What to do right now
None of the steps below has you pulling the release cord or lifting the door. Leave the hardware alone and work from a safe distance. Often same-day when the schedule allows.
1. Keep people, pets and cars away from the door
A door caught halfway, a door with a broken spring, or a door off its track can drop or swing. Leave the car where it is. Nobody drives in or out under a door that is up or hanging. Keep children and pets inside the house, and tape or chalk a line on the floor you want nobody to cross.
2. Turn off the garage breaker
Turn off the breaker for the garage at the house panel. Do not reach for the opener or its cord, and do not use a step or ladder near the door. The outlet above the door sits next to the loaded spring shaft, and a hanging door can swing without warning.
3. Leave the emergency release cord alone
The red cord on a chain or belt opener disconnects the opener from the door. Pulling it on a door whose spring is broken drops the full weight of the door on whoever pulled it. Leave the release alone, on any door, in any situation, and call.
4. Do not lift, push, prop or support the door
A garage door weighs more than most people think, and a broken-spring door weighs all of it. Jacking, propping with a two-by-four or sawhorses, or holding a section up with a hand are not safe. Leave the door where it is and wait for us.
5. Close and lock the door between the garage and the house
The Village handout for attached garages requires the door between the garage and the house to be solid wood or solid or honeycomb core steel at least 1 3/8 inches thick, or 20-minute fire-rated, and to self-close by a door closer or spring-loaded hinges. Close it, lock the deadbolt, and keep that side of the house secure while the garage is open.
6. Call and describe what you see
A sentence or two gets us moving: what the door was doing when it stopped, what you heard, whether the opener ran, and where the door is now (up, down, or caught in between).
The urgent symptom table
| Symptom | Likely cause | What it usually needs |
|---|---|---|
| Door is stuck open overnight | Broken spring, snapped cable, or trolley released by accident | On-site diagnosis; usually a spring that broke with the door up |
| Car is shut inside and the door will not open | Broken spring; opener will hum and quit | Spring replacement before the door can lift again |
| Door hangs crooked, one roller out | Door off its track after a bump or cable failure | A door off its rollers back on, with the cause fixed |
| A cable snapped with a visible lash | Snapped lift cable; matched pair replacement | Both cables replaced, drums checked |
| Door came down hard and loud | Spring broken while closing, or opener down-force way out | Full inspection; often spring and cable work together |
| Door starts down and goes right back up | Blocked or misaligned photo eye, loose wire | Sensors that keep sending the door back up realigned or replaced |
If the door will not move at all, checks for a door that will not close covers the longer troubleshooting list for a less urgent call. Call us instead on an overnight stuck door.
Urgent and can wait
The split we work to is simple: anything that keeps the house closed up and the people in it safe is urgent; anything cosmetic or minor can wait. Often same-day when the schedule allows.
Urgent: a door stuck open with the house exposed, a door caught halfway, a car trapped inside, a spring that broke with the door up, a door hanging on one cable, or a section bent enough that the door will not run straight.
Can wait: a cosmetic dent, a worn bottom seal, a noisy opener, a scheduled tune-up, a cracked trim board, or a remote that stopped working.
What a technician brings
The van usually carries what the common urgent faults need: torsion springs in the common wind and inch counts, extension springs in a short range of lengths, lift cables cut to common heights, bottom brackets, drums, safety cables, hinge sets, roller sets, bottom seals, and the winding bars that spring work needs. A door with an unusual spring may still need a return visit with the right part ordered in.
