Fix it
Garage door will not open
There are three families of cause and they are easy to tell apart. If the opener runs but the door does not move, it is the trolley or a broken spring. If the opener does nothing at all, it is power or the logic board. If the door feels enormously heavy by hand, the spring has gone — and that one is not yours to fix.
Do this first
Pull the red emergency release cord and try to lift the door by hand. If it comes up smoothly and stays where you leave it, the door is fine and the opener is the problem. If it is enormously heavy or crashes down, stop — the spring is broken.
Before you touch anything
Never change your own springs
A torsion spring on a double garage door holds enough stored energy to break an arm, take out teeth, or worse. It is wound under tension with two steel bars, and if one slips it goes at the speed of the thing it was holding up. People are seriously injured doing this every year, and some are killed. There is no YouTube video that makes this safe, and the part costs less than the emergency room.
2 of 4 are yours to fix
What it usually turns out to be
| Cause | How to tell | What happens next | Yours? |
|---|---|---|---|
| A broken torsion spring | The door is far too heavy to lift, or there is a visible gap in the coiled spring above the opening. Often there was a bang from the garage earlier. | Springs are replaced in pairs by somebody with winding bars and the training to use them. Leave the door down and ring a company. | Call somebody |
| The trolley has disconnected | The opener motor runs and the chain or belt moves, but the door stays put. | The emergency release was pulled and the trolley has not re-engaged. Run the opener until the trolley reaches the carriage and it should click back in. | Yes |
| No power to the opener | No lights, no hum, nothing from the wall button. | Check the plug, the outlet and the breaker. Openers are often on a GFCI outlet that has tripped. | Yes |
| A snapped lift cable | One side of the door is higher than the other, or a cable is hanging loose beside the track. | Cables are under the same tension as the springs. This is a service call, not a repair. | Call somebody |
What it costs
$220 – $400
For a torsion spring, supplied and fitted. National guide range, checked September 2026 — get it in writing.
Exact price
Want somebody to look at it?
The range above is a guide. Tell us what you need and somebody who works your area will price it properly.
If the door will not move and a car is stuck behind it, do not wait on a form — leave the door where it is and ring somebody. Do not pull on the spring or the cable.
Your details are used to quote this job and nothing else.
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