Garage Door Slams Shut or Closes Too Fast? San Diego Repair

What you are seeing

The door comes down faster than it used to and hits the floor with a bang. Or you pull it down by hand, let go a few feet up, and it drops the rest of the way. Some doors fall the moment the emergency release is pulled.

A garage door should come down at a steady pace and settle onto the floor. One that slams is telling you its weight is no longer being carried, and that makes it a crush hazard for anyone or anything under it, from a child to the hood of a car.

Notice the details: whether it slams under the opener or only by hand, whether it drops level or one side first, and whether you heard a bang from above the door recently.

What usually causes it

A sectional door is counterbalanced by springs, so the opener only guides it. When the door slams, the springs or the parts they work through have usually failed.

• A broken spring. A broken torsion spring shows a gap of about two inches in the coil above the door. See broken spring.
• Worn springs. Standard springs are commonly rated around 10,000 cycles. Near the end they no longer carry the full weight, so the door drops faster and is heavy to lift by hand.
• A cable off its drum or snapped. That side loses its support and comes down crooked and hard. See cable snapped or off the drum.
• Lost balance. Springs sized for a lighter door, or an old wood door that has gained weight under decades of paint.
• The opener. With sound springs and cables, the down travel may be set too far, so the opener keeps pushing after the door reaches the floor.

What you can safely check in two minutes

Safety first: a door that slams has lost what holds it up, so treat it as dangerous and keep everyone out from under it.

1. Look at the springs from the floor: a two-inch gap in a torsion coil, or an extension spring hanging loose or missing its safety cable.
2. Look at the cables at both bottom corners for fraying, slack or a cable hanging off its drum.
3. Look at the door while it is closed: is it level, or lower on one side?
4. Leave the release alone while the door is open. On weak or broken springs, an open door can fall the moment it is disconnected.
5. Skip the hand balance test. It is for doors with sound springs.

What we do about it

Springs come first every time. Softening the opener to slow a door that has lost its springs only hides the problem.

• Broken or worn springs: we fit springs sized to the door's actual weight and balance it so it stays put halfway, our spring replacement. Extension-spring doors, including one-piece tilt-ups, get new springs in pairs, with safety cables where the springs run along the tracks.
• A cable off or snapped: new cables on both sides, the drums checked and the door set level, our cable and drum replacement.
• Lost balance: spring tension set to match the door, then tested by hand with the opener disconnected.
• Opener settings: with the door balanced, we set travel and force and run the reversing test with an obstacle under the door. A worn opener goes to opener repair.

When it is not worth repairing

Springs and cables wear out on a schedule, and replacing them is nearly always worth it. The door itself is the question when:

• Years of hitting the floor have cracked or bent the bottom section or its struts. A damaged section is measured and quoted, see panel replacement.
• An old wood door has rotted or grown so heavy that new springs would be sized for a door near the end of its life.
• Several sections are damaged, which makes a new door the better spend. That is work for a licensed contractor, and we say so. Our guide on whether to repair or replace a garage door helps you decide.

Across San Diego

Extension springs are the usual suspect in the older parts of the county. In Kensington and Talmadge, narrow doors on detached 1920s to 1950s garages often hang on a pair of extension springs, and each one needs a safety cable through it.

In Lemon Grove, the wood tilt-up doors still in service have picked up decades of paint, and stretched springs that let them drop are the usual repair.

In Bonita, where many owners have stayed for decades, the springs, cables and opener can be as old as the house, and parts that age tend to give out close together.

Where we see this

We cover all of San Diego County, same day in most cases. Some of the places we work:

• Imperial Beach
• La Mesa
• El Cajon
• Santee
• Poway
• Escondido
• San Marcos
• Vista
• Kensington and Talmadge
• University City
• Ocean Beach
• Carmel Mountain Ranch
• Rancho Peñasquitos
• Allied Gardens and Del Cerro
• All service areas

Related guides

• Broken Garage Door Spring: What to Do Right Now: Heard a loud bang in the garage? How to spot a broken spring, why the door stays shut and the opener off, and what to do while you wait for the repair.
• Torsion vs Extension Garage Door Springs: What's the Difference?: How torsion and extension garage door springs work, how to tell which you have, pros and cons, safety cables, conversion and what each means for repair.
• Garage Door Spring Replacement Cost in San Diego: What garage door spring replacement typically costs in San Diego: one spring or two, torsion or extension, high-cycle upgrades and what a fair quote shows.