Your garage door is either the largest or one of the largest openings in your home. As such, it’s important for the safety and security of your house that you can trust it to close properly. If your garage door closes and then reopens, this is both frustrating and a major security risk. Here’s what you need to know about why your garage door closes and then reopens.
Reasons Why Your Garage Door Closes Part Way, Then Reopens
If your garage door closes and then reopens when it’s only part of the way down, this is likely due to problems with your garage door safety sensors. Your safety sensors are there to ensure that your garage door doesn’t close on someone or something in its pathway. If your garage door is going back up after only closing part of the way, check to see if there’s something blocking your safety sensors, such as a box or a block of wood.
If there’s nothing blocking your safety sensors but your garage door closes and then reopens after only going part of the way down, there are a few reasons for this:
- The safety sensors’ lenses are dirty. They’re made of glass, after all. If your sensors’ lenses are dirty, they’ll tell your garage door system that the pathway is blocked, causing it to go back up.
- The sensors are misaligned. If your safety sensors are misaligned, they will also relay the signal that the pathway is blocked and that your garage door can’t come down all the way. You can usually realign safety sensors yourself. Here’s another one of our blogs that walks you through how to do this: How Do I Align The Sensors On My Garage Door?
Reasons Why Your Garage Door Closes All The Way, Then Reopens
If your garage door closes and then reopens after hitting the ground, the problem likely isn’t your safety sensors, but something else. There are multiple reasons why garage doors open by themselves, or close, then reopen. If your garage door closes and then reopens, here are some problems that can cause this to happen:
- The limit switch isn’t set correctly. Your limit switch is what determines where your garage door stops when it’s closed. If your limit switch isn’t set properly, this can be why your garage door closes and then reopens. If the limit is set beyond the ground, your garage door will reopen after it hits it because it presumes there’s something in its path, which activates the safety features that cause it to reopen. You’ll want to adjust your limit switch so that your garage door recognizes that the ground is where it’s meant to stop.
- The travel down settings need adjustment. Your garage door’s travel settings work in a similar manner to its limit switch. The travel settings tell your garage how far it’s supposed to travel before it stops. Just like with your limit switch, if your garage door hits the ground before it travels how far it was set to, it will reverse, as it will assume that there’s an obstruction in its pathway. This can be fixed by simply adjusting the travel down setting in your garage door opener. In some cases, weather changes can affect the distance your garage door travels, which can be why your garage door closes then reopens when it didn’t used to do this.
- The logic board needs replacement. Your garage door’s logic board controls how it operates. If your logic board needs replacement, it can start causing problems, like when your garage food closes and then reopens, due to the amount of wear and tear it experiences over the years. You typically want to have your logic board replaced every 10 years or so, depending on how much you use your garage door.
What To Do If Your Garage Door Closes And Then Reopens
We’ve gone over some of the steps that you can take if your garage door closes and then reopens. If you’re struggling with this issue, it’s important to properly diagnose the cause of the issue, so that it can be fixed properly. As such, you’ll want to contact a garage door professional to come out and see what’s causing your garage door to close and then reopen. They’ll be able to properly diagnose the problem and determine how to fix it.
Does Your Garage Door Close Then Reopen?
Advanced Door provides professional garage door services. If your garage door is closing and then reopening, we can figure out why and then fix it, so that you can go back to life as normal. Is your garage door closing and then reopening? Contact us today to schedule your appointment!