My garage door stopped halfway and won't go up or down

Likely causes, most common first

A broken spring stops most of these doors, and a tilted bottom edge points to a cable instead.

1. Most common

   Broken spring, opener out of force

   The sign: The opener strained, slowed and quit partway, the door sits level, and a spring overhead has a visible break or hangs loose along a side track.

   The fix: Secure and lower the door, install new springs matched to its weight, and balance everything before any more opener use. Garage Door Spring Replacement, from $249

2. Common

   A lift cable came off its drum

   The sign: The door sits tilted with one bottom corner higher, and the cable on the low side is slack, bunched at the drum or lying loose.

   The fix: Rewind or replace both cables, inspect the drums, and square the door before it moves again. Garage Door Cable and Drum Repair, from $189

3. Common

   A roller jammed or left the track

   The sign: The door stopped at one spot with a crunch or a bang, and a roller sits cocked, cracked or outside the track there.

   The fix: Free the door, replace the damaged rollers and cracked hinges, and straighten track the jam pushed out of line. Garage Door Roller and Hinge Replacement, from $199

4. Less common

   The opener quit on its force setting or lost the trolley

   The sign: The door is level, springs and cables look normal, and the opener light is blinking or the trolley has come unlatched from the door arm.

   The fix: Find whatever made the door drag, then reset force and travel or repair the trolley and carriage. Garage Door Opener Repair, from $149

5. Less common

   Something stored in the door path

   The sign: A ladder, ceiling storage rack, bike hoist or shop light sits where the top section swings up onto the ceiling tracks.

   The fix: Move the item, then check the top section, the opener arm bracket and the tracks for bends from the collision. Garage Door Panel and Section Replacement, from $449

6. Less common

   Ice packed in the bottom of a track

   The sign: On a freezing morning the door stops low, right where slush or ice has built up inside one vertical track.

   The fix: Thaw and clear the track, then repair any roller or track section the ice forced out of shape. Garage Door Track Repair and Replacement, from $169

What you can safely check in two minutes

Each of these is a look, not a touch, done from a spot well outside the path of the door.

• Step back to the driveway or the far wall and see whether the bottom edge is level or one side hangs lower.
• Check each lower corner of the door, from a distance, for a cable that has gone slack, frayed or unwound.
• Scan the springs over the opening for a split coil, or a side-mounted spring hanging loose.
• Look under the ceiling tracks for a ladder, rack or stored item the top section could have struck.
• See if the opener light flashes, and if the trolley still grips the door arm.
• On a cold morning, peer into the base of both side tracks for packed ice or slush.

Who is holding the door up right now

With healthy springs, the springs are holding it; with a failed spring or cable, the opener arm and trolley may be carrying most of the weight, which is why the release cord stays untouched.

A balanced door is built to stay wherever it stops, because the springs offset nearly all of its weight. When one has failed, that load shifts onto the opener and its arm, and pulling the cord moves it again, onto anyone standing below or straight onto the floor.

A door that stalled only because the power dropped, with whole springs and a level bottom edge, is a different case, and our guide to opening a door by hand covers lowering it with a helper. If anything looks broken, leave it for us.

Workshop garages and track ice stop doors midway too

Not every door that stalls halfway has a broken part; in converted workshop garages and on icy winter mornings, the door often just runs into something.

Around Concordia and Piedmont, some small detached garages behind older homes have become workshops, studios or storage. Ceiling racks, hanging bikes and shop lights get mounted wherever there is room, and the top section of the door swings up into exactly that space.

Clark County, Camas and Washougal included, landed in a federal disaster declaration after the January 2024 storms. In weather like that, slush that drips off a car and runs into the bottom of a track can freeze overnight into a lump the rollers cannot climb, and the door stops a foot or two up.

What happens when we arrive at a stuck door

The first job is making the door stay put, and only after that do we figure out what broke and bring the door down.

1. Clamp the door and unload the springs

   Clamps on both tracks hold the door still, and any spring that still carries tension gets wound down with winding bars rather than by loosening a bracket.

2. Bring it down level

   The door comes to the floor without a corner dropping, so the sections and hinges take no new damage.

3. Replace what failed

   The broken spring, cable or roller is replaced at its posted price, and any extra part is pointed out and priced before it goes on.

4. Balance and reset the opener

   The door gets balanced to hold partway with the opener off, and the force setting on the opener is redone.

Related pages

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