While there are times you may be able to fix it yourself, yet there may be reasons it to leave the repairs to the professionals. Age and wear will trigger issues with your garage door. In most cases, your door will be problem-free for years, if not more than ten to fifteen years. But then one day your garage door will not open, making noises or it just simply fell. To help you troubleshoot your garage door issues, here are the top reasons your garage door won’t work.

Transmitter Doesn’t Work:

This may sound obvious, but the transmitters need the power to work.

First, check to see if the transmitter on the wall inside your garage still opens your garage door when pressed. If it does, then the transmitter in your car likely just needs a simple battery replacement.

Second, if your door is opening and closing and you’re sure that your transmitter isn’t being pressed, then there may be an issue with the frequency. It could be picking up signals from a neighbor, in which case you simply need to change the frequency. You can find instructions for this in the owner’s manual.

If this still doesn’t work, you may need to reprogram it. In most cases, you simply need to press and hold a button, wait for a blinking light to appear, and then press another button. However, some devices differ, so you should check the manual.

Door Not Opening or Closing All of the Way:

Designed to close steadily and to stop when there is something in the way. So, if your door is not closing all of the ways then you should first check to make sure there is nothing underneath it.

If the path is clear, then check the photo eyes. There may be a build-up of dirt that is stopping the rollers from moving past a certain point.  Gently wipe away any dirt or residue that has built upon the eye and be careful not to oversaturate as excessive wetness can cause dirt to stick to the eye more quickly.

Also, they can eventually become misaligned, causing the eyes to not match up on both sides. The eyes should be pointing in exactly the same direction and at the same angle. If they’re off, they won’t register that the other one is there, and it’ll assume something is in its path, causing the door to stay in the open position.

Once you have the eyes cleaned and aligned, test your door to make sure it opens and closes normally. If you’re still experiencing issues with the photo eyes, it may be time to call the professionals to come out and diagnose the problem.

Rubbing Noise; Gaps between Rollers and Rail:

If there is a gap between the rollers and the rail, or if the rail is not straight, then you need an immediate fix. This misalignment will only get worse with repeated use, and you may also hear a scraping/rubbing sound when the door opens or closes.

Fortunately, you can fix this yourself. Simply loosen the screws, knock the track back into place and then tighten the screws.

Door Closed with a Bang:

If your garage door all of sudden won’t go up or you’ll hear a loud bang from inside your garage. Then you may have broken torsion springs.

Garage doors come with cables or springs that help them to gradually close. If these cables are broken then there is no support and the door simply falls closed. Not only is this incredibly dangerous for the homeowner, but it can also damage the integrity of the door with each closing.

There is very little that the average homeowner can do in these situations. It’s best that you get a professional to fix the springs as it could cause serious injury..

If your garage door all of sudden won’t go up and you’re sure the transmitters are working properly and power is getting to the motor, then you may have broken torsion springs.

Transmitters and Motor is Fine, But Door Won’t Lift:

If your door will not open and you’re confident that the motor and the transmitters are functioning correctly. There’s a good chance you have a problem with your torsion spring.

These are heavy-duty springs that do all of the hard work when opening your door. With repeated use, even the best springs and the lightest doors won’t last. They all have a limited cycle, and when that cycle is up then the springs may break.

If either spring is broken, the opener may struggle to lift the weight of the door or fail to open the door at all. If a spring is broken, call a professional for service as these can be very dangerous to work with.

The Door was Manually Locked:

Quite a few garage doors come with manual locks, especially older models, for added security for your house. These typically look like a knob or handle in the middle of your door with two bars running horizontally from each side.

There may be a small button on the top or side of the handle that you can press to slide the bars across the doors, thus locking the garage door from the inside. It can be somewhat easy to accidentally hit that button, especially if you’re getting large objects out of the trunk of your car near the door.