Garage Door Stuck Open? How to Secure Your Home Until It’s Fixed

It is getting dark, the garage door is up, and it will not come down. With an attached garage, that leaves a way into the house, so this is one problem that cannot simply wait until you have time.

It does not always need a technician tonight. Work through the steps below in order: a look, a few quick checks, and then how to secure the house if the door has to stay open until it is repaired. Our emergency garage door service page covers urgent repairs.

Step 1: Look before you force anything

Stand back and look at the door. Stop and call a technician if you see any of these:

• A gap in the coiled spring above the door, or a spring hanging loose beside the track
• A cable that is slack, frayed or off its drum
• The door sitting crooked, with one side lower than the other
• A roller out of the track, or a bent track
• The door resting on a car, a trash can or anything else

A garage door is the largest moving object in most homes, and the springs and cables are what hold its weight. With one of them gone, an open door can come down without warning.

If you saw any of those signs: keep children and pets out of the garage, do not walk under the door, and do not pull the red release cord. If you can reach the opener’s plug without going under the door, unplug it. Otherwise tape a note over the wall button. If nothing looked wrong, leave the opener plugged in and go to Step 2.

Step 2: If nothing looks wrong, try the quick checks

Often a door that refuses to close is being stopped by its own safety system.

• Sensors. Both sensor lights near the floor should be steady. Wipe the lenses and clear anything out of the beam.
• Wall button. If the remote did nothing, try the wall button. If only the wall button works, check the remote battery and the Lock button.
• Press and hold. Make sure nothing and nobody is in the doorway, then hold the wall button down and watch the door all the way to the floor. On many openers this overrides the sensors. If it works, the sensors are the problem. Get them fixed rather than living with the workaround.

If the door closes, you are done for tonight. Our guides to why a garage door will not close and to six opener checks go through each cause.

Step 3: If the opener is dead but the door is sound, lower it by hand

This step is only for a door whose springs, cables and tracks look normal and which was working properly until now, for example during a power outage.

Opener manuals say to use the red release with the door closed whenever possible, and to use caution with the door open, because a door with a weak spring can fall when it is released. If you decide to release an open door:

1. Clear the doorway. No people, pets or cars in the opening or in the door’s path, and that includes you.
2. From inside the garage, clear of the opening, pull the red handle straight down once and let go of it. A door with healthy springs stays where it is.
3. If the door moves on its own, stay back. Do not try to catch it. Call a technician.
4. If it stayed put, take hold of the lift handle or another safe gripping point on the inside of the door and walk the door down slowly. Do not pull it down by the red cord, and keep your fingers away from the bottom edge and the joints between the panels.
5. If the door feels heavy or starts to run away from you, let go and step clear.

Once the door is down, slide the manual lock if it has one, because a released door is not held shut by the opener. Slide the lock back before anyone uses the opener again. Running the opener against a locked door can damage both.

If you are not comfortable with any of this, leave the door open and go to Step 4.

Step 4: If the door has to stay open, secure the house

Until the door is repaired, treat the garage as if it were outdoors.

• Lock the door between the garage and the house. Use the deadbolt if it has one. For now, this is your exterior door.
• Bring in keys and valuables. Take house keys, wallets, garage remotes and registration papers out of the cars and lock the vehicles, but only if you can reach them without passing under the door.
• Move what is easy to carry off. Bikes, tools and packages go inside the house or out of sight if you can reach them safely. If you cannot, leave them.
• Block the opening with a vehicle parked outside, close to the doorway, if you can do it without driving under the door.
• Leave the lights on, inside the garage and outside it.
• Tell everyone in the house not to press the opener button and not to walk under the door.

Is it an emergency, or can it wait?

Treat it as an emergency when you cannot secure the house, or when the door is damaged and hanging open. A door that is closed and locked can usually wait for a regular appointment, even if it is noisy or slow.

If you cannot reach a company tonight, Step 4 keeps the house secure until you can.

When you call, say whether the door is open or closed, what you saw in Step 1, and whether a car is trapped. Our number is 210-997-7777.

After a storm or a power outage

Power cuts and strong wind can both leave a door stuck open. Two things to remember once the weather has passed:

• If the opener has no power, Step 3 applies, but only when the door looked and worked normally before the outage.
• If wind or a vehicle has pushed the door out of shape, do not run the opener to see whether it still works. Have the door checked first. Our off-track repair page shows what that repair involves.

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe to leave my garage door open overnight?

It is safer than forcing a damaged door. If the springs, cables or tracks have failed, leave the door alone, keep everyone away from it and secure the house as in Step 4.

Why does my garage door go down a little and then come back up?

The opener thinks something is in the way. The usual cause is the safety sensors: blocked, dirty, out of line, or blinded by direct sun.

Can I pull the red cord to close a door that is stuck open?

Only if the springs and cables are intact and the door was working normally, and only with nobody in the doorway when you pull it. If a spring is broken, do not pull it: nothing is holding the door’s weight.

What if my car is trapped inside behind a door that will not open?

That is a different problem, usually a broken spring. See what to do when a garage door spring breaks with your car inside.