If you are a homeowner here in the Houston area stuck with a garage door that won’t close, that is more than just a concern, that is a security issue. It can lead to thieves getting into your garage, breaking into your vehicles or even your home. There are some things you can immediately check to find the culprit of why your garage door won’t close, as well as things you could do to fix the issue. Let’s look at the reasons.
Reasons Why Your Garage Door Won’t Close
Your Garage Door Sensors
If you have an automatic garage door opener and your garage door won’t close all the way, there might be a problem with your door’s sensors. Most garage door openers have safety lasers near the floor along the door’s tracks. If anything breaks the laser beam between these sensors, your garage door will either stop or start to move back up. If this is your culprit, all you really need to do most of the time is move whatever is blocking the sensors. If you have a cluttered garage that is a little too full and disorganized, something might have fallen in the way of the sensors and is breaking the beam. If you haven’t cleared out the leaves in your yard lately, something might have blown in their way. Move whatever is blocking the sensors, and make sure that they stay clear.
If there is nothing blocking the sensors and your garage door still won’t close, take a closer look at the sensors themselves. It is possible that they need to be realigned so the sensors are able to read each other. If this is the case, just simply loosen one of the sensors and adjust it until you see a solid (non-blinking) light on both sensors, and tighten it so it stays in place.
Your Garage Door Tracks
If your garage door will not move past a certain point even though your sensors are working just fine, there might be something wrong with your garage door’s tracks or the rollers. If there’s an obstruction on the track, your garage door will either stop or start to move back up instead of trying to force its way through. This is not a bad thing since it protects your door from any further damage. If you think this is the case, check the tracks thoroughly, especially where your garage door stops. If there is an obstruction that you can safely remove, do so. If you don’t feel comfortable removing it or you can’t remove it, don’t hesitate to contact a Houston garage door repair service to fix the problem. Trying to do anything on your own when you don’t know exactly what you’re doing will just make things worse.
It is possible that the reason why your garage door isn’t closing is that the track is bent or otherwise damaged. If this is the case, there isn’t much you can do on your own. Contact someone to fix the track. Again, trying to fix things on your own could just make things worse.
Your Garage Door Opener Trolley
The trolley is the mechanism that pulls your garage door open and lowers it when you want it to close. It’s usually hanging from the ceiling of your garage with a rope hanging down from it. Pulling this rope will disengage the door from the garage door opener itself. If your garage door simply won’t close no matter how many times you push the button on your remote, pull this rope to see if you can connect the garage door opener to your garage door again.
Broken Garage Door Spring
If your garage door opener’s sensors and trolley seem to be working fine and there is nothing wrong with the tracks, your problem might be a broken garage door spring. These springs connect your garage door to the garage door opener, and they can break or become misaligned. If this is the case, your garage door might still move up and down, but it might be crooked or it might not close all the way. If the problem is particularly severe, your garage door opener might not work at all.
A broken garage door spring can be a serious matter, one that you shouldn’t try to fix on your own. The springs themselves are usually close to the ceiling of your garage, making them hard to reach. They also support your garage door, which could fall quickly if your springs are too badly damaged. If you think you have a broken spring, contact a Houston garage door repair company right away to fix the problem.
Your Opener Remote
Finally, check the remote control for your garage door opener. It could be that you need to change the batteries, or it could be that a power surge wiped out the memory on your remote. Both issues will keep your remote from working, and both are a pretty easy fix. You can always buy more batteries for your remote at just about any store, and while reprogramming your remote is a hassle, your garage door opener’s manual should tell you how to do that.
Even though you can troubleshoot a problematic garage door most of the time, you should still never hesitate to contact a garage door repair company near you if you aren’t comfortable fixing things on your own. If the issue you are having is not a simple DIY fix, you can get help from the Houston Garage Door Repair Experts Spectrum Overhead Door LLC. For over 15 years, Spectrum Overhead Door LLC has been the go-to for Houston area garage door repair, giving fast, same-day garage door repair.