Why won’t my garage door close?
As a professional garage door repair service, one of the common scenarios we encounter is one of a frustrated customer describing to us a garage door they are unable to close. They press the garage opener button, the door starts to go down, and then immediately comes back up. This occurrence is usually the result of a faulty safety sensor. Garage opener safety sensors are located on the left and right of the garage door toward the bottom of the door. They are either attached directly to the garage door tracks or to the wall next to the tracks. The left and right safety sensors are designed to directly point at one another to create a beam that if obstructed, tells the opener not to close. There are a number of reasons your safety sensors will tell your opener that it is not safe to shut the door.
If the safety sensor is blocked. Check to see if there is anything resting up against one of the sensors. A soccer ball, shovel, box, etc.
One or both of the sensors could be crooked. Check to see if the sensors are pointing toward each other. It is very common for one of the sensors to get bumped by that same soccer ball, shovel, and so forth. If one of the lights is out or twinkling (usually the green light) then adjust the sensor until the light is solid again.
One of the sensors or sensor wires could be damaged. If both above scenarios still don’t correct the issue, then it is likely a damaged sensor, sensor wire, or even an issue with the actual opener or door. In this case, definitely call a pro.
If you are ever unsure or don’t feel comfortable trying to troubleshoot a possible sensor issue, ALWAYS call a garage door professional.