When your door stops working right
A garage door that will not open, closes part way and reverses, makes grinding or banging noises, or moves unevenly is not a small inconvenience. If the garage is attached to your house, a door that will not fully close is a security and weather issue. If the door is the primary way in and out of your garage, a door that will not open is a real problem.
Ryan Bruch has been diagnosing and fixing garage doors across Carbon County for 35 years. He has seen most of what goes wrong and usually knows what the problem is from the description before he arrives. When he gets there, he tells you what it needs and what it costs — not after he has already taken things apart.
Call (610) 826-2400. If the problem can be described over the phone, Ryan will often be able to tell you what part is involved and what the repair looks like before scheduling.
What we repair
Broken springs The most common reason a garage door stops working. Springs do the heavy lifting — a counterbalanced door should open with two fingers of pressure. When a spring snaps, the opener or your arms are suddenly carrying the full weight of the door, and most openers are not designed for that. A broken spring is a specific repair with a specific cost; see the broken spring page for more detail.
Worn or snapped cables Cables run from the bottom of the door to the spring drum and carry tension alongside the spring. A frayed or broken cable makes the door move unevenly or drop on one side. This is a job for a professional — cable tension involves serious load, and improper repair can create a hazard.
Off-track doors A door that has jumped its track usually means something interrupted the travel path — a vehicle, a bump to the track, a hardware failure. An off-track door typically needs to come off the track completely, be inspected for panel or hardware damage, and be reset on the track properly. Running a door on a bent or misaligned track causes faster wear on every other component.
Damaged panels A vehicle that clips the door, a dent from a falling object, or a panel that has corroded or cracked over years. Sometimes a single panel can be replaced to match the existing door. Other times, panel age or the extent of the damage makes a full door replacement the more practical answer. Ryan will tell you which makes more sense.
Noisy doors A door that has become loud — grinding, squealing, banging — is usually a lubrication and hardware issue. Rollers wear down, hinges loosen, tracks accumulate grit. A service visit covers lubrication, hardware inspection and tightening, and adjustment of any components that have shifted out of spec. Most noisy door problems are inexpensive to fix when caught before a component fails.
Doors that will not close all the way This is often a safety sensor issue on openers installed after 1993. The two small sensors at the bottom of the track need to be aligned and clear of obstructions for the door to complete its close cycle. Misalignment, a dirty lens, or a damaged sensor wire can all cause this behavior. Less commonly, it is a limit adjustment on the opener itself.
Doors that reverse after hitting the floor Similar cause to the above — safety sensor misalignment or an incorrect down-force setting on the opener. On older openers, this can also be a mechanical limit switch issue.
Slow or struggling openers An opener that sounds labored or has gotten noticeably slower is usually a sign that either the opener is nearing end of life or the door itself has developed resistance — from a spring that has lost tension, worn rollers, or an out-of-balance door. We test the manual operation of the door first (disconnect the opener and lift by hand) to separate the door problem from the opener problem.
What a service call looks like
Ryan arrives, looks at the door, asks you what you have been seeing, and does a full inspection — manual operation, hardware check, spring and cable condition, opener function. He will tell you what he found and what the repair involves before any work is done. If parts need to be ordered, he will tell you the lead time.
We do not charge a diagnostic fee and then add the diagnosis to the repair cost on a separate line. The service call is the service call.
Routine maintenance
Many repair calls are preventable. Garage doors need periodic lubrication of rollers, hinges, and springs — and an occasional inspection of cable condition, spring tension, and hardware tightness. A door that gets attention once a year lasts longer and operates more quietly than one that gets serviced only when something breaks.
If you want a maintenance visit — not because something is wrong but because the door is a few years old and you want to know its condition — call and ask. We will schedule it and give you a straight assessment of what we find.
Schedule a repair
Call (610) 826-2400. We respond quickly to repair calls across Palmerton, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Nesquehoning, Lansford, Kunkletown, and the rest of Carbon County.
For non-emergency repairs, you can also email ryan@palmertongarage.com with a description of the problem and your address.
Palmerton Garage Door II LLC 3785 Forest Inn Road, Palmerton, PA 18071 (610) 826-2400 ryan@palmertongarage.com
Seven-time Times News Best Garage Door Company. Serving Carbon County since 1991.