Over 82 million American homes have a garage door. We use them multiple times a day and never really think about how they work. That is, until the day they stop working.
If your garage door opener isn’t working, it can be frustrating, but the good news is there are a few things you can do to fix it.
Let’s go over five common problems homeowners face, and how to fix them.
- There is a Power Outage
If the power is out in your area, there is only one way to get your garage door open. You’ll need to disable the door by pulling the red emergency cord. Now you can operate your door the old fashioned way, manually.
Look for a latch on the side of the door. You can engage this latch to secure the door while the power is out. Make sure you turn the power off to the door so no one will try to use it with the latch engaged.
If the power comes back and someone tries to use the door, they could cause serious damage to both the door and the opener.
- The Remote Won’t Work Even Though You’re Close
You hit the button, and nothing happens. There are three possibilities as to what is wrong in this situation.
First, the battery in your remote is dead. Try using another method for closing the door.
Second, you didn’t hold the button long enough. Slow down and try the button again.
Third, in rare instances, there is interference with the signal. Check the antenna and make sure it sticks out far enough from the motor housing.
- You Hit the Button and Nothing Happens
Haven’t we all been in this frustrating situation? You pull into your driveway, hit the button, and nothing happens. The first thing we all do is hit the button a few more times, and that door isn’t even attempting to move.
The first thing you need to do is to make sure you aren’t out of range. This is easy to figure out, if you are in your own driveway, you should be in range.
The next thing you should do is replace the batteries. This will solve the problem a majority of the time.
- The Door Starts to Close, Then Doesn’t
The most common reason for the door not closing is the photoelectric safety system stopping it. If the sensors become misaligned, they will prevent the door from closing.
Check the sensors at the base of the track. Adjust them until they align again. Then try the remote.
- The Opener Makes a Horrible Noise
The first thing you need to do is determine where the sound is coming from. It could be a broken spring.
It could also be that one of the tracks is out of alignment. Another culprit could be that the chain or belt is loose.
If any of these are the cause, then you need to call the pros to come out and perform garage door repair.
Fix Your Garage Door Opener
When it comes to your garage door, they faithfully serve you going up and down. Then one day, something goes wonky, and you are left with a door that either won’t go up or won’t go down.
Troubleshooting your garage door opener is something you can do yourself by performing the tasks we’ve listed here. However, if you find that the problem goes beyond that, it is best to leave the repair to an experienced garage door repair service.
Contact us today, and we can help you repair your garage door.
