Garage Door Questions, Answered

Look at the spring above the door — a broken torsion spring has a clear gap in the coil, as if it has been cut. The other test is by hand: disconnect the motor and lift. A door with a working spring rises with light effort and stays put at waist height. A door with a broken spring feels like lifting its full weight, because you are.

Almost always the safety beams. The two infrared sensors mounted low on either side of the opening have to see each other, and a spider web, a bag leaning against one, a knocked bracket or a dusty lens is enough to break the beam. If the beams are clean and aligned, the down-travel limit is usually set slightly too low, so the door presses into the floor and reads that as an obstruction.

Usually a stripped nylon drive gear, a trolley left disengaged after someone used the manual release, or a chain or belt that has jumped its sprocket. All three are inexpensive and normally fixed on the first visit. A stripped gear is also a symptom worth reading — gears strip because the motor has been fighting a door that was out of balance.

It depends on the door's weight, whether it takes one or two torsion springs, and the cycle rating chosen. We quote a fixed price on site after weighing and measuring the door, and always price the pair as an option, because springs share a cycle history and the survivor is usually only weeks behind the one that broke.

As a rule of thumb, if the repair costs more than about half the price of an equivalent new door, replace it. Below that, repair. The rule breaks down in two places: doors under five years old are almost always worth repairing whatever the cost, and doors with rusted-through or impact-twisted panels are replacement cases regardless, because a repair does not restore them.

Not in three cases: a broken spring, a snapped or slipped cable, and a door sitting visibly skew in the opening. In all three the door is unsupported and can drop, and every further cycle bends tracks and damages rollers. Use the manual release, leave the door down and book a repair.

No. A wound torsion spring on a double door stores enough energy to break bones, and it is released and re-tensioned with hardened winding bars in controlled quarter-turns by someone standing out of the plane of the shaft. Buying a spring online without the wire gauge, inside diameter, length and wind direction also produces a spring that fits the shaft and balances nothing.

Usually, and usually cheaply. The common causes in order are a flattened backup battery, corrupted stored travel limits and a blown fuse. Surge damage to the control board does happen, but it is the most expensive component and the least often actually at fault, so it is tested last rather than first.

The opener has decided it hit an obstruction. Start with the safety beam lenses, then the down-travel limit. Do not turn the force setting up to stop it — that removes the auto-reverse safety margin while leaving the real cause in place, and it is the fastest way to destroy both the door and the motor.

Once a year for a typical household door. Every six months for doors that cycle heavily — complexes, homes running several vehicles daily, rentals and business premises. Also worth booking immediately after buying a property, since the door's history and the number of remotes coded to it are both unknown.

Yes, and the deactivation is the important half. Every remote ever coded to your receiver still opens your door, including the previous owner's. The receiver memory is cleared and only the handsets you physically hold are re-coded — it takes about fifteen minutes and belongs on the same list as changing the locks.

Sandton, Morningside, Rivonia, Bryanston and Sunninghill are typically 20 minutes for emergencies. Fourways, Randburg and Rosebank are a short run out on similar timings. Midrand, Bedfordview and Centurion have standard work grouped into scheduled blocks, with 24/7 emergency cover unaffected.

A call-out and diagnostic fee applies and is credited against the repair if you approve the quote on the day. The figure is confirmed on the phone before a technician is dispatched, including the after-hours rate where it applies.

All repairs and installations carry a 12-month workmanship warranty in writing. Parts carry the manufacturer's warranty, typically 12–24 months on motors and automation.