Garage Door Closure Problems

Our garage doors serve one of the most important roles in the house, keeping our valuable high school memorabilia safe from the cold. In all seriousness, the garage door does actually provide a big boost to house safety as well as serves as a way to ensure correct insulation and protection from the elements within the garage.

A malfunctioning garage, one that does not close or open all the way, is an immediate security risk as just about anything or anyone can just come and go as they please. So what do you need to know to prevent something like this from happening then? The answer is actually quite simple but knowing exactly what the common garage door closure problems are and what causes them can help you when you reach this crucial step.

Debris In The Track

To check if this is your issue, stand inside your garage and look to see if as it raises, the tracks have any debris preventing progress of the rollers and if so, is it something that is easily able to be swept away. The culprits of this act are typically spider webs or insect nests but occasionally, it can actually be a warped track and that will require an expert.

If it happens to be the former rather than the latter however, using a broom to sweep these away is the best advice you can consider. Using anything outside of this (such as a liquid based cleaner) can actually end up affecting the tracks worse by adding unneeded film that collects dust and once again, begins adding in debris.

Garage Door Springs

Unlike debris, Garage door springs can only be adjusted and fixed by a trained professional. Trying to fix this on your own is a problem but this could very well be the cause of your garage door not closing correctly.

The garage door spring is the most vital part of the garage door mechanism. Its purpose is very deliberate; for a garage door of any weight or size, the spring provides and equal “spring force” that supports the door and keeps it from sliding back and forth.

When a garage door spring fails, it is often in the form of cracking. To spot this, you’ll want to peek in as the door is closed and see if the spring on either side is in two pieces. If this happens, don’t attempt to “put it off” as garage doors will give often give way and collapse without a proper spring. This can obviously cause the garage door to close crooked or not at all if the spring is not functioning as it is supposed to.

Garage Door Opener Issues

Garage door openers certainly provide a convenience over the traditional ways to open and close your door, but with better technology comes slightly more complicated issues. When your door refuses to close or open correctly and you have a garage door opener, chances are there is something wrong with the sensors, receiver, or the track.

The sensors of the garage door opener are typically located right at the foot of the garage, where the door comes down. These sensors are meant to detect when the path is clear and allow for garage door opening or closing. Often times, if it sees something right in front of it, the whole act of closing is negated as it is meant to stop you before it slams down into a car, or worse, a person.

Typically, you can check these by just removing any spider webs or debris from the front and cleaning them. However, if you do not see anything in their way and it still refuses to close correctly, then there’s a good chance you’ll need these replaced.

Another garage door closure problem may be the receiver getting signals from a neighbor or something else in the house that is negating your own remote. This is less common but is very likely and will need a new receiver or to be set to a different frequency range to stop.

Finally, the track and rollers may be off balance which is the single most important part of any door closure problems. If the track and rollers are not functioning as intended, then there is no way you can continue to protect your house, even with an opener. If you see something amiss with the track, speak with an expert as they will be able to solve the issue before it gets worse and more expensive.

The Garage Door Is Unbalanced

This is the ultimate culprit in any garage door closure problem. When all else fails, an unbalanced garage door is often called failed and needs to be inspected and solved to get back to the open/close cycles the door is originally designed for.

Neglecting issues with debris in the track, garage door springs, and garage door opener issues can lead to unbalanced doors. Even just the way the house was built and settled can cause this. If you’ve ever pulled your door half way down and watched it slide by itself to the ground without you pulling it or tried to move it up and it moves on its own (without an opener), you have an unbalanced door.

An unbalanced garage door can and will lead to less cycles and protection and needs to be serviced ASAP.

Now that we’ve identified the primary causes and problems that lead to garage door closure, the best step you can take next is to find and schedule a garage door repair service to begin regular maintenance. While it may be the most neglected area of the house, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need servicing and inspection on a regular basis. A regularly maintained garage door not only lowers future potential repair costs, it also ensures that when a critical event happens, you’ll know at least your garage door itself won’t be the issue.