Garage repairs are mechanical and structural. The door alone accounts for most service calls — it's the largest moving object in most homes and it cycles several times a day.
01Garage door won't open or reverses immediately
Check the photo-eye sensors at the bottom of each door track — they're the small devices facing each other about 6 inches off the ground. A sensor that's been bumped out of alignment, has a dirty lens, or has a blocked sight line will prevent the door from closing. Align them until both indicator lights are solid. Clean the lenses with a soft cloth. A door that reverses on the way down has either misaligned sensors or the close-force setting is too low — adjust the force control on the opener motor housing.
02Garage door opener — dead remote
Replace the battery first. If the wall button works but the remote doesn't, the remote needs reprogramming — consult the opener manufacturer. If neither remote nor wall button works, check the outlet the opener is plugged into. A GFCI outlet that tripped is the first thing to check before calling for service.
03Concrete floor cracks
Hairline cracks in a concrete garage floor are normal and do not indicate structural failure. Fill them with a polyurethane or polyurea crack filler — available at hardware stores — to prevent water infiltration and freeze-thaw widening. Cracks wider than 1/4 inch with vertical displacement between the sides are worth monitoring and potentially having evaluated.
04Water infiltration at the garage door base
Water coming in under the garage door is usually a weatherstripping failure or a threshold issue. The rubber weatherstrip at the bottom of the door compresses against the floor — if it's cracked, torn, or not making contact, replace it. The replacement strip slides or screws into a retainer on the door bottom. A threshold seal added to the floor under the door creates a second barrier for significant water entry.
Marcus Webb is a general contractor and home maintenance writer based in Columbus, Ohio. He writes about the repairs and installs that come up every year in every house — the practical, repeating work that keeps a home livable.