My Garage Door Is Stuck In The Up Position - What Do I Do?

"There are cables and they go up to a drum and on those drums, the cable will be wound on the drum if you look up there and it's a spaghetti string looking pile of mess."  

- Adam Greer, Garage Door Expert

 

On the Check A Pro Radio Show today a listener called in with the following question - "My Garage Door Is Stuck In The Up Position - What Do I Do??"

Well, that's a great question.  Here to answer that question is a garage door expert, Adam Greer from EZ Lift Garage Doors & More.

For more information about EZ Lift Garage Doors & More in Katy, Texas log on to www.ezohd.com or check them out at www.checkapro.com.

 

Visit Us At -  EzLiftGaragesDoors&More

 

 

You Can Call Anytime:  [phone]

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
This may have happened to you before with your garage door,
it's open but it's stuck in the open position and you can't get it down.
What's happened?
Well,
I've asked my friend Adam Greer from EZ Lift Garage Doors and More to join me here on the program to tell us what's going on with that.
Hey,
Adam,
how are you?
I'm doing great.

(00:21):
Thanks for having me again.
It's always a pleasure.
Yeah.
Thank you for being here.
Uh We've talked about this before.
Um And it happens.
This is a common thing.
You're called out to someone's home because their garage door is stuck open.
What's happening here?
Lots of things could be involved with that and it is definitely one of the most common calls.

(00:42):
I can't get my door shut.
Simple solution.
It's just your sensors aren't aligned.
The opener is reacting and it won't close if the sensors aren't functioning.
So that one's easy.
And because you walk people with through that process over the phone to confirm that that's the problem.
That one,
no big deal,
no safety issue,
nobody gets hurt,
just align them and go,

(01:03):
go close the door.
What do you do though,
sensors are good and that door is legitimately stuck open.
One of could be any number of things the cables have come off.
And so you want,
you're gonna wanna look on the sides of the door,
on either side,
there's cables and they go up to a drum and on those drums,

(01:24):
the cable will be wound on the drum if you look up there and it's a spaghetti string looking pile of mess.
That's what we call a slipped cable.
You,
you do not want to try to shut that door one,
take a chance on just damaging,
uh,
the door and,
and having to buy a new one,
uh,
because 100% of the spring tension now is on the side.

(01:45):
That isn't a spaghetti pile.
Uh,
so instead of sharing the load equally,
you've got,
usually it looks like a door is crooked,
one side's hanging low,
the low side is the one that's slipped.
Common mistake.
That's dangerous.
And I know in our brain it makes sense.
Well,
I'll just release the cable that's to on the other side.

(02:10):
That is disastrous.
Hm.
It is disastrous.
Sense that it usually destroys the door when it comes crashing down.
That's,
that's the,
the easy solution.
Honestly,
even if it's expensive,
nobody's hurt.
I cannot tell you how many times I pulled to the house and there's blood all over the,
the garage floor.
Um,
and the door is still stuck,

(02:30):
hanging open and I know what,
what's,
what's happened.
I know it's got the person answers the door.
Um,
they're gonna have a,
a patch usually on their face because that's where you're,
you're there working where you're taking that cable off.
Your,
your face is right there.
The forehead gets whacked,
the nose gets tipped,
see it all the time,
believe it or not,
er,
visits.

(02:50):
The other thing that happens is you,
you pull the,
the emergency release on the opener,
the,
for whatever reasons,
uh,
the spring test is just completely off.
Sometimes they both,
uh,
have,
have come off or if the spring is broken,
there's any number of reasons why there might not be any tension at all.
People will pull that cord and the door goes to fall and there's a natural reaction to reach out and stop it from falling.

(03:16):
It's just instant.
Bob miss your fingertips gets stuck in the seams,
happens all the time and when that happens you no longer have fingertips and we see that.
Um,
so it's,
it's dangerous.
What do you do when your door is stuck?
Nothing.
Call a professional,
get someone out there that can,

(03:37):
um,
help you through this at minimum.
Somebody will over the phone.
Have you look at a couple of things,
make sure it isn't,
uh,
dangerous.
It's just that the opener is malfunctioning.
Once we've diagnosed it,
everything seems safe.
Pull a string,
shut it mainly,
but don't do it till you've confirmed that it's safe.
Garage.
Door repair is one of the least expensive repairs on your home.

(04:03):
It's not like a roof repair or air conditioning or plumbing or electrical.
Why do you try to do it yourself?
It's extremely dangerous.
You're gonna spend a lot more money with the emergency room bill,
not to mention maybe some missing parts.
And we're not trying to be dramatic here.
It's,
it's really true.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think with HB ac,

(04:23):
that type of thing,
uh if people are thinking,
well,
it's got electricity involved,
I'm not gonna touch it.
You know,
I don't wanna be up on the roof trying to fix my roof.
Uh And so there's a,
there's a thing that says this is no big deal.
It's just a pile of metal and it goes up down and,
but it's a moving wall.
I like to call it that.
Um I know that people are using my term,

(04:44):
but that's I I coin that uh it's a moving wall and if we think of it that way,
uh you realize how,
how big it is,
how powerful it is,
how heavy it is.
Don't move the wall.
Yeah,
it's extremely dangerous.
Call an expert like easy lift garage doors and more all of Adam's information is located in the description of this podcast,

(05:06):
reach out for regular maintenance and certainly if you need a new garage door,
he can help you out with that as well.
He installed two new ones at my place.
Thanks Adam.
You're welcome.
Thank you.