Sectional garage doors: maintenance and common failures

The sectional door earned its place — insulation, space, motorised comfort — and it is the most mechanically loaded equipment of the house: heavy panels, springs under high tension, millimetre tracks. One principle explains most failures: the springs carry the door, the motor only assists. A door gone heavy is a spring problem, never a motor problem — and forcing the motor on tired springs kills both.

The 20-minute semi-annual routine

Look: cable condition along the tracks (one frayed strand is a serious alert), track alignment, seals. Listen to a full cycle: squeals, claps and drags are announcements. Lubricate rollers and hinges with silicone or PTFE — never thick grease in the tracks, which traps grit; tracks clean dry. Test balance: motor disengaged, the door must hold still at half height — if it falls or rises, springs need professional adjustment. Test safety: obstacle detection (a cardboard box under the door: it must reverse) and photocells.

The four classic failures

1. Door suddenly heavy / motor "too weak": broken or slack spring — replaced in pairs, recalibrated: €180–450. The queen of failures, visible months ahead in maintenance. 2. Cable slack, off its drum or snapped: unstable door — keep everyone clear, touch no controls; cables replaced in pairs: €150–350. 3. Derailed or dragging door: rollers out (a bumper knock, an obstacle), misaligned tracks: re-tracking, rollers, refixing: €120–350 — and a door dragging "a little" for months wears everything silently. 4. Motorisation: dead remote (battery, re-pairing — the €3 fix we confirm by phone), motor running with no movement (disengaged carriage or broken belt), stopping mid-course (limits, obstacle detection, or… springs again), silent unit (supply, board, end of life). Parts €80–250; full motor €350–900 — and never re-motor an unbalanced door.

Security: the garage is a front door

For a burglar the attached garage is often the best route in: the inner garage-house door is rarely locked, and the garage hides the work. Check the outside emergency release (attackable on some models — protections exist), lock the inner door, and consider mechanical track locking for long absences.

Budget and life cycle

Springs live 10,000–25,000 cycles (7–17 years at four cycles a day): their preventive replacement in pair, booked on a weekday, beats the Sunday rupture with the car inside. Car trapped? Pull the red release cord — the door then moves by hand IF balance is sound; if it is heavy, stop and call: blocked vehicles jump our queue.