Garage Door Making Noise? Here's What Each Sound Means

Grinding

Grinding usually comes from the rollers or the opener. Worn rollers with bad bearings grind as they move through the track. Old steel rollers without bearings are the usual suspects.

If the grinding comes from the opener motor itself, especially with a humming sound and slow movement, the drive gears inside may be wearing out.

Worn rollers are a simple fix. Swapping them for nylon rollers with sealed bearings makes a big difference in noise. See my roller replacement page for prices.

Squeaking

Squeaking is the most common noise, and often the easiest. It usually means dry hinges, rollers or springs. Metal rubbing on metal squeaks, especially in the cold.

Use a garage door lubricant or white lithium spray on the hinges, roller bearings and springs. Don't grease the tracks. Grease in the track collects dirt and makes things worse.

If the squeak keeps coming back after lubrication, a hinge may be cracked or a roller may be worn out.

Banging

One loud bang, like a gunshot, while the door is closed almost always means a spring just broke. Check the bar above the door for a gap in the spring. Don't use the door, and call a pro.

A banging sound while the door moves can mean a loose track, a roller jumping in the track, or the door slamming because the opener's travel limits are set wrong.

Read more about spring replacement if you think a spring has gone.

Popping

Popping or snapping as the door moves often comes from the torsion springs. A dry spring can pop as the coils rub, and a light spray of lubricant often fixes it.

Popping can also come from panels flexing, especially on thinner, uninsulated doors. If the popping is getting louder over time, it's worth having someone look at the spring tension and door balance.

Rattling

Rattling usually means something is loose. Garage doors move hundreds of times a year, and nuts and bolts on hinges, brackets and the track loosen over time.

A chain drive opener with a slack chain also rattles and slaps against the rail. Tightening the chain, or switching to a quieter belt drive, solves that.

Be careful: don't loosen or tighten anything on the bottom brackets or near the springs. Those are under tension.

When a tune-up makes sense

If your door has more than one of these noises, a tune-up is usually the best place to start. My $79 tune-up covers lubricating the moving parts, tightening hardware, checking the springs, cables, rollers and tracks, balancing the door and testing the opener's safety features.

It's also how I catch small problems, like a fraying cable or a tired roller, before they turn into a door that won't open.

Noises you shouldn't ignore

Call or text me if you hear any of these:

• A single loud bang with the door closed
• Grinding plus the door moving unevenly or crooked
• Scraping from the cables near the bottom corners
• The opener humming but the door not moving

How to find where the noise is coming from

Stand inside the garage with the lights on and run the door with the wall button. Watch and listen as it goes up and comes down. Noise from the ceiling usually points to the opener or the rail. Noise from the sides points to the rollers, hinges or track. Noise from above the door opening points to the springs.

Try it again with the opener disconnected, using the emergency release with the door fully closed, and lift the door by hand. If the noise goes away, the opener is the source. If it's still there, it's the door itself.

Take a short video on your phone. It helps me a lot when you text it over, and I can often tell you what's going on before I arrive.

Why noise gets worse in Ottawa winters

Cold makes lubricant thicken and rubber stiffen. Metal parts shrink a little and gaps change. A door that was a bit squeaky in the summer can get loud and jerky once it's minus twenty outside.

That's why fall is a good time to deal with noise. Fixing it early usually means a small repair or a tune-up, instead of a breakdown on the coldest morning of the year.