Emergency diagnosis — door will not open
Garage door won't open: work through this first
24/7 emergency call-out available
A door that refuses to open is not always a broken door. A decent share of the call-outs we take are power, sensors, a shifted safety beam or a lock that has been engaged without anyone realising.
Run through this in order. If you reach the end without a result, it is a mechanical fault and worth an engineer.
Two-minute checks
Simple first, always.
- Is there power at the socket? Check the fuse and the RCD — garage circuits trip more often than people expect.
- Try the wall control as well as the remote. If the wall control works, the fault is in the remote.
- Look for a lit or blinking indicator on the operator; the pattern often identifies the fault.
- Check whether a manual lock or slide bolt has been thrown.
- Check the manual release cord has not been pulled, leaving the door disengaged from the carriage.
Safety sensors and obstructions
Photocells across the bottom of the opening stop the door if the beam is broken or misaligned. A bike wheel, a bin, a cobweb, or a knocked bracket will all do it. Clean both lenses and check they are pointing at each other; most units show a steady light when aligned and a flashing one when not.
Clear the track of grit and check nothing is wedged under the bottom rail.
When to stop and call
Stop if the door is visibly crooked, if a cable is hanging loose, if you can see a gap in a spring, or if the motor strains and hums without movement. Continuing to operate it in that state turns one repair into several.
What we do on arrival
We diagnose the actual cause rather than replacing parts speculatively, quote before starting, and complete most repairs on the first visit from the spares we carry. If we need to order a component, we secure the opening before we leave.
Questions we get asked
- My remote does nothing but the wall button works — what is it?
- Almost always the remote: a flat battery, or lost pairing. Both are quick to resolve.
- The motor runs but the door does not move. Why?
- The door has usually disengaged from the carriage via the manual release, or the drive component has failed. Do not keep running it.
- Can I get my car out in the meantime?
- If the door is sound and simply unpowered, the manual release lets you operate it by hand. If a spring or cable has failed, wait for an engineer — the door can drop.
- Do you charge a call-out fee?
- We quote before any work starts, so you know the figure before you commit. Out-of-hours emergency attendance is priced separately and stated up front.
- Do you cover my area?
- We cover Northern Ireland from our Dromore base, including Belfast, Lisburn, Banbridge, Newry, Craigavon and the surrounding districts.
Still not opening? We are on call 24/7
Describe the symptom on the phone and we will usually tell you what it is before we arrive.
Based at 31 Mount Street, Dromore (BT25) · covering Northern Ireland · 24/7 emergency repairs