Who do you call for a garage door problem?

Sort the problem by the part that failed, then dial

Nearly every garage door problem falls into one of six buckets, and the bucket decides the phone call. The door hardware is garage door work. A dead opener is either garage door work or electrical work. Remotes and keypads are usually your own fix. A door hit by a car starts as an insurance question. A brand new house is the builder's. A rental is the landlord's.

Two minutes spent naming the failed part prevents the most common delay in this trade, which is a first call to someone who cannot actually do the job. Below is each bucket, what puts you in it, and who to call.

Springs, cables, tracks, rollers and panels: a garage door company

Call a garage door company for anything mechanical on the door itself. That covers the torsion or extension springs, the lift cables, the tracks, the rollers, the hinges, the bottom brackets, and the sections, which are the horizontal panels the door is built from.

This is not a sales preference. DASMA, the trade association for door and opener manufacturers, states it plainly: "Because of potential dangers involved, all repairs and adjustments must be performed by a trained door systems technician using proper tools and instructions." Its checklist for building code officials goes further. It tells inspectors to visually inspect parts under spring tension but "DO NOT TOUCH," because those components are under extreme tension.

The reason is the stored energy. As DASMA puts it, the garage door is "typically the largest moving object in the house, and many of its components are under high tension." When the door is closed, the springs are holding that entire weight wound into a bar of steel. A cable under that load can take a finger off. That is why most general trades will not quote the work, and why the ones who will are the ones to be careful of.

You are in this bucket if: the door will not lift by hand, one side hangs lower than the other, you can see a gap in a spring coil above the door, a cable has gone slack or jumped off its drum, the door has come out of its track, or the door dropped fast instead of lowering.

The opener is dead: this may be the electrician, not the door company

Check whether the opener has power before you call anyone, because a dead circuit and a dead opener need different trades. If the motor head shows nothing at all, no work light, no indicator LED, and no response from the wall button, suspect the circuit first.

Chamberlain, which builds LiftMaster and Chamberlain openers, sets out the order: plug a known working 120 volt device into the same outlet, check the circuit breaker, and check whether the outlet is controlled by a wall light switch. Its own instruction, if power cannot be restored that way, is to contact a qualified electrician.

So the split runs like this:

• No power at the outlet: electrician. A door technician can confirm the outlet is dead, but cannot rewire the circuit or replace a breaker.
• Power at the outlet, opener still lifeless: garage door company. That points to the logic board, transformer, capacitor, or motor.
• Opener hums or runs but the door does not move: garage door company. The trolley has disconnected from the door, or the door is jammed.
• Opener runs and then reverses: garage door company. Usually the safety sensors or a door that is binding.

Worth knowing before you pay for a diagnostic: garage circuits in newer homes are often on a GFCI, and a tripped GFCI reads exactly like a dead opener. Look for a reset button on the outlet itself, or on another outlet on the same circuit.

Remotes, keypads and sensors: often yours to fix in ten minutes

Try these yourself first, because they are the cheapest problems on this page and a service call is rarely justified. If one remote works and another does not, the dead one needs a battery or reprogramming, not a technician. If nothing works from any remote but the wall button does, that is the opener's receiver or an antenna wire, which is a service call. If the door opens but will not close, and the opener clicks or its light blinks, look at the two photo eye sensors near the floor on each side. They must face each other and both show a steady light. Sun glare, a cobweb, a knocked bracket, or a stored bike can break the beam.

A car hit the door: start with your insurer, not a contractor

Call your homeowners insurer first when a vehicle has struck the door, because the claim decision changes what you buy. An impact usually bends more than the panel you can see. It can tweak the track, bend a roller stem, or twist the bottom bracket, and a full section replacement is a different price from a patch.

The catch is that many of these repairs land under a typical deductible, so filing is not automatically right. Get a written repair estimate from a garage door company first, then compare it against your deductible before you open a claim. If the damage is clearly under it, skip the claim and just book the repair. Our page on whether homeowners insurance covers garage door repair walks through that math in detail.

One caution if the door is stuck partly open after an impact: do not force it with the opener. Running the motor against a bent track is how a repairable panel becomes a replacement door.

The house is newly built: check the builder warranty first

Call the builder, not a garage door company, if the house is new. On a new build, the door was supplied and installed by the builder's subcontractor, and workmanship in the early period of ownership is normally the builder's obligation to correct, at no cost to you. Hiring your own company can mean paying for something you were already owed.

Find your warranty booklet from closing, note the workmanship coverage period, and call the builder's warranty line rather than the subcontractor. There is a second reason to go through them. Manufacturers tie door warranties to correct installation, and Amarr's residential installation instructions carry the line "Failure to comply with these instructions invalidates the warranty." Outside work done wrong on a new door can cost you the manufacturer coverage as well.

You rent: this is the landlord's repair, and Colorado puts a clock on it

Notify your landlord in writing and do not hire anyone yourself. In Colorado, a warranty of habitability is implied in every residential lease, and the landlord is responsible for maintaining the premises as fit for habitation under section 38-12-503, C.R.S. Once the landlord has notice of a qualifying condition, the statute requires remedial action to begin within 24 hours where the condition materially interferes with your life, health or safety, and within 72 hours for other uninhabitable conditions.

Whether a garage door qualifies depends on the specifics. The statute's list of conditions presumed to materially interfere includes "a lack of working locks or security devices on exterior doors and windows," which is a reasonable argument for an attached garage door that will not close and shut. The list is not exhaustive, and this has not been settled for garages specifically, so treat it as a strong position rather than a certainty.

The important part is the process. Colorado does allow a tenant to repair and deduct the cost from rent under section 38-12-507, but only after giving the landlord at least ten days' advance written notice of your intent to hire someone. That drops to 48 hours if you have a good faith belief the condition materially interferes with your life, health or safety. The work has to go to a licensed or otherwise qualified professional who is not a relative of yours, and the landlord must get the chance to fix it inside that window first. Skip those steps, call a company on your own, and you will likely be paying the bill yourself.

The three calls that waste the most time

A handyman. Fine for a bottom seal, weatherstrip, tightening loose hinge screws, or lubrication. Not for springs or cables, which DASMA restricts to a trained door systems technician. A handyman who agrees to do spring work is a warning sign, not a bargain.

A locksmith. Right only if the problem is an actual lock, such as the cylinder in a side entry door or a T-handle lock on an older door. If the door is stuck shut because of a broken spring or a jammed track, a locksmith cannot help and may damage the door trying.

A home warranty plan. If you hold one, file the claim with the plan before you call anyone. These plans require you to use their assigned contractor, and calling your own company first normally forfeits reimbursement. Coverage varies a lot on what parts of the door are included, so read the contract rather than assuming.

When it is a real emergency

Call for same day or after hours service in four situations: the door is stuck open and the house is exposed, a car is trapped inside and you need it out now, a spring has snapped while the door was up, or the door has come off its track and is hanging. Those are safety and security problems, not inconveniences.

Everything else, including a noisy door, a slow door, a dead remote, or a small gap, can wait for a normal appointment and will usually cost less booked that way. If you are unsure which side of that line you are on, describe the symptom on the phone and ask. A company worth hiring will tell you honestly when it can wait.