The good news: when a garage door won't close, the cause is almost always one of six common issues — and a couple of them you can check yourself in about two minutes. Here's what's likely going on.
1. The safety sensors are blocked or misaligned
Every modern opener has two small "photo-eye" sensors about six inches off the floor, one on each side of the door. If anything breaks the invisible beam between them — a bin, a bike, a cobweb, even bright sunlight — the door refuses to close and usually rolls back up. Dirty lenses or a sensor knocked out of alignment do the same thing.
What to do: clear anything near the tracks, gently wipe both lenses, and check the little indicator lights — both should be solid, not blinking. If one is flashing, nudge it slightly until it stops.
2. Something is in the door's path
The auto-reverse safety feature also stops the door if it senses an obstruction on the way down — a stored item leaning into the opening, a build-up of debris in the track, or ice in winter.
What to do: look along the full width of the door and both tracks for anything catching or blocking the path.
3. The close-limit setting is off
Openers use a "travel limit" to know when the door has reached the floor. If it's set wrong, the opener thinks the door has hit something before it's fully down — so it reverses back up. This often creeps in gradually, or right after a power cut.
What to do: this is a small adjustment screw or button on the opener. It's easy to overshoot, so it's usually best set by a technician.
4. A broken spring or cable
The springs above the door do the heavy lifting. When one snaps — often with a loud bang — the door becomes far too heavy for the opener, so it won't close properly or won't stay down. You might also spot a hanging or frayed cable.
What to do: stop using the door and call a professional. Springs and cables are under extreme tension and are dangerous to touch.
5. The door is off its track or the rollers are worn
A bent track, a loose bracket or worn rollers can let the door bind or jump the track, so it won't close smoothly — or at all. You'll often hear grinding, or see the door sitting crooked.
What to do: don't force it. Running an off-track door can bend the panels. This one needs a pro.
6. An opener, remote or lock issue
Sometimes it's electrical: a dead remote battery, a glitchy logic board, or the wall-mounted "vacation lock" switch left on — which disables the remotes.
What to do: try the wall button, replace the remote battery, and check that any lock switch is off. If the wall button closes the door but the remotes won't, it's usually one of these.
Bonus: the winter freeze
In a GTA winter, the rubber weather seal along the bottom can freeze to the concrete. The opener reads that resistance as an obstruction and reverses. Carefully clearing the ice along the base often solves it.
When to call a professional
You can safely check the sensors, obstructions, remote batteries and the lock switch yourself. But anything involving springs, cables or an off-track door is high-tension and genuinely dangerous — that's where you should stop and call us. Most of these are same-day fixes across the GTA, and we quote the price before we start.