orange County, (with our coastal humidity and active lifestyle), the urgent issues we see most often are broken springs, failed openers, broken cables, off-track doors, and non-moving doors. For each issue described below, you will learn general causes, warning signs, and why you should call a professional without delay. Safety is the biggest reason - a malfunctioning door may injure someone or cause property damage if not fixed immediately.

Broken springs

Image of a garage door torsion spring under tension, with no safety cable running through it. Garage door springs support the weight of the door. Over years of use (approximately 10,000 open/close cycles) springs wear down and rust out, then they break. When a spring breaks, it can make a loud bang and leave the garage door drooping on that size. As far as lifting the door is concerned, it is now extremely heavy. You may even see a visible gap in the spring or a loose coil. If a spring has broken, do not try to open the door - it is capable of coming crashing down on you, or someone else, violently.

• Causes: Springs wear out due to use and rusting. Fluctuations in temperature or not enough lubrication can decrease the spring life. Due to our salty, coastal environment, galloping springs may rust quicker than springs in other counties.

• Symptoms: You hear a loud bang or snap in the garage; the door only opens a few inches (or not at all) and now feels heavy.You could have a broken spring or one of the coils come apart. If you disengage from the garage door opener, the door can be heavy to lift or to stay open.

• Why Urgent: When the spring breaks, the door is unbalanced and very heavy. The door could fall unexpectedly, creating significant injury or damage. Please do NOT try to repair a spring with regard to DIY – the tension can cut, fracture or potentially be far worse. Contact a trained technician proficient in garage door repair to replace the springs in a safe manner.

Defective Garage Door Openers

Image: Garage Door Units - Garage Door opener (motor and rail) must be operational to drive door movement. If the opener stops working, the door will become immobile. Common issues can be attributed to electrical problems (e.g. tripped breaker, or wiring problems), mechanical failures (e.g. worn belts, chains, or gears) or improperly aligned safety sensors. For example, if a belt or chain breaks, the motor will still run, but the door will not move. Other symptoms can include grinding noises, blinking lights, or the door reversing operations.

• Causes: It is dependent on the wear and tear of the opener mechanical components – such as a broken or loose belt or chain drive, worn motor gears, burnt motors or loose wiring. You also have the potential to have dead remote batteries (not all openers have lights alerts) or you could have lost power from an electrical breaker or lost power from your electricity (e.g. Active Power Outage causes loss of power).

• Symptoms: You push the button on your opener and nothing moves (you hear the motor running, or lights blinking), the door starts to move and jerks, or stops. The indicator light on the opener will offer notice of error codes or problems.When safety sensors (photo eyes) are blocked or misaligned, the door will either not close or will reverse after the door has partially closed.

• Why Important: When the opener isn’t working, the door is inoperable, meaning you’re locked in or locked out of your garage. A door stuck halfway up leaves your home defenseless, and will likely cause damage to the entire door system. Whether they are mechanical or electrical, such repairs are complicated, and it is usually best to have a professional inspect it. A poorly functioning opener can be an indication of other problems (like a broken spring or cable), and should be looked at immediately.

Snapped or frayed cables

Garage doors have heavy-duty cables (lift cables) on both sides of the door in order to evenly distribute the weight of the door. Cables can fray or even break due to age or from having springs out of balance. When a cable breaks, usually the door will lean to the side or be tilted sideways. You may see a cable hanging loose, or you may see the door sagging down on one side. If you have not heard any skinny creaking or grinding sound while the door is in operation, you may also have possible issues with cables.

• Cause: Cables can wear out from tension and age, and can corrode if they live at a high humidity level. A sudden pull/jerk (something quickly smashing into the door or a spring that snapped) could pull a cable apart. Unequal tension (if one of the springs is at a lower "rate") can stress that one cable more than usual.

• Symptoms: One side of the door sits lower than the other; the rollers may jump off track. The door may jerk or wont stay open completely. When a cable goes, you may or may not hear a split or snap.It appears that the garage floor bracket at one end may have come loose.

• Why Urgent: If one of the cables were to fail, you would lose one of the door supports. The door would become dangerously off-balanced. If both cables were to fail, the door could fall without warning. Even one broken cable can cause a heavy door to become off-track, or drop partially, causing injury or damage. It can also become stuck, impeding your access in a situation where you may require an exit. Leave the door closed and contact a professional to have the cables replaced safely.

Off-Track Garage Door

Image: A garage door system showing metal roller tracks. The rollers move along metal tracks that are attached to either side of the garage door. When one of the rollers is no longer riding along the track, or the track has bent, the door becomes "off track". Sometimes this occurs with a bump (a car door bumping or a ladder bumping) or because of a loose mounting bracket or worn rollers. You may hear a pop or a grinding noise, until you drive the door and see that the door had been at a complete angle, or has become completely jammed.

• Causes: Bent tracks (either from an impact or due to a long period of stress), loose tracks, broken or worn rollers or an imbalanced lift (broken cable causing a roller to be misplaced). It is possible that a cable or chain malfunction can cause the door off-track in an abrupt way.

• Symptoms: Observing if the door itself is crooked (one side of the door raised higher than the other) or not moving in a controlled motion. You may be able to visually see a gap between the roller and track.Grinding, squealing, or vibrating when in operation is a problem.

• Why Address Now: An out of track door is extremely dangerous to operate. Forcing an out of track door can collapse the door and/or tear up the opener mechanism. Additionally, the misalignment strains springs and cables and could cause them to break sooner. If you delay with the repair, the door could completely fall, damaging the opener and almost potentially hurting someone. Please stop using that door and call a trained professional to re-align it.

Door Will Not Open or Close

At times a garage door will not move at all or it will not complete a full cycle. The causes could be any or several of the above issues or other issues like misaligned sensors or blockages. Common causes include broken spring or cable (the door is too heavy for the opener), there is something physically blocking the track, dead batteries in the remote, or the power is disconnected. If the safety photo-eyes (at the bottom of the frame) are obstructed or out of alignment, they will activate the auto reverse when going down.

• Common Causes: Broken spring/cable (the opener may be operating but door doesn't move), bent track, broken cables/strapped/binded up, or faulty eye sensors. If the circuit breaker trips, it will turn off all power to the door and if it is a GFI outlet, it must be reset.

• Symptoms: You press the opener and the door doesn't do anything at all or only moves a couple of inches, The opener blinks or flashes an error (the light may be flickering), you can hear the opener click but no movement, or the door may start to lower and then immediately reverse.

• Why Address Now: Doors that are stuck open present a security risk (it is like leaving a large door unlocked); a door that is stuck and will not open can leave you trapped in your house or unable to get your car. Either way, it can escalate further (e.g. electrical fire, burn out the starter motor). If your door "jerks" or does not operate smoothly, this is an indicator of a large issue that requires inspection. Call a qualified technician and do not attempt to force the door to move - often if you require repair, springs, cables or electrical parts are involved.

Safety and Next Steps

In summary, anything that gives the garage door operator issue is being urgent. Garage door failures should never be ignored, while you may be tempted to delay a repair since the door does not move much while stuck - whether a garage door is sticking, making sudden motions, or suddenly hanging in mid-air, you need to have it looked at immediately as this creates a higher risk. It does not matter how far mine is stuck, because a garage door that is stuck will expose your home to theft and weather, a stalled door can cause injury, to people and pets. All garage door situations should be treated as urgent, so if you see any of the above issues - stop operating the door and call a trained and highly competent garage door technician for help.