Garage door stuck halfway and will not move either way
This is almost always a off-track, or a cable jammed. Repair costs $150 to $400 and takes 45 to 90 minutes. Safe to operate: No.
Check this first — it may cost you nothing
Look along both tracks for a roller sitting outside the channel, and at both drums for a cable that has ridden over itself. Do not force the opener in either direction.
Why this happens
A door stuck mid-travel has usually jammed rather than lost power. Something is physically preventing movement — a roller out of the track, a cable wound onto the drum wrongly, or an object in the path.
A door stuck mid-travel has usually jammed a roller against damaged track. Leave it where it is — moving it by force bends more.
Less likely, but possible
- A broken cable letting one side drop and bind
- A bent track section catching a roller
- An obstruction in the track, sometimes as small as a stone
What happens if I ignore it?
Forcing a jammed door bends tracks and creases sections, and can pull the door far enough out of alignment to come down. This is the case where the opener does the damage, not the fault.
The repair: off-track repair
Garage door off-track repair costs $150 to $350 when the track is straight and the panels are undamaged. Forcing the door back by hand is what turns a straightforward repair into a panel replacement.
Read the full off-track repair guide →Get a tech dispatched
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