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Autumn22 September 20265 min read

The ten-minute autumn check before the cold sets in

Springs break most in the first cold snap. Ten minutes with the door in October tells you whether yours is likely to be one of them.

A detached garage with an anthracite sectional door at the end of a tree-lined drive

Our busiest fortnight of the year is not in deep winter. It is the first cold snap, usually late October or early November, when a spring that has been tiring all summer finally lets go at seven in the morning. Steel gets less forgiving as it cools, and a spring near the end of its life often goes on the first frosty start.

Ten minutes with the door now will tell you whether that is likely.

Look before you touch

Stand inside with the door closed and the light on. Look at the spring on the shaft above the door. You are looking for a gap in the coil (a broken spring), rust bloom on the coils, or one spring that looks stretched compared with the other.

Then look at the two steel cables running down each side to the bottom corners. Run your eye down the last 30 cm, where rain sits. Frayed strands, rust or a kink mean the cable is due.

If you see a gap in a spring or a frayed cable, stop here and call us. Don’t adjust either yourself: both are under enough tension to injure.

The balance test

If everything looks sound, pull the red release cord on the opener so the door is free. Lift the door by hand to about waist height and let go carefully, keeping your hands clear.

  • It stays where you left it: the springs are right.
  • It drifts down: the springs have lost tension. It will feel heavier every month and strain the opener.
  • It flies up: the springs are over-wound. Less common, but it wears cables and drums.

Lower the door and reconnect the opener.

Listen to it run

Run the door up and down with the opener. A smooth hum is normal. Grinding usually means worn rollers; a bang near the top often means a loose track fixing. Squeals mean dry hinges.

Test the safety reverse

Put a block of wood or a rolled-up towel on the floor under the middle of the door and close it. The door should touch it, stop and reverse. If it presses down instead, the opener’s force needs resetting before a child or a pet finds out the hard way.

What to do with what you found

If all four checks pass, your door is in good shape for the winter. If one failed, a service at £89 puts the balance right, lubricates everything and tells you what is due, before the cold does.

More guides

A white garage with two blue timber-clad doors beside a house with a clipped box hedge and a block-paved drive Spring6 min read A spring clean for the garage door: lubricate, tighten, test Twenty minutes, a can of silicone spray and a socket set. What is safe to do yourself, and the three parts you should always leave to us. A grey-blue timber garage door in an old stone mews building with a clock tower behind Winter4 min read Cold mornings and a door that won't close A door that goes down, touches the floor and springs back up on a frosty morning is rarely broken. Here is what is going on and what to try first. A row of three white up-and-over garage doors in a brick block with a red tiled roof behind a hedge Any season5 min read Repair or replace? What the age of your door tells you Most doors we see are worth repairing. A few are not. The age of the door, and how many times it has failed lately, decide which.

Door stuck open, or stuck shut? Ring before 2pm.

Tell us what it is doing and you get the fixed price on the phone. A van with the parts on board is with you the same day.

Call 01632 960 391 Book online