Common Signs That Your Garage Door Needs To Be Repaired

Similar to the car you drive to work, your garage is a complicated system made up of many working parts. If one part begins to fail, others are sure to follow.

The same way you provide service and maintenance to the car you drive to work, you must also provide the same care to your garage. They are both complicated systems made up of many moving parts, but unlike a car, a garage does not have a check engine light to let you know that something is wrong.

Without proper care, your garage will eventually break down. That’s the last thing you want to happen right before work or having to pick up the kids. A broken garage means that you are stuck until it gets fixed!

To prevent any significant problems from occurring with your garage, there are a few ways to diagnose and uncover garage door problems on your own.

We’ve put together a list of common problems that indicate your garage door needs to be repaired.

The garage door refuses to open or close

A garage door refusing to open or close is one of the most common problems affecting homeowners. Multiple reasons can prevent a garage door from operating correctly. Here are a few of them and how to diagnose them.

Garage sensors have become misaligned

Garage sensors, known as photo eyes, can become misaligned if accidentally bumped into. The purpose of these sensors is to detect movement – if a child or pet run through the garage entrance as it closes, they will interrupt the beam and stop the garage door from moving. If the sensors have become misaligned due to any accidental nudges, the beam will become misaligned, and the opener will treat it as an obstruction. The garage door will not operate in this situation.

To fix the problem, locate the two safety sensors at the entrance of the garage. Loosen the wingnut holding them in place and adjust both sensors until they line up with one another. The mini LEDs will begin to glow green when aligned correctly.

Garage wiring has short-circuited

Another possible problem preventing your garage door from opening or closing is the result of broken wiring. Without any power directly going to your opener, you will be unable to operate your garage door with a remote or the wall panel.

To detect if the problem is coming from the wiring or from the opener itself, attempt to open your garage with the remote or wall panel. Pay attention to how the opener responds to your attempts to operate the door. If there is no response from the opener, then you have a problem with the wiring or power supply. If you hear whirring noises come from the opener, but see no movement, then the problem lies with the opener itself.

To diagnose the exact issue with your garage door opener, consider calling a professional garage door repair technician or check out our guide on diagnostic codes for openers.

If you hear no whirring noises when the opener should be starting up, then the problem is likely to be caused by a power shortage.

Locate the wiring running from the opener to the main power supply. Look for any staples that may have punctured the wiring during the setup. You will need to buy new wiring to fix the problem. If there are no staples penetrating your wiring, there may be an issue elsewhere with your garage system.

Consider giving GDS Garage Door Solutions a call to help you uncover any problems with your garage. We can fix any issue before they turn into expensive problems down the line.

Loud, creaking noises

While garage door systems are known to be loud, much of the noise comes from the shaking of the metal railing as the garage slides up and down. Any screeching or grinding noises you hear are not normal and are a sign that some of the metal pieces have begun to fail or need to be lubricated.

Common garage door parts that tend to fail before other parts include rollers and hinges. These are the pieces that move the most during operation since they facilitate the opening and closing ability of the garage door.

Many older garage systems use metal rollers, which will grind down with time and eventually break. Inspect your rollers and look for any broken pieces or rust buildup. Replace these openers as needed. Consider switching to nylon rollers, which have a smoother operating cycle, are quieter, and will last a long time.

Hinges connect two panels together and allows the door to bend when opening or closing. Because of how much they move, they will begin to break down with time. Once this happens, weight around the garage door will become displaced, creating more significant stress among other hinges and causing them to break as well. Make sure to replace any broken hinges ASAP!

If your hinges are not broken but continue to make loud noises, an easy fix is applying lubrication. You can lubricate the area to ease up some of the grinding noise. When lubricating your garage door parts, be sure not to use any water-based lubricants such as WD-40. These lubricants will begin to strip your metal parts and can allow the build-up of muck and gunk in the areas where you least want that. Instead, use silicone-based lubricants for your garage door parts.

The garage door is sagging

If you notice that your garage door is sagging, be sure to seek out professional help quickly. There are three main reasons why your garage door is sagging.

The garage door spring is broken
The cables have come off of the drums
The rollers have slipped out of the track

Whatever you do, do not operate the door if it is sagging! This could cause the entire door to fall off the track, causing severe damage and even death to anyone caught below.

First, locate the spring above your garage system to see if it has split in two. If the spring is not the issue, check the cables that lie on the edge of the metal railing. If you notice that the cables have come undone and are sticking out, they will need to be re-coiled. Lastly, look along the track and see if any rollers have slipped out. Accidentally hitting the sides with your car can increase the wedge holding the rollers in place.

These problems require professional assistance to minimize the threat of harm and any potential damage. Attempting to replace a broken spring, for instance, can cause serious damage if done incorrectly. You need to have the appropriate tools and know the amount of rotations to wind the spring properly.

Incorrectly winding the cable back onto the drum poses a similar problem. Even if you manage to coil the cable back onto the drum, if not done properly and you attempt to operate the door, it can come off of the track.

Play it safe and call a professional to help you with your garage door problems.

Conclusion

You can avoid many garage door problems through proper maintenance and care. At the very least, understanding the problem affecting your garage door will help you make better decisions when looking for fixes. The same way you give service to your car every few months, you must also maintain your garage system. The garage system’s interconnectedness results in one small problem slowly affecting other parts of the garage, which will lead to expensive repairs if not caught quickly.

If you continue to face problems with your garage system or cannot make the necessary repairs to your garage, consider hiring GDS Garage Door Solutions to get the job done!

We are a Southern California garage door repair company with trained garage technicians who can fix any garage door problem. Give us a call at ( 760 ) 994-4805 to see how we can help resolve your garage issues.