Blog Layout

Why Does My Garage Door Slam Shut?

Matthew Scroggs • Jul 28, 2021

You just pulled out of your garage door early one morning on your way to work. As you are still pulling your car in reverse, you click on your garage door opener to close your door as you depart. Suddenly you are jolted awake by a large thud, and although you might not have caught it since you spilled your coffee, you realized that your garage door slammed shut. At this moment you are likely just relieved that no one or nothing was in the path of the falling garage door and may be thinking what to do next.

Your garage door slamming shut or falling definitely needs to be taken seriously. Falling doors are especially unsafe if you have kids or pets around, since the safety reversal feature equipped on most garages will not work in these situations. Regardless, anything in the way of a slamming garage door is at risk of major injury or damage.

Why Does My Garage Door Slam Shut?

Most times a slamming garage door indicates a problem with the garage springs. Without springs, the opener cannot support the weight required to open and close the door. After thousands of repeated cycles, the springs will weaken, and if not replaced, will break. Unfortunately, if you ignore the problem, the excessive damage from falling will result in having to replace the door. Slamming doors can also break your garage door seal, the only thing protecting your garage from bugs, water, and small critters from entering.

Garage door slamming can also happen from close force adjustment settings being too high. There is a setting on your garage door opener that controls the amount of force needed to properly open and close your door. If there is too much force, the door will hit the floor instead of slowly stopping. Usually this just takes an adjustment with a screwdriver on the force adjustment dials. You can test the adjustments until the door is no longer slamming. This fix is only temporary and will need to be done again as your springs continue to weaken. If you notice your springs have already lost some of their bounce, it might be best to simply replace them instead of bargaining that the change will do the trick.

Uplift Garage: Reliable Garage Door Repair and Services

A spring replacement is much less expensive than having a replace a badly damaged door. When in doubt, it is always best to have a garage expert inspect the condition of your garage door to prevent further damage or worse, injury.

Our garage door repair experts at Uplift Garage can remedy any garage door issue even if it isn’t listed above! Give us a call, and we can do a same-day inspection to determine the problem and find a prompt solution. Whether you have a commercial or residential garage door, we service them all and will get it working correctly for a reasonable rate.