Garage door cable repair
Garage door cable repair in Manchester, NH
One side of the door is higher than the other, or there is a steel cable hanging loose beside the track. The cable let go, and the door is now held up by half of what it should be. Do not run it. Call and we come out with cables and drums for your door.
Open 24 hours. Same-day cable repair across Manchester and southern New Hampshire.
- Open 24 hours, 7 days a week
- Same-day service across southern New Hampshire
- Price confirmed before work starts
How you know it is a cable
What a failed cable looks like
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The door sits crooked in the opening
One cable is carrying the load and the other is not. The high side is the side with the good cable.
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A cable is dangling or coiled on the floor
It snapped, or it unwound off the drum when the door bounced. Either way it needs to come off and be replaced.
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The door jammed at an angle partway up
The crooked door wedged a roller in the track. Forcing it bends the rail and makes a bigger job.
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Frayed strands near the bottom bracket
Salt water and slush sit at the bottom of the cable all winter. It rusts there first and breaks there first.
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A bang without a broken spring
A spring break sounds sharper. A cable letting go is duller, and the door drops on one side instead of staying put.
What we do
Cables in pairs, drums and brackets checked
Cables get replaced as a pair. If one rusted through, the other has the same rust. We take the tension off the springs, fit new cables to the drums, set the drums level so the door lifts square, and then bring the springs back up and balance the door. Bottom brackets, which the cables attach to, get replaced if they are rusted or bent.
A cable rarely fails alone. We check the spring that shares its shaft, the rollers the crooked door dragged through the track, and the track itself for a bend. Most cable calls are done in one visit with what is on the truck.
Road salt
Why cables rust through in Manchester
The bottom eight inches of a garage door cable live in slush from December to April. Brine off the highways and the city streets comes in on the tires, melts off in the garage, and sits right where the cable meets the bottom bracket. The strands pit, then fray, then let go on a cold morning when the door is at its heaviest.
Detached garages on the West Side with dirt or gravel aprons hold that moisture longer. So do garages where the slab slopes toward the door. When we replace cables we look at why they rusted and say what would slow it down.
Questions we get on the phone
Garage door cable questions
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How much does it cost?
It depends on the door and the part. The tech confirms the price in your driveway before any work starts, and you can say no. There is never a service charge for the visit.
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Can I straighten the door myself?
No. The springs are still under full tension and the door can drop or jump the track. Leave it where it is and call.
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Why did the cable come off if it did not break?
The door bounced, usually from hitting something on the way down or from a spring that lost tension. The cable went slack for a second and jumped the drum. We rewind it or replace it and fix what caused the slack.
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Do you replace one cable or both?
Both. They are the same age and have seen the same salt.
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How long does it take?
Usually under an hour in the driveway, longer if the crooked door bent the track.
Door hanging crooked? Call now. We answer 24 hours.
Call (603) 600-6529Derryfield Garage Doors, 212 Coolidge Ave, Manchester, NH 03102.