My Garage Door Keeps Getting Stuck

Peggy asks,

Once temperatures outside dip below 45 degrees, my garage door gets stuck. It raises about six inches then stops. If I manually help it past that six inch point it eventually goes up, but obviously this isn't ideal. It has been greased. What else can I try?

Our Answer

It sounds like your garage door is binding inside the tracks. There are a number of reasons why this might be happening: There could be a bad bearing on one of rollers, or there's a chance the track has become dented or twisted. To figure out the problem, disconnect it from the garage door opener. Then manually slide the door up and down, paying particular attention to where it seems to bind. Look closely and figure out why it's jamming – again, my guess is a problem with a roller or the track. Garage door rollers are easily replacable. If the track is twisted, it's probably because hardware holding the track to its wood frame has loosened. You might be able to straighten it out by simply tightening those screws, or you can hire someone who installs and fixes garage doors professionally.