Garage door won't close or goes back up: the eyes, the settings, the track or the ice

Watch one closing attempt and write it down

A door that refuses to close has four usual suspects: the safety eyes, the opener’s settings, the door dragging in its track, and something on the floor. Note these for the company:

• Where it turns around. Right after it starts, partway down, or after the bottom seal touches the floor.
• What the opener light does. Count the flashes. Chamberlain’s support pages give 10 blinks for sun on the sensor, and 5 flashes with a beep when its Security+ 2.0 openers detect an obstruction, binding or a sticking door.
• What you hear. A scrape at one spot, a bang, or the motor straining near the bottom.
• When it started. After a snowfall, or after something hit the door.

The safety eyes and the low sun

HomeStars says a pair of photo-eyes is required on every opener installation: one eye sends a beam across the opening, the other receives it, and the door backs off when the beam is broken. Chamberlain calls misaligned sensors a common cause of doors that will not close. A bin or bike left in the beam’s path does the same.

Sunlight is the cause people miss. Chamberlain describes a door that opens normally and refuses to close because sun shines on the receiving sensor, often at the same time each day; its example is the morning. The maker’s remedies are moving the sending and receiving eyes to opposite sides of the door, or fitting sun shields, both small jobs to ask about on the call. The sensors page covers sensor replacement and pricing.

Travel limits and force: the settings behind the reversal

The travel limit tells it where the floor is. The force setting tells it how hard it may push before it decides it has hit something. Chamberlain says incorrect limits and too much force both interfere with the safety reversal system.

A company can reset both; watch how. Chamberlain warns against using force to compensate for a binding door, and against raising force beyond the minimum needed to close. The same maker says the safety reversal must be tested every month: the door has to reverse on a 2x4 laid flat on the floor. Ask the technician to run that test with you before leaving.

When the door itself drags

An opener can only move a door that moves freely. HomeStars notes that a new opener will not fix a door that binds or sags, and the motor wears out faster when it does. Note anything you see along the tracks: a roller that wobbles, a gap that grows between the door and the track, one side sitting lower than the other.

Genie warns that cold weather makes metal parts contract, which can lead to misaligned tracks and a sluggish door. A door that has jumped a roller out of the track is a different repair: see door off its track and rollers and hinges.

Snow, ice and what sits under the door

The same Genie guide says snow and ice building up under the door can stop it closing all the way and can damage the door and opener. In an Ottawa winter that can be a packed ridge on the threshold or slush dropped by the car. Say whether the floor under the door is wet, icy or uneven, and whether the problem started after a snowfall.

What moves the price

A sensor realigned or replaced sits at the bottom of the range in the table above. The bill climbs when the door and the opener both need work, or when an old opener has no photo-eyes and needs replacing. Travel outside a firm’s usual area and after-hours visits can add a fee, HomeStars notes.

Ontario’s consumer protection rules require a written agreement for home repair contracts over $50, and a final price can exceed an estimate by no more than 10% unless you agree in writing to the change.

Who you are dealing with

Ottawa Garage Door Desk takes your request and passes it to one independent local garage door company. That company calls you back, looks at why the door will not close, prices the repair and does the work.