7 Reasons Your Garage Door Won’t Open

The most common question we get at Advanced Garage Door is “Why won’t my garage door open?” Unfortunately, there isn’t just one answer. With so many moving parts, there are a lot of reasons the door might be having a day off. To make it a little easier, we decided to list seven of the most common reasons your garage door might be taking a break.

1. Your Transmitter Batteries Have Died
2. Your Power Source isn’t Functioning
3. Your Disconnect Switch is Detached
4. The Door is Off-Track
5. The Tension Springs or Cables are Broken
6. The Sensitivity is off
7. You Locked It!

1. Your Transmitter Batteries Have Died

If your transmitter batteries have had their last breath, it’s an easy check. Inside your garage you should have a switch. If the switch brings your garage back to life, go and get your remote batteries replaced. Quick and easy!

2. Your Power Source isn’t Functioning

Your door needs electricity to power the motor. If your switches have been tripped, or a blackout has hit your home, your door will not open. Many of our residential doors come with the option to install a battery backup to keep your door running in case of blackouts.

Every garage door comes with an emergency release, and it usually looks like a rope or a cord with a little pull knob. Pulling this disconnects your door from your motor, so you can open it manually.

Remember once the power is working to reattach it, or you might end up with problem #3!

3. Your Disconnect Switch is Detatched

After using the emergency release, you need to reattach it to your motor. If your motor is making noise but it’s not moving, you are probably still in manual operation, so check that the emergency release is connected. On occasion, the emergency release could get hooked on something (usually roof racks), causing it to be released, so this is always a good spot to look if you’re trying to find out why your door isn’t working. To reattach it you may need a step ladder.

4. The Door is Off-Track 

We all lose our way sometimes. If your door is off its track, it won’t slide correctly. It might attempt to open or close, but due to the misalignment it might stop in its tracks (see what we did there?), or go back to the previous position. If this is the case, you might notice a bit of noise as it moves along it’s tracks. Look for bumps, pauses, or if the door slows down anywhere along the way. If you love a bit of DIY you can fix this one yourself, but of course be careful! Here are the steps:

• Locate the area where the track has become misaligned
• Gently loosen the screws holding the track in place
• Lightly tap the track back into the correct position
• Re-tighten the screws

If you aren’t sure this is the issue, we don’t recommend playing with the tracks as you could do more damage than good. If you’re unsure, give us a call!

5. The Tension Springs or Cables are Broken

If you’re sure your door is getting power and the transmitter is working, but the door still won’t function, this is likely the cause. Your springs and cables only have a certain amount of life in them, which is why it’s important to get your garage door serviced regularly! If you’re unsure of when to service your door, here are 6 signs it’s time to give it some love.

When your torsion springs break, you don’t want to be there. These parts of the door are under immense pressure and load, and will definitely go out with a BANG. People often describe the sound as a firecracker, or a gunshot.

If your spring is broken, please NEVER try to open your garage door or you could do some damage to the door, or yourself! Because of these heavy loads, repairing this part of the door can be dangerous without the proper equipment and training, so leave this one for the pros.

Broken springs and cables are the #1 reason we get calls for garage door repair here on the Gold Coast, so if you think this is the case please give us a call.

6. The Sensitivity is Off

We all have our sensitive days. If your garage is having one, it’s time to check it’s sensitivity reading. Both new and older doors have a sensitivity rating, and if it’s set too low, or too high, your door may not open the whole way. Each door is a little different, so we would recommend reading the manufacturers manual to see how to reset the rating for your door or better yet, get the experts out.

7. You Locked It!

Guilty! If your garage won’t open but you hear the motor engage for a few seconds, it’s possible you (or a family member), manually locked the door. The manual locks are particularly common in older garage door models, and typically have a button on top of a handle, on the inside of the door, so it can be pretty easily knocked by accident.

If you manually locked it, find your lock handle. You should be able to give your handle a turn and you’ll hear a “click” releasing the door.

If your door still isn’t opening or you want some help handling the issue, don’t sweat. This is probably the #1 call we got here on the Gold Coast! Feel free to give one of our experts a call at (07) 5535 1445, and we would be happy to help you have your door up and running in no time.

At Advanced Garage Doors our motto is no problem is too big, or too small. No matter what your needs are, we’ve got you covered.

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