Garage Doors in Peninsular ParkEvery remote,
on the same page.

With the opener disconnected, the door is lifted by hand. If it moves with light effort and stays put at waist height, the springs are carrying its weight as designed. If it drifts up, sinks or feels heavy, the springs are out of step with the door and the opener has been doing the lifting. That strain shortens the opener's life and can defeat its reversal settings, which is why balance is checked first.

Watch the door move. A cosmetic dent leaves the section flat at the joints, the door travelling without a catch, and the hinges and rollers seated normally. Signs that the damage goes further include a crease that reaches a joint or stile, a hinge screw that has pulled out, a roller sitting crooked in the track, a gap of daylight at a joint, or a shudder as that section reaches the track curve. Any of those calls for a proper assessment.

Gauge runs backwards: a larger number means thinner steel. Light single doors often come with 18-gauge hinges, 14-gauge is the heavier standard for most residential doors, and 11-gauge is commercial stock. A heavy insulated double door, a door used many times a day, or a door whose hinges keep cracking benefits from the thicker option. The technician matches or improves on what was fitted, provided the width and hole pattern suit the stiles.

Each corner of the door is held by its own cable. When one cable stretches, slips its drum or breaks, that corner loses its lift and drops while the other stays up, so the door tips and usually wedges against the track. Setting both cables to the same length and tension is part of every cable replacement, and it is what brings the door back level.