Door Closure Problems

Doors open and doors close; it’s the same for all types of doors, including garage doors. That’s why it’s so annoying when you can’t close yours, or it goes right back up! Yes, it happens and if it’s happened to you, you know how surprising and frustrating this can be! Imagine that you are about to leave for an important dinner engagement. It might be a date that you’ve longed hope would happen. Or, it might be an invite from an investor that you’ve been courting. You are all dressed up and psyched up too.

You back your car out of the garage and push the remote to close the garage door. It descends and just about closes when it starts to go back up!

Here’s another scenario – you are leaving to pick up your child at school and you push the button on your garage wall to open the door. Your wife watches you back out and hits the wall button again to close the door; nothing happens! It worked only a moment before and now, no response! It always seems to happen at the worst time, but if you think about it; there is no GOOD time for garage doors to stop opening or closing!

Don’t call for help!

Well, not at first, anyway! It may seem odd that our Sun Lakes Garage Door Repair pros would encourage you to NOT call for help, but in truth, you may not need to! This is because there are certain tests and adjustments that you can do on your own that are free, easy to do and fast. Who knows? You may just save yourself some money and a migraine by trying them!

Encountering resistance

We are talking about your garage door here; not you. Here’s a simple test that you can do to see if your garage door is encountering any type of resistance when trying to move. Start by pulling on the emergency release latch for your garage door. It is the one with the red knob or handle. This action disconnects your garage door from the opener system and allows you to open or close your garage door manually. Once done, try lifting your garage door and be sure to notice how it moves. Was it difficult to open? Did you seem to encounter resistance? Or, did it glide upward easily? If you noticed that it lifted with no problem, then your garage door opening and closing problem is most likely due to a misaligned sensor beam or your safety eyes being blocked. If your garage door was hard to open manually, you may have one or both springs that are damaged. Additionally, you may have a bent track or a broken wheel.

Sensor beam adjustment

You should always have one light shining on each of your safety sensors. One of these sensors is your transmitter and the other is the receiver. Both lights need to be on. If one is, and the other is out or blinking, then your sensors need adjustment. Also, if you hear a clicking sound or if the garage door light is blinking off and on, then these signs also indicate a sensor problem.

If one sensor is unlit, try adjusting it manually. They are designed so that it is easy to do without tools or a big hassle. Your goal is to have both lights shining and they will only do this if they are aligned.

Clean the lenses

Treat your sensor lenses as if they belonged to a camera. They need to be clean and not obstructed in any way. Wipe with a soft dry cloth and be careful to not scratch or damage the lens or to move the sensor out of alignment. If you see spider webs attached to the sensor, remove them carefully using a stick or other object. Spiders love to make their webs on photo electric safety eyes but unfortunately, their webs cause other items to stick to the sensor and often times, cover the beam. You can find dead insects, leaves, dirt and other nasty things stuck to your safety sensors so don’t let the spider webs accumulate. Here in Sun Lakes, Colorado we have brown recluse and black widow spider varieties that are downright deadly and one of their all-time favorite places to breed is in a darkened corner of someone’s garage, especially on or behind a sensor.

Garage door track build-up

Clean garage door tracks are a must! This is because your garage door rollers must move freely up and down your tracks in order for the door to close and open properly. If something blocks that path, the door will reverse course and go back up or down. Look over your tracks and if needed, clean them with a toothbrush. Look out for mud, lint, gum, leaves and of course, spider webs.