Why is your Huntley garage door jammed and what can you do about it?

Garage doors are made to go up and down. They go up. Then they come back down. That pretty much sums up their responsibilities (along with keeping unwanted things, animals and people out). When your Huntley garage door gets stuck, it stops going up and coming down. That’s generally not part of the plan.

The first question is ‘Why?’ Why would your Huntley garage door abandon its responsibilities so flagrantly? 

There are several possible explanations, including: 

• The cable that lifts the garage door is broken
• The garage door is off its track
• You have a broken garage door spring
• Something has jammed or is blocking the garage door from moving
• The garage door opener is broken
• The power is out and the garage door opener won’t work
• The garage door is locked

The next question is, ‘What to do about the problem?’

First a word of warning: There are parts of the garage door that could seriously injure a person or worse. It’s okay to take a look at the garage door to see if you can identify the problem but approach with caution.

For instance, if you find that a broom handle has fallen into the door’s path and has lodged in place so the door won’t operate, as long as you’re careful, you may be able to extricate the broom so the garage door can return to it’s assigned duties of going up and down.

If you notice that the garage door is locked you can unlock it. If you discover that the power is out to the garage door you can check the fuse box or circuit breakers. But be cautious here, too: there may be a short that tripped a circuit breaker and shorts can cause fires.

You may notice that the spring that runs side-to-side above the garage door is broken. This is definitely something you want to leave to the professionals. Those springs come with such force that they can take off a finger in the blink of an eye, or worse, if someone doesn’t know what they’re doing.

The same is true if the cable is broken. It’s possible you can put the garage door back in the track, if you approach it with caution, but the question is, ‘Why did it come out of the track and will it come out again?’

The garage door opener often requires the technical skills and experience of a professional. 

If there’s nothing apparently wrong with your Huntley garage door and garage door opener, you may want to call in a professional to perform some maintenance. Timely maintenance is the pound of cure that could save you from the problems listed above.