Garage Door Services, Sorted by Symptom

The First Ten Minutes After a Door Fails

Before you diagnose anything, stop making it worse. If the door just failed — a loud bang, a sudden crooked hang, or a door that strains and stops — do not keep pressing the opener button. Repeated cycles can strip the trolley carriage, bend a track section, or drag the door further off its rollers.

Unplug the opener from its outlet so nobody triggers it from a remote. Keep children, pets, and vehicles away from the opening. And here is the one that surprises people: do not pull the red emergency release cord while the door is up if you suspect a broken spring. The springs carry the door's weight — a typical double steel door weighs well over 200 pounds — and without that counterbalance the door can free-fall the moment the trolley lets go. Leave the door where it is and identify the problem from the list below.

Match Your Symptom to the Right Service

Use what you can see and hear to pick the page that fits. Each item names the service page on this site that covers it.

• Door will not open and the opener hums or strains: spring or opener trouble. Look above the closed door — a torsion spring with a visible two-inch gap in its coil has snapped, which is spring repair. If the spring looks whole and the motor runs while the door sits still, the trolley carriage on the opener rail may be stripped — that is opener repair.
• Door hangs crooked or one corner dropped: cable repair or off-track repair. A lifting cable has frayed or jumped off its drum.
• Grinding, popping, or rattling as the door moves: roller repair or track repair. Worn rollers and a bent track section usually show up together.
• Door reverses before touching the floor, or refuses to close: sensor repair. The photo-eye sensors near the floor stop the door whenever their beam is broken or misaligned.
• Remote only works from a few feet away, or the keypad is dead: remote and keypad service.
• Daylight or drafts under the closed door: weather seal replacement.
• A dented, cracked, or delaminating section: panel repair.
• Door jammed partway with a vehicle stuck inside: stuck-door diagnosis, or emergency repair.

Repairs on the Tensioned Side: Springs, Cables, and Brackets

Two spring systems do the heavy lifting. Torsion springs mount on a steel shaft above the door opening and twist to store energy; extension springs stretch along the horizontal tracks on each side. Lifting cables wind onto drums at the ends of that shaft and anchor to bottom brackets at the base of the door. Every one of these parts is under load even when the door is not moving.

Do not adjust, unwind, or unbolt springs, cables, or bottom brackets yourself. A spring or bracket that lets go can strike with enough force to break bones. There are no safe shortcuts here. Note what you see from a safe distance — the gap in a coil, a slack or frayed cable — and put it in your service request.

The Electric Side: Openers, Sensors, and Remotes

The opener gets blamed for problems it did not cause. The motor head drives a trolley carriage along a rail, and the trolley pulls a curved arm bolted to the top door section. If the motor runs but nothing moves, the trolley or its drive gear has likely stripped — a common failure after someone runs the opener against a broken spring.

Photo-eye sensors sit about six inches off the floor on each side of the opening. A leaf, a cobweb, or a bumped bracket is enough to make the door refuse to close. These checks are safe to do yourself: wipe each sensor lens with a dry cloth, confirm both indicator lights glow steadily, swap the batteries in your remote, and re-enter your keypad code. If none of that fixes it, request opener or sensor service.

Quiet Wear: Rollers, Tracks, Seals, and Tune-Ups

Some services exist for doors that still work but complain. Steel rollers grow loud as their bearings dry out; nylon rollers run quieter and shrug off moisture, which is why many upgrades swap steel for nylon. Tracks come in configurations sized to 7-foot and 8-foot doors, and a track that is even slightly pinched will chew through a fresh set of rollers.

A tune-up covers lubrication, hinge and fastener tightening, and balance checks. A safety inspection adds testing of the opener's auto-reverse. Weather seal service replaces the bottom rubber and side stops that keep out water and pests. Businesses with rolling steel or high-cycle sectional doors should start at the commercial service page instead.

What Gets Worse While You Wait — and How to Request Service

Small faults grow in predictable ways. One frayed cable strand becomes a snapped cable and a crooked, jammed door. A slightly bent track bends a little more with every cycle. Running the opener against a dead spring can strip its drive gear, turning one repair into two.

When you are ready, submit a service request through the form on our contact page. Include three things: the symptom, any sound you heard when it started, and whether the door is stuck open or closed. Repair needs vary by door and hardware, so those details help a technician assess the door and plan the visit.