How to Fix a Broken Garage Door: A Guide

Your garage door is such a standard part of your life you probably don’t even think about it all that often. That is, of course, until all of the sudden that door is no longer work as it should.

A broken garage door can be frustrating and can certainly disrupt the flow of your day to day life. It’s something you’ll want to get fixed as soon as possible so you can keep your vehicle safe and your arrivals and departures easy.

What are some DIY garage door repair tips? Keep reading and we’ll walk you through everything that you might need to know about.

Icy Garage Door

The winter is here and with it, plenty of cold weather-related issues. On a very cold day, it’s certainly possible that your garage door could actually become stuck to the floor as moisture trapped between freezes solid.

Sometimes, the pull of opening the garage door is enough to break this connection, but sometimes it can be very strong. In these situations, you want to resist pushing the open button over and over, as you could potentially strip the gears and damage your door further.

But you need to get to work! What should you do? The most DIY solution would be to pull out a hairdryer and try to apply as much heat as possible to where the door and your garage floor meet.

You can also get a shove or similar tool and carefully try to wedge it between door and floor, breaking the ice away. Once you finally get the door open, moving away all water and ice will help prevent the same thing from happening again.

Garage Door Won’t Fully Close

Another common problem is when a garage door just won’t seem to fully shut. You don’t want to leave it like this, as it could leave everything in your garage at risk of theft. What do you do? Search garage door manufacturers near me.

Often, this issue originates from the infrared beam that is installed with your garage as a safety feature. If there is anything, even slight and small, in front of the beam? Your garage door won’t allow itself to close.

This feature often is there to protect small objects, pets, and so forth. However, sometimes the laser eye can get misaligned, meaning it will be looking at items not actually in the way of the door’s path.

It’s also possible that you’ve moved a trash can or something similar directly in front of the laser, blocking it entirely. Checking on these infrared lasers should clear up the problem pretty quickly.

Make sure the two laser pointers are parallel to one another and ensure nothing is in the way of the laser’s path. Clear away cobwebs and dust which can sometimes trigger the safety feature.

With this all in place, there should be no reason your garage won’t close fully again. If you’re still having trouble, you might need to look into how to fix a sensor.

Noisy Garage Door

What do you do if every time you open or close your garage door, a cacophony of terrible noise comes out? At a certain point, this is bound to get on your nerves in a very serious way.

Worn rollers, loose parts, and general rustiness all can contribute to the terrible noises that a garage door might produce. A little maintenance work usually can help muffle these sounds back to a normal volume.

Whether you’re currently hearing noises or not, it’s not a bad idea to spray your door’s parts down with lubricant every two or three months. Making sure the springs, rollers, and hinges all get a good cleaning every now and again can help to prevent this problem before it even starts.

If you notice, during your cleaning, that there are any loose nuts or bolts on the garage track, you’ll want to bust out your tools. Tightening these up can help to fix many noise-related issues.

Hopefully, doing these little tasks can help to get your garage door back to a normal state of being. However, if the noise is still emitting, it might mean that some rollers or hinges in your system are at the end of their life.

You’ll need to identify where the sound is coming from (use your ears!) and determine which pieces might need to be replaced entirely. This can be a bit more work, not to mention a higher cost, but it will be worth it at the end of the day.

Replacing Garage Door Parts

When it comes to actually doing some full maintenance work on a garage door, many homeowners rightfully hesitate. If you have a lot of experiencing working with your hands, you may feel you have enough confidence to hop in and do the repair yourself.

However, this would be a situation where hiring a professional to come out and do the job for you might be better. Installing pieces for your garage door incorrectly could be a safety hazard. It could also create problems that would only damage your door further.

Every situation should be taken case by case, of course. However, you should never attempt to do something on your own if you don’t feel like you have a true handle on how the task should be done.