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🍁 Conçu pour les foyers canadiens — rédigé selon les codes canadiens et les règles provinciales. N’est pas destiné à un usage hors du Canada.
ÉBAUCHE — cette page n’a pas encore été révisée par un professionnel licencié. Aperçu éditorial seulement.

Garage door won't open or close

Nine times out of ten this is a blocked sensor, a dead battery, or a pulled release cord — free fixes. The one exception announces itself with a loud bang; this page will help you tell the difference.

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In Canadian homes, the most common cause to rule out is the pair of photo-eye sensors near the floor on each side of the opening. If the small light on one is blinking or dark, the beam is blocked or the bracket got knocked crooked: move whatever's in the way, wipe the lenses, and nudge the bracket until the light goes steady. A blinking opener light when the door refuses to close is this cause's signature.

Classé selon des données de pannes réelles. L’ordre s’ajuste selon vos observations ci-dessus.

Causes probables, dans l’ordre à vérifier

Ordre typique affiché
Pour débutant Faisable, avec soin Sécurité critique Appelez un pro

visibilityHow to check

  1. Find the two small sensors about 15 cm off the floor, one on each side of the opening, facing each other across the doorway.
  2. Each has a small indicator light. Steady on both sides means they see each other; blinking or dark on one side means the beam is blocked or a bracket is knocked out of line.
  3. Press the close button and watch the opener's overhead light. Blinking instead of closing is the opener telling you the photo eyes vetoed the move — this cause's signature.
buildsoft cloth schedule5 min

handymanHow to fix it

Clear whatever crosses the beam, wipe both lenses, and nudge the blinking sensor's bracket until its light goes steady, then run a close cycle to confirm.

  1. Move anything in the beam's path — bins, shovels, a leaning bike tire — and sweep away cobwebs. In winter, check for snow kicked in over a sensor.
  2. Wipe both lenses with a soft dry cloth. Road salt film and condensation both fool them.
  3. If a light still blinks, loosen its bracket's wing nut slightly and nudge the sensor until the light goes steady, then retighten. You're aiming it at its partner across the doorway.
  4. Run a full close from the wall button and watch it reach the floor. If the eyes still veto with clean, aligned, unblocked lenses, the wiring up to the opener is next — a reasonable point to hand off to a technician.
schedule10 min savingssouvent gratuit
gavel Vérifiez d’abord votre province AB: permis au propriétaire · BC: permis au propriétaire · ON: permis au propriétaire · PE: permis au propriétaire · QC: permis au propriétaire
Homeowner adjustment/cleaning on their own door; low-voltage sensor and hardware work with no provincial licensing trigger. REVIEW: confirm no provincial or municipal exceptions. Note the spring cause carries no fix on purpose — its restriction is a safety gate, not a legal status.

visibilityHow to check

  1. Try the wall button first. If the wall button works and the remote doesn't, the door and opener are fine — the problem is in the remote's battery or the lock feature.
  2. Look at the wall console for a lock button or a lit padlock icon. Lock mode ignores remotes and keypads on purpose; it gets pressed by accident constantly.
  3. Try a second remote or the outdoor keypad if you have one. All remotes dead but the wall button fine points to lock mode; one remote dead points to its battery.
buildAucun outil schedule5 min

handymanHow to fix it

Turn off lock mode from the wall console (usually press-and-hold the lock button), and replace the remote's battery with the type printed inside its case.

  1. If the lock icon is lit, press and hold the wall console's lock button for about two seconds (your opener's manual has the exact gesture) until the icon goes out, then test a remote.
  2. For a dead remote: slide or pry the case open, note the battery type printed inside — commonly a CR2032 coin cell or an A23 — and fit a fresh one the same way up.
  3. Test from inside the garage first, then from the driveway. If a fresh battery and unlocked console still do nothing, re-pair the remote per the opener manual before suspecting anything bigger.
schedule10 min savings$5–15
Garage remote battery (CR2032 or A23)Open the remote and match the type printed inside — commonly CR2032 coin cell or A23

visibilityHow to recognize it (from the floor)

  1. With the door closed and your feet on the floor, look up at the bar above the door opening. A healthy torsion spring is one continuous coil along the bar; a broken one shows a clean gap of a few centimetres, as if a slice were cut out.
  2. Glance at the cables running up each side of the door. Slack, dangling, or unwound cable is the same story told from the sides.
  3. Recognition ends here. Don't lift the door by hand, don't pull the red release cord, and don't press the opener button again — a spring-broken door has nothing safely holding its weight.
buildAucun outil schedule2 min

verifiedPourquoi confier ceci à un pro

Torsion springs hold the energy it takes to lift a door that weighs as much as a fridge, and they release it instantly if a fitting slips — winding them takes proper bars, the right spring, and trained hands, and getting it wrong causes life-changing injuries every year. That's why nothing on this page tells you how to adjust or replace one, on purpose. A garage door professional replaces both springs in about an hour, typically $300–700 CAD, and will check the cables and balance while they're up there. Keep people and cars clear of the door until they arrive.

Vos notes accompagnent la demande — ce que vous avez vu, ce que vous avez éliminé, quand ça a commencé — pour que le pro arrive avec une longueur d’avance.

visibilityHow to recognize it

  1. Press the wall button and listen at the motor unit on the ceiling. A hum or grinding sound while the trolley on the rail stays put points to a stripped drive gear or a failing motor.
  2. Rule out the simpler cousins first: if the trolley moves but the door doesn't, that's the release cord; if the unit is silent and dark, check its plug and the circuit breaker.
  3. Fine white or tan shavings dusting the top of the motor unit are the stripped gear's calling card — worth mentioning to the technician on the phone.
buildAucun outil schedule5 min

verifiedPourquoi confier ceci à un pro

Opener repair happens overhead on a ladder, beside a spring system that's under tension the whole time — and a stripped gear is often the symptom, not the disease: doors that have grown too heavy from a tired spring chew through gears. A technician can swap the gear or the unit and, more importantly, check the door's balance so the new one lasts. Expect roughly $150–350 CAD for a gear job, more if the unit is due for replacement.

Vos notes accompagnent la demande — ce que vous avez vu, ce que vous avez éliminé, quand ça a commencé — pour que le pro arrive avec une longueur d’avance.

visibilityHow to check

  1. Press the wall button and watch the rail on the ceiling. If the trolley slides along the rail but the door doesn't move, the door has been disconnected from the opener.
  2. Look at the red-corded release handle on the trolley. On most openers a disengaged carriage sits visibly apart from the trolley, and the handle hangs at a different angle than you're used to.
  3. Think back: a power outage, or someone getting the car out during one, is the usual story behind a pulled release.
buildAucun outil schedule5 min

handymanHow to fix it

warning Re-engage only with the door fully closedIf the door is partway up, or feels far heavier than it used to when moved by hand, stop — those are signs of a broken spring, and reconnecting the opener to a spring-broken door can slam it down or strip the opener's gear. With the door resting fully closed, re-engaging is safe and takes a minute. Not sure the door is sitting right? A technician's service call settles it cheaply.

With the door fully closed, set the release toward the door per the handle's arrow, then run the opener so the trolley travels until it clicks into the carriage.

  1. Confirm the door is resting fully closed on the floor. If it isn't — or it's much heavier than normal to move — stop here and read the spring section instead.
  2. Pull the red handle toward the door (most openers; the handle's arrow or your manual confirms the direction) so the release lever sets to re-engage.
  3. Press the wall button. The trolley travels along the rail and clicks into the carriage; the next press moves the door normally. Watch one full open-and-close from inside.
schedule5 min savingssouvent gratuit

visibilityHow to check

  1. With the door wherever it stopped, walk both tracks with a flashlight from floor to ceiling curve. You're looking for debris on the flanges, a dented or pinched section, or a roller sitting crooked or out of its track.
  2. Look at the rollers themselves: a healthy roller sits square in the track and spins as the door moves; a dry or seized one drags, squeals, and leaves rub marks.
  3. Look, don't pry. If a roller is out of the track, a lift cable at the door's side hangs loose or sits off its drum, or the door leans in the opening, stop — that's the escalation at the top of this page, not a cleaning job.
buildflashlight schedule10 min

handymanHow to fix it

warning Stay clear of the cables and springsThe lift cables at each side of the door and the spring assembly above it are under heavy tension whenever the door isn't fully open — they're what holds the door's weight. Clean tracks and lubricate rollers freely, but don't loosen, unbolt, or pry anything a cable or spring attaches to, and never back off the red-painted or spring-anchor bolts. If a cable is frayed, slack, or off its drum, stop and call a garage door professional — that repair is theirs.

Clear debris from the tracks, snug any loose track-bracket screws, and lubricate rollers and hinges with a silicone or garage-door lubricant — touching nothing attached to the springs or lift cables.

  1. Brush or vacuum debris off the track flanges and wipe the inside faces with a rag. Don't grease the tracks — rollers are meant to roll on clean metal, and grease collects grit.
  2. Snug any visibly loose lag screws holding track brackets to the wall framing. Snug means firm, not torqued — you're removing wobble, not re-aligning the track.
  3. Spray a silicone or garage-door lubricant on each roller's bearing and each hinge pivot. In a cold Canadian garage, skip standard grease — it stiffens in winter and gums the rollers.
  4. Run a full open and close from the wall button, standing clear, and listen: the binding spot should be gone. A door that still strains or reverses at the same place needs a technician's eye on the track alignment.
schedule20 min savings$5–20
Garage door lubricant (silicone)Silicone or garage-door-specific spray — not standard grease, which stiffens in cold garages and collects grit
gavel Vérifiez d’abord votre province AB: permis au propriétaire · BC: permis au propriétaire · ON: permis au propriétaire · PE: permis au propriétaire · QC: permis au propriétaire
Homeowner adjustment/cleaning on their own door; low-voltage sensor and hardware work with no provincial licensing trigger. REVIEW: confirm no provincial or municipal exceptions. Note the spring cause carries no fix on purpose — its restriction is a safety gate, not a legal status.
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Pourquoi la liste est dans cet ordre

Nous ne classons pas seulement selon la probabilité. Nous classons comme le ferait un bon artisan honnête : éliminer d’abord les causes gratuites, sûres et courantes. C’est pourquoi les vérifications peu coûteuses passent avant les réparations chères — et pourquoi tout ce qui est dangereux reçoit un arrêt net plutôt qu’un encouragement. Cet ordre existe pour vous faire économiser, pas pour vous vendre quelque chose.