Garage Door Questions, Answered

With the door closed and the springs intact, pull the red release and lift the door by hand to about waist height. A balanced door stays put around 3 to 4 feet up. One that slides down or springs upward needs its spring tension adjusted, and that adjustment is a technician's job.

It is a cable run through each extension spring so a snapped spring cannot fly across the garage, and DASMA says an inspection should confirm every extension spring has one.

It can. DASMA lists a door that has picked up weight, from paint or add-ons, among the causes of shorter spring life, because the springs were sized for the lighter door. After a heavy repaint or added trim, ask for a balance check on a garage door spring repair visit.

Two springs instead of one, the spring type, and whether the cables and drums need work too. Your written price comes before any work.

A bottom bracket, a structural fitting on the lowest section that anchors the lift cable under full spring load. DASMA tells anyone who is not a technician to leave brackets, cables and their mounting surfaces alone. A loose one belongs on our garage door cable and track repair list.

It is the manual release, which disconnects the door from the opener; UL 325 requires it to be red, and DASMA advises it hang no higher than six feet off the floor.

Lay a 2x4 flat across the door's path and close the door onto it. Once the bottom edge meets the wood, the door has to stop and travel back up. If it does not, CPSC says to disconnect the opener until it has been adjusted, repaired or replaced. Federal rules call for openers built since 1993 to start reversing within 2 seconds of hitting an obstruction.

They are photo eyes, the second safety device federal rules have required on home openers built since 1993, and the opener checks them on every close, which is why a knocked sensor stops the door from closing.

The oldest ones can be. CPSC counted about 73 children aged 2 to 14 who died trapped under automatic garage doors from March 1982 onward. That record is why reversing systems became mandatory for openers made from 1991, with external sensors added in 1993. An opener from before then deserves a hard look and probably a new garage door opener.

Usually, yes. When a working opener only needs a sensor, a keypad or an adjustment, garage door opener repair is normally the first thing to price. If the opener predates the battery backup California has required on newly installed units since July 1, 2019, replacement starts to make more sense.

That is the astragal, the trade name for the bottom weatherseal.

The door is often the thinnest wall. Clopay describes an uninsulated door as a lone metal skin rated roughly R-0 to R-2, and says an attached garage passes that heat into the rooms beside it. Insulated doors and fresh seals are covered on our garage door insulation and seals page.

Through gaps around the door. For new exterior work in mapped wildfire hazard zones, California's rules cap the gap at the bottom, sides and top at 1/8 inch, met with tested weatherstripping, a door that overlaps the jambs and header, or metal flashing. The hillside edges of the valley are mapped Very High, so the rule comes up often on new garage door installation jobs here.

A section that bows when the door is open has lost stiffness. DASMA's standard limits that sag to 1/120 of the door's width, and struts, the metal stiffeners across a section, are what keep it flat. A sag past that point is a repair or replacement conversation.

No. EPA advises never idling a car inside an attached garage at all.

All of them, including Northbridge, Bridgeport, River Village and North Park on the garage door repair in Valencia side, and Skyline Ranch, Haskell Canyon and Plum Canyon on the garage door repair in Saugus side.

Yes. Both are small unincorporated communities made up almost entirely of detached houses, 96.0% in Agua Dulce and 95.4% in Val Verde. Both are also mapped Very High fire hazard on the County's layer, which matters if a new door goes in and the 1/8 inch gap rule applies.

Not always. Los Angeles County keeps small unincorporated areas named Newhall, Canyon Country, Saugus and Placerita Canyon next to the city line. We work on both sides of it, so the address only matters for paperwork, not for booking. See garage door repair in Newhall and garage door repair in Canyon Country.

We call back, ask a few questions about the door, and agree on a time.

Yes. Once the door has been looked at, you get the price in writing, and nothing gets replaced until you agree to it. If a repair makes more sense than a new door, you will hear that too.