What you are seeing
- A sharp bang from the garage, sometimes followed by a door that will not lift.
- A grinding or scraping sound as the door travels, often from one side.
- A high-pitched squeal or a squeak that gets worse as the door moves.
- A rattle from the panels, hinges or the opener rail as the door runs.
- A rhythmic thump that repeats once each time the door goes up or down.
- A door that has become steadily louder over recent months rather than suddenly.
Likely causes
What a good contractor will do
- Listens to the door through a full cycle under power, then moves the door by hand with the opener disconnected to hear and feel exactly where the noise is coming from.
- Inspects the springs, cables, rollers, hinges, track and brackets, together with the opener drive, trolley and mounting.
- Replaces worn rollers and hinges, and lubricates only the parts that are meant to be lubricated, keeping lubricant off any surface where the door relies on friction.
- Balances the door and re-sets the opener force and travel settings, so the drive is moving the door rather than fighting it.
- Runs the door through a full open and close cycle, including the safety reverse test, to confirm the noise is gone.
Before you call
- The door make and approximate age, and whether the door is steel, aluminium, wood or a composite.
- A photo of the springs above the door and of the track and rollers, taken from the floor rather than from a ladder.
- When and how the noise happens: on opening, on closing, all the way through, or once each time the door moves.
- A short video with sound taken safely from the floor, because the noise itself is the single most useful clue you can hand a technician.
Safety first
- Do not spray lubricant on springs, cables or track hoping to quiet a noise you have not identified, and never put your hands near the springs, cables or drums to see what is moving.
- Never try to tighten, adjust or replace a torsion spring, a cable or a track bracket yourself. These parts store energy and injure homeowners who treat them as ordinary hardware.
- If you heard a bang and the door will not lift, treat it as a broken spring: leave the door alone, do not run the opener, and keep clear of the opening.
- Do not stand under the door or under the springs while the door is running, and do not let children play under a moving door.
Ask the contractor
- What is actually making the noise, and how did you identify it rather than guess?
- Are worn parts being replaced, lubricated, or both, and which parts are we talking about?
- Will the door be balanced and the spring tension checked while you are here?
- If one spring is broken, should both be replaced, and what is the reasoning either way?
- Are the rollers and hinges on the same service life as the springs, or will some outlast the others?
- What routine maintenance would have caught this before it got this far?
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