What to Do When Your Garage Door Sticks

A sticking garage door is usually a sign that something is wrong with the tracks or with the opening mechanism. If your garage door won’t open smoothly, try troubleshooting with these basic solutions.

When Your Garage Door Sticks, Clean the Tracks

One of the most common causes of sticking is the presence of dirt or debris on the garage door tracks. Carefully wipe down the tracks and the rollers. Look for large clumps of dirt, leaves, or anything else that might be causing the problem.

While you work, check the tracks for obvious signs of damage. Any areas where the track is warped or peeling away from the wall could be preventing the door from rolling smoothly. You can fix some of these problems by gently pressing the track back into place.

Never try to hammer your garage door tracks back into place; you could easily do serious damage to the track or to the wall that it’s attached to. Always call a professional garage door repairman instead.

Adjust the Sensitivity of Your Garage Door Opener

If your garage door is still sticking, the problem could be with your garage door opener. Try opening the door manually by pulling on the red-handled emergency cord. If the door rolls smoothly up and down the tracks, take a look at the opening mechanism.

Just like the tracks, your opening mechanism might be jammed with dirt or debris. See if anything is stuck between the gears.

Next, check to see if your opener needs new batteries. You can also try turning down the sensitivity; if it’s too high, your opener may detect problems that aren’t actually there.

Contact a Professional

It’s rarely a good idea to try to repair a garage door by yourself. You could end up warping the tracks or damaging the internal mechanisms beyond repair. Instead, reach out to a Long Beach garage door repair company. They’ll be able to identify the problem and get your sticking garage door back to normal.