Why are Garage Doors so Difficult to Open?

You have just returned from a long day at work, school, or the gym and your garage door will not just open. How annoying it would be to find a stubborn garage door that will just not budge?  Instead of staring at the closed garage door, why don’t you call a garage door repair services company? They can open your stuck door without any additional damage.  

Calling an expert garage door technician or a trusted Vancouver garage door repair company saves you both time and trouble. They can identify the cause in minutes and solve the problem. They also offer 24-hour emergency service and this means that they will be at your doorstep even in the middle of the night to help you.  So, waste no time and contact your local garage professional at once. 

Before doing that, try to understand the reasons for the difficulty in opening your garage door. This will help you prevent such issues in the future.

Common Reasons for the difficulty in opening your garage door

Your garage door might not open due to any of these reasons

Power source problems

The simplest reason for your garage door not opening is a power failure. During a power outage, your garage door opener will not function unless it has a battery backup. See if the power connection is on or if your circuit breaker has tripped or if you have a blown fuse.  

Physical obstruction

Dirt, stones, or debris might clog up the garage door track. This prevents your door from opening. If left ignored, these might bend the tracks and damage your door

Blocked photo-eye problem

Garage doors have a photo-eye sensor on either side of the door at 6 inches above the ground. This small pea-sized sensor sends out a laser beam it finds any obstruction in the path of the door. Sometimes, this photo eye might not function due to loose or damaged wiring. Or its screen might be blocked by dirt or dust. Or the sensor’s position might be wrong. Clean the wire and check the wiring and mounting of the photo-eye sensor 

Broken garage springs

Garage door torsion springs are small components but they are the ones that bear the weight of the door. These springs can break easily due to wear and tear.  A broken spring will not allow your door to open. And most importantly, you should not try to open a door with a broken garage door spring as this might cause the door to suddenly crash. 

In case of a broken spring, calling the garage door repair company is the wisest thing and safest thing to do.

Misaligned tracks

Garage door tracks are what the door’s weight rests on. So, these tracks are likely to get bent or misaligned with repeated use. Loose screws can also be the reason for track misalignment. Warped tracks can prevent your door from opening and signal it with a squeaking sound.  An experienced garage door repairman can identify damaged tracks based on just the sound of the door.

Disconnected motor

Check the motor switch of our garage door. If you have switched it off by mistake, your door will not open.

Broken cables

If the garage door cables break, the weight of the door shifts suddenly to one side. This causes the rollers to come off the metal tracks. This can be dangerous as the door can suddenly come jerking down. A professional garage technician will be quick to spot this garage door issue and remedy it without delay. 

Battery backup failure

If the automatic opener of your door has dead batteries, then too, your door will not open.

A faulty emergency release cord

Every automatic garage door has an emergency release cord to be used for opening the door manually in case of an emergency. If this emergency release cord is broken or jammed,  then the door will remain shut even if there is power.

Bad limit setting

See if the limit settings of your safety sensors are too high or too low, then too your door will not open. This is because the door fails to sense the presence or absence of an obstruction due to the faulty limit switch.

At first look, all the above problems might seem like common garage issues. But it takes an experienced garage door maintenance expert to identify and solve these.  If you find any signs of damage in your garage door, seek garage door repair service immediately.  Difficulty in opening garage door systems requires professional expertise that only licensed garage door repair companies in Vancouver like Thrifty Garage Door  can give.