Areas To Check On A Broken Garage Door

There are many different areas of a modern garage door that can stop working. if you're having problems with your garage door, here are the key areas that you should check on. 

Check on the Photo Eye

One simple area to check first is the photo eye of your garage door. Between the beams of your garage frame, there are two sensors that send an invisible laser beam to one another. When the signal is interrupted, the sensor can tell that the garage door is in place, and when the beam is complete, the garage can tell that the garage door is up. But when the signal between the photo eyes is interrupted, the garage door may not function properly.

The first thing that you can do is wipe down both of the sensors and try to operate your garage door again. If you think that the sensors may be broken (for instance, if the glass covering the photo eyes is chipped) then have a garage door repair technician come to replace these critical parts. 

Look at the Track

The next thing to do is check on the garage door's track to look for deformities. Even simple dirt and debris can affect the movement of your garage door and throw it out of alignment. Rinse down the tracks with soapy water, making sure not to leave any soap scum behind. Look for any bends in the tracks. While these can naturally occur from the force on the tracks over time, it's a good idea to bend these deformities back into shape using gentle pressure from a rubber mallet. If you have the owner's manual, you might want to check on how to refasten the straps holding the tracks in place; uneven tension on these tracks can be another source of garage door mishaps.

Check the Control Box

Finally, you may simply need to adjust the controls on your garage door. Resetting the programming and redoing the close limit and other settings may give the door the reboot it needs. If you no longer have your owner's manual, a garage door repair center can help you determine the correct controls for your garage door model.

In short, each of these components is needed for a smoothly operating garage door. Check to make sure that each of these key areas is working properly, or hand the job over to a seasoned garage door repair shop for a quicker fix.