Garage Door Repair

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Your garage door is the largest moving object in your home. It functions via a series of simple machines: pulleys, cables, rollers, axles, gears, etc. When one of these components is faulty, it can create secondary issues and cause other parts to wear out prematurely. Professional garage door companies with experienced technicians recommend having your garage door and opener serviced at least once a year. Here at State Line door & Lift, we also recommend having us out to do a safety check and tune-up on all your garage doors and garage door openers.

So what types of things can go wrong on your garage door and opener? Here is a quick review of some very common things that wear out over time, based on the frequency of use.

Garage Door Springs

Garage door springs create the counterbalance of the weight of your garage door. The springs are calibrated for the exact weight and size of your garage door. While most springs look the same, there is a significant difference. Extension springs are attached to the backhangs, or end of the horizontal track and extend above the track when the garage door closes. This is like having independent suspension on your car, each side pulling at a different rate, which is great for those with uneven garage floors.

However, these springs can cause damage and even death when they break. Unless, of course, you have safety cables attached. Torsion springs are attached to the wall above the garage door itself. These are most costly, but better for the lifespan of your garage door. These require specialized tools to replace and we do not recommend replacing as a DIY project.

The life expectancy of garage door springs varies from 10,000 cycles up to 50,000 for residential garage doors. One cycle is opening and closing the garage door. The average is approximately 7 years. Springs are designed to fail eventually, and engineers have not developed a garage door spring that lasts forever.

Extension springs can be replaced at a cost between $145-$200 for residential garage doors. Torsion springs can be replaced at a cost between $250-$400 for most residential garage doors. Some residential garage doors have commercial spring setups and push $1000 to replace. Prices include labor.

Garage Door Cables

The garage door springs provide the counterbalance of the garage door itself, via the cables that are attached to the bottom bracket of the garage door. Garage door cables often break where they attach to the bottom bracket, where water and humidity cause rust and corrosion. When one cable breaks, the door will end up crooked and difficult to close, often causing more damage to the track and garage door.

On bigger doors, this is actually very dangerous, and highly recommend calling out a professional immediately to get your home secure as soon as possible. Cables can be easily spotted for replacement with any tune up or safety inspection. A visual inspection will show rust and corrosion starting, and with the minimal cost of replacement, we highly recommend saving money and do some preventative repair.

Replacement cost is between $125-$185 for most residential garage doors, including labor.

Garage Door Pulleys

Pulleys are present only on garage doors with the extension spring system. There are four of them on your door. The front two pulleys, when bad, often cause the garage door to shimmy shake when closing.

Other symptoms include garage door bouncing, loud squealing or clicking noise, or rough/violent operation. These also are easily spotted on any tune up or safety inspection, and very affordable to replace. Highly recommend replacing all 4 pulleys on your garage door.

Pulleys can be replaced for $10-$20 each without labor.

Garage Door Rollers

The rollers on your garage door are what allow your door to run smoothly along the track. Many garage doors installed before 2008 here in Kansas City, came with steel rollers. These rollers were loud to begin with, and wear out quicker than nylon.

When your garage door is in the open position, the rollers are the only thing that keeps the door in the air, taking all the weight of the door on its stem. If you hear lots of clicking noises coming from your garage door when you open and close it, that’s the ball bearings in your rollers. They are worn out and need to be replaced. We highly recommend replacing with nylon coated, 11 ball bearing rollers. These rollers will last you decades and will quiet your door enough so you can have a conversation in the garage.

One mistake we see homeowners make is replacing these rollers themselves with purchases from big box stores, just to see them wear out within a year. These are low-quality rollers and highly discourage you from purchasing them at these stores. Bad rollers are easily caught with any safety inspection or tune-up.

Replacement cost ranges between $8-$20 each roller for most residential garage doors without labor.

Garage Door Section Replacement Options

Wood Section Replacement

Unfortunately, replacing rotten wood sections is something in the past. Our local dealer/supplier of wood sections here in Kansas City stopped production several years ago. The cost of replacing these sections now rivals the cost of a brand new complete garage door.

Most homes built here in Kansas City before 2000 have wood garage doors, which are now showing signs of water damage and rot. If you are seeing these signs, we highly recommend placing garage door replacement higher on your homeowner’s to-do list.

Replacement cost ranges from $400-$1100 for one bottom section without labor.

Steel Section Replacement

This is more easily done if you happen to have your car bump your garage door. The industry has moved to steel garage doors, providing more of a maintenance-free model.

Here is Kansas City, most garage doors are produced by just a few manufacturers that are still in production and easily accessible. However, the most popular garage door supplier from the 90s and 00s is no longer in business. These sections are no longer available and we have the unfortunate task of telling you the only fix is a new garage door.

Replacement cost ranges between $200-$500 for one bottom section on most residential garage doors

Garage Door Safety Sensors

The safety sensors on your garage door opener, or photo eyes as we call them, are there to prevent you from closing your garage door on something.  These became mandated by law in 1993, and all garage door openers are required to have them installed no more than 6 inches above ground level.

While they are a fantastic safety measure to keep kids and pets safe, it also helps prevent damage to your garage door and other valuable items in your garage. But like anything else, sometimes these become faulty, or quit working suddenly. If you find yourself with a garage door that won’t close, be sure to check your photo eyes, and make sure that the LED light on each one is on.

Check to make sure there is nothing in the beam path along your garage door opening. Make sure to adjust the photo eyes as needed, often times in the fall and spring months, homeowner accidently bump these when working in the yard or cleaning out the garage.

This will help you save money on a service call. We also try to walk you through this troubleshooting when you call. Other problems may be present, though. If a recent storm rolled through, you may have received a power surge to the garage door opener itself, causing the circuit board in the photo eyes to malfunction.

There could be an issue with the wire for the safety eyes as well. We always start with the most cost effective solution and work back from there, sometimes resulting in replacing the entire garage door opener itself, depending on the age of the opener. This, unfortunately, cannot be identified with any tune up or safety check as it’s electrical.

Replacement cost usually ranges from $150-$200 with labor on most residential garage door openers.

Garage Door Stripped gears

Another common repair is the gear kit in older Liftmaster, Chamberlain, and Craftsman garage door openers that are chain driven. While we know this is a development fault of these openers, made between 1990 and 2012, the openers themselves are good openers.

The gear kit in these openers can be easily replaced and often identified with any tune-up or safety checkup.

There are two points where the gear kit goes bad. The first is the plastic gear inside the opener itself. And the other is the sprocket where the chain attaches to the garage door opener on top of the unit.

Both are common wear and tear issues, however, it is a secondary problem that occurs due to some issue with your garage door itself. So, if you find yourself needing a new gear kit, make sure to double-check your garage door balances correctly. A trained professional technician will spot these issues with any safety check or tune-up.

Gear kits can be replaced between $145-$175, including labor.

Garage Door Remotes and Keypads

These electronic devices do go bad. They wear out, not from use usually, but because they are just electronic and some malfunction occurred.

Universal remotes range from $45-$65. Keypads range from $65-85. Without labor or service call.

Garage Door Repair Service Call

The most simple fixes just require someone with time and knowledge of what they are doing. Without any parts needed to fix a garage door, plan on paying a service call for the labor and knowledge.

We always want to fix your door with cost in mind. This means we will find any way to get your garage door up and running without added cost to you.

If it’s possible to fix your door without any additional parts, and we feel confident it’s safe for use, that’s all we will do.

Commercial Garage Door Repair

Commercial garage door repair is more geared for preventative maintenance. Often times, without a functioning garage door, your business comes to a halt or hampered in some way. Commercial service requires specialized equipment, tools, and knowledge of complex systems that your average garage door company lacks. Here at State Line Door & Lift, we have that knowledge.

We highly recommend signing up for a preventative maintenance service plan with us, so you never have an unexpected shut down of the production or functionality of your business.

We recognize you don’t make money if you can’t get your bay doors open to load or unload. Unsafe doors place your employees at risk of injury, dip in morale, disgruntled attitudes, etc.

Overhead door problems shouldn’t be an issue in your day to day operations. But in the event that you find yourself without a working overhead door or opener in your business, a commercial service call is $139.

Our service agreements can be customized to what you actually need, which doors you use more often, which ones are crucial to your operation, etc. We have annual, semi-annual, and even quarterly agreements. Want us out there every month? We do that, too.

Call to set up a Preventative Maintenance Agreement Estimate. We’ll come out and meet with you or your maintenance supervisor to give you the most thorough plan available. We also offer prepayments, automatic payments, and net 30 invoicing.

We do not provide on-site free estimates for repairs. A diagnosis fee is charged.


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