Close-up of a garage door curved track, roller, hinge bracket and lift cable
One side of your garage door is hanging lower than the other. A thin steel cable is dangling beside the track. Or the door went up crooked this morning and you're not sure it'll come down. That's a cable problem, and we fix them across Ottawa.
Send us a photo of the cable and the bottom corner of the door, and call 613-265-3667 if the door is stuck. We'll tell you what we see and give you a flat-rate price before we start. Same-day appointments are often available.
A garage door has two lift cables, one on each side. Each runs from a bracket at the bottom corner of the door, up the side, and around a drum at the end of the spring shaft. When the spring turns the drum, the cables wind and lift the door evenly. If one cable fails, that side loses its support and the door twists in the tracks.
The bottom brackets hold the cable ends and are under load. That is one reason we tell people to leave cable work to a technician.
If you see any of these, stop using the door. Don't press the opener button again to see if it works. A door running on one cable can jam in the tracks or drop.
Cables wear from rubbing, rust and a lot of cycles. They fail for a few main reasons:
Cables are usually replaced in pairs. The cable on the other side has done the same number of cycles and sits in the same salt. We'll show you its condition, and you decide.
A cable that has simply worn out is a straightforward repair. Other times the cable is the symptom. If the door has come off the track, we'll straighten or replace track sections, see off-track garage door repair. If the springs are near the end of their lives, we'll tell you, because replacing a cable and then a spring a month later means two visits. Where the door is old, badly rusted, or panels have started to separate at the hinges, replacement may cost less over time. Our garage door repair page has the wider picture.
The bottom corners of a garage door are where slush drips, sits and refreezes. Salt from the road follows the car in. Through a winter of freeze-thaw cycles, the cable end and bracket stay wet, rust, and lose strength. That rust often doesn't show until the cable is already weak. If your door is over ten years old, or you can see orange corrosion at the bottom corners, have the cables looked at before spring cleanup, not after one lets go.
Keeping the bottom edge and floor clear of packed snow helps. So does a seal that isn't leaking. If yours is worn, see weatherstripping.
Most cable repairs we see are on house doors. On shop and warehouse doors, cables carry more weight and see far more use, and failures show up faster. See commercial garage door repair for that.
Cable snapped? Send us a photo. Tell us which side is low and whether the door is up or down. Call 613-265-3667 or request a quote. If the door is stuck open or shut right now, see emergency garage door repair.
Rust and wear, mostly. Salt and moisture at the bottom bracket weaken the strands, and years of cycling fray the cable where it wraps the drum. A broken spring or a jammed door can also snap one.
No. The door will hang crooked and can jam or fall. Stop using it and call us.
Sometimes, but it comes off for a reason, often a broken spring or a bent part. If the cause isn't fixed, it happens again. Because the drum, cable and bottom bracket are under load, we don't recommend doing it yourself.
Not always. If both are old and the spring has failed, replacing both saves a second visit. If the spring is new, the cable can be done alone. We'll say which applies to your door.
It varies a lot. A cable in a dry garage may last well over ten years. One that sits in road salt and slush at the bottom bracket can fail much sooner.
Not yet, but treat it as a warning. A frayed cable can snap without notice, usually when it's under load. Have it looked at before it fails, and run the door as little as you can until then.
A snapped or slipped lift cable often shows up as a crooked door that will not open. Our guides cover doors that will not open or close and broken spring warning signs, since cable and spring failures often travel together.
Alex was here within an hour of my call. In the Ottawa Valley. Absolutely amazing service and he had backup equipment as well to deal with what I needed. 10 out 10. Honest, knowledgeable and excellent work. Thank you Alex.
Alex was great to work with. Communication wise I didn't have to wait for answers to my questions, he worked with my time line and the quality of the work was great!
Fast and professional service. Alex was very knowledgeable and helped us to pick a right door. The wait time and installation was fast.
One local Ottawa crew, flat-rate pricing, guaranteed workmanship. Reaching us takes under a minute.
Tell us what's wrong and we'll get you a fast, honest price for the fix.
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