What to Do When Your Garage Door Won't Close

Garage doors are designed to roll up to open and down to close, and you rarely pay much attention to how it works until one day when you open it to leave for work or park your car after getting back home, and it just won't close. 

There are many causes of garage door failures, some of which may be as simple as sensor signal blockage to obstructions on the tracks. So before you call a maintenance specialist, you can do a few things yourself. 

Below are some things you should check before ruling your problem as warranting the attention of a maintenance specialist.

Check The Sensors

Most modern garage doors have sensors mounted on the tracks near the floor. When the sensors are clear, the door will close all the way down if it has no other problem. 

If anything blocks the sensors while the door is open, it will not close as a safety precaution added to prevent the chances of having a baby, pet, or anything else from being crushed under the weight of the door. 

Dirt on the sensors can send the wrong signal to the door's control system and could be why your door is not closing. So, if there aren't any visible obstructions, clean the sensors and check if the door stops misbehaving.

Check For Obstruction On The Tracks

If your sensors are functional, but your door is not responsive or won't close beyond a certain point, there is a chance that obstructions on the tracks could be the problem. So check in if anything is lodged in the tracks. 

At other times obstructions could come in the form of bent tracks or damaged rollers. So inspect the tracks and the roller for any bends that could be the cause of your problem. 

If you notice a damaged section, bend it into the right position with careful hammer strikes, and you will be good to go. 

Power Supply Disruption

The garage door mechanism uses electricity to function. So any interruption to its power supply will render the door inoperable. Sometimes power supply disruptions can result from simply unplugging the mechanism from the mains, which means the solution is plugging it back. 

At other times it can be caused by other electrical failures that may not require you to call in local garage door repair services. Once fixed, your door should work just fine.

Check Your Doors System

Most modern garage doors have a computerized system that works as the door's brain. Like any computerized system, the door's system could jam and fail to work as it should. 

But before you go blaming the system, check if your remote control is working fine. For example, ensure that the batteries are still working and replace them if they aren’t. 

If the remote is fine, consider resetting your door's lift master control. While you can do this yourself, it would be best to first research how to reset a Liftmaster garage door, especially if you are unfamiliar with resetting your door Liftmaster. 

Try Closing Your Door Manually

If you are in a hurry to close the door, doing all the checks to ascertain the cause of the malfunction may not be an option for you. Under such circumstances, try to close the door manually to see if it will work. 

To close the door manually, you will need to pull the release cord first and use the handle on the door's bottom section to pull it down. Manual closing could also be the last resort after all else fails as you wait for an expert to help you identify the problem.

Final Words

Garage door issues are rarely significant, and calling in an expert for every issue can mean spending money you don't have to. The fixes highlighted in this post can help you solve most causes of garage door failures. When your garage door won't close, it's crucial to address the issue promptly. Explore reliable solutions with expert advice from specialists in garage doors to ensure your door operates smoothly and securely.