Garage doors are supposed to open and close easily and seamlessly, unfortunately, this is not always the case. Garage doors like every other equipment tend to have a mind of their own every once in a while, and when this happens, you begin to notice problems, such as your garage door refusing to open or close, or jamming mid-operation.

Garage door malfunctions are not just an inconvenient headache; it can also open up your home to security risks, especially as most garages have a shortcut into the main house. Therefore, the moment you notice that your garage door is acting up, see if it is something you can fix by yourself or hire a professional to do it for you.

Below are some of the common reasons why your garage door will suddenly jam and cease to function.
  1. Broken Torsion or Extension Springs 
A typical garage door functions via a series of levers and springs, all of which work together to raise and lower the door. In fact, a garage door comes with a lot of moving parts, some of which are quite basic, some of which are quite complex.

The torsion and extension springs, for example, are vital parts of a garage door. These are the main parts that control the operations of the door, and thus are prone to easy wear and tear. If the extension and torsion springs on your garage door are worn out or damaged, it can affect the proper functioning of your garage door. In fact, left unattended, they could buckle under the strain of operation and break. Torsion spring breakage is usually characterized by a loud gun-shot like sound.

Broken springs will prevent your garage door from opening or closing properly so that you cannot put your car in or take it out. This is a repair that should be done only by a professional garage door service.
  1. Obstacle on the Track
Sometimes, something as simple as an obstacle on the track could be what is stopping your garage door from opening or closing fully.

The lack of usable space means that most people store a lot of stuff in their garages. Others use their car garage as a combination car parking space, tool shed, and workshop. This means that there will always be something lying around. However, no matter how rough your garage space is, it is important that you keep things away from the garage door. When something falls in between the door tracks, it can prevent the door from opening or closing fully.

Thankfully, track obstruction is easy to diagnose and resolve. Simple look along the rails to see if any object is physically blocking the tracks. This could be anything from a small parts component to a piece of wood. Once you have determined that there is actually something blocking the wheels of your garage door, you can easily remove it. But if you feel you may damage something else while removing the obstruction, don’t hesitate to call Houston Garage Door Repair.
  1. Misaligned Track
If you don’t find any physical obstruction along the tracks of your garage door, it may be that something else is causing the problem, such as misaligned tracks.

When the tracks of your garage door are out of alignment, the door will not be able to open or close smoothly. It may also open up or close to a point, then stop as the wheels cannot pass the bent area.

A misaligned door track is also easy to diagnose. Simply check the door tracks carefully from one end to another to see if you can notice any bend, dent, or broken frame, where any of these is present, the wheels or rollers will not be able to pass. While a bent or misaligned track is something you may be able to resolve with a rubber mallet, it may be a better idea to get a repairer over so that you don’t end up damaging something else.
  1. Dead Batteries
A surprising amount of garage door problems can be traced to a simple explanation, dead batteries in the door opener. If the batteries in your garage door opener are out of juice, your door simply will not open.

Also, if you have an older garage door model that comes with the opener that you have to activate by hand until the door is fully up or down, running out of juice in the middle of operation can cause the garage door to jam so that you cannot drive in or out.

So, should your garage door suddenly ceases to function, first check that the batteries in the opener has enough juice to work. In fact, if the last time you changed batteries was a long time ago, you should definitely replace the door opener batteries first before checking for other problems.

While it is true that garage door problems can occur suddenly, most problems start with signs that let you know something is wrong. For example, if your garage door makes a grinding or squeaking noise, it is obvious that there is something wrong somewhere. Therefore, always pay attention to the signs your garage door is giving you so that you can catch and fix problems before they escalate into huge expenses.