Emergency garage door repair, day or night
A door stuck open, a car shut in the garage, a spring that let go at 11pm. Call and a person answers, at any hour, and a technician is usually on site within about 2 hours.
What is the door doing right now?
Tell us which of these it is when you call. Nine times out of ten it means the right part is already on the truck when we arrive.
- A bang, and now it will not open
- Almost always a broken torsion spring. The opener cannot lift the door without it, and forcing it will damage the opener. Do not keep pressing the button.
- The car is shut in the garage
- There is usually a way out. Call and we will talk you through the emergency release before we arrive, or tell you to leave it alone if the door is under tension.
- The door is crooked or off track
- A roller has come out or a cable has snapped on one side. Leave it where it is. Running it again bends the track and turns a repair into a replacement.
- It will not close and the light is blinking
- Usually the safety sensors, sometimes a travel limit. This one is often a same-visit fix, and sometimes we can talk you through it on the phone.
- A grinding noise and nothing moves
- Typically a stripped opener gear. The door itself is usually fine, which is why this is often a repair rather than a new opener.
- The door slammed down hard
- A cable or spring failed under load. Keep everyone away from it, including pets, and do not try to lift it by hand.
- Someone backed into it
- We check whether the track and rollers are true before anything else. A bent panel is cosmetic; a bent track is not.
- Power is out and the door is closed
- The emergency release will let you lift it by hand if the door is balanced. If it is not, it will drop. Call before you pull the cord.
What to do while you wait
A garage door is the heaviest moving thing in most houses. A door under spring tension can move faster than you can.
Do this
- Keep everyone clear of the opening, including pets, until we arrive
- Unplug the opener if the door is stuck part way, so nobody runs it again
- Take a photo of the springs and the track and text it to us if we ask
- Move the car out of the way if it is already outside the garage
Do not do this
- Do not keep pressing the button. It burns out the opener on a door it cannot lift
- Do not pull the emergency release on a door that is up and unbalanced
- Do not try to loosen or adjust a torsion spring. They hold enough energy to kill
- Do not prop the door with a ladder or a jack and work under it
Which shop answers your call
Two shops cover Southern and Eastern Idaho between them. Call the one closest to you and you reach the shop that sends the truck, at any hour.
Magic Valley & Wood River Valley
Dispatched from the Kimberly shop, 473 Hankins Rd S
(208) 734-4657- On site in about 2 hours on most calls, longer when the roads are bad
- Answered nights, weekends and holidays, not an answering service
- Covers 21 towns from Burley west to the Wood River Valley
Twin Falls, Kimberly, Jerome, Filer, Buhl, Hansen, Wendell, Gooding, Burley, Rupert, Heyburn, Shoshone, Castleford, Hazelton, Eden, Murtaugh, Paul, Declo, Hailey, Ketchum and Bellevue.
Eastern Idaho
Dispatched from the Idaho Falls shop
(208) 273-1557- On site in about 2 hours on most calls, longer past Rexburg
- Answered nights, weekends and holidays, not an answering service
- Covers 14 towns from Pocatello north to St. Anthony
Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Chubbuck, Blackfoot, Rexburg, Shelley, Ammon, Rigby, Iona, Ucon, Firth, Sugar City, St. Anthony and Menan.
Not on the list? Call and ask. We go further than the map suggests.
What an after-hours call costs
Nobody wants a surprise on the invoice at midnight. Here is exactly how it works.
- After hours means after 5pm on weekdays, and anytime on the weekend
- Those calls are quoted at our emergency rate, and you hear that rate on the phone before we dispatch. Not when we arrive, and not on the invoice.
- We tell you if it can wait until morning
- Sometimes the honest answer is that the door is safe where it is and the regular rate tomorrow will cost you less. You will hear that from us.
How an emergency call goes
Three steps, at 2pm or 2am.
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A person answers
Not a call center and not a voicemail. Tell us what the door is doing and what it sounded like, and we give you a real arrival window.
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We make it safe first
Before anything else the technician secures the door so it cannot fall, gets your car out if it is trapped, and then finds the actual cause.
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Repaired that night where we can
Springs, cables, rollers, drums and opener parts ride on the truck. If a part has to be ordered we secure the door and come back.
What customers say
Thirty-plus years in one valley means most of the work comes from somebody who was sent by somebody else.
Emergency questions we get at 2am
Do you really answer at 2am?
Yes. The emergency line is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including nights, weekends and holidays. A person picks up and dispatches a technician. The showroom keeps regular business hours, but the emergency line does not close.
How fast can you actually get here?
Most calls see a technician on site within about 2 hours of dispatch, in both the Magic Valley and Eastern Idaho. Winter weather and call volume shift that. You get an honest window on the phone rather than an optimistic one, and a call from us if it changes.
My car is locked in the garage. What do I do?
Call before you pull the emergency release. If the door is up and the spring is broken, releasing it will let the door drop. If the door is down and balanced, the release will let you lift it by hand, and we will talk you through that on the phone.
Is an after-hours call more expensive?
After hours means after 5pm on weekdays and anytime on the weekend, and those calls are quoted at our emergency rate. You hear that rate on the phone before we dispatch. The estimate itself is still free, and if the door is safe to leave until morning we will tell you so.
Can you fix it the same night?
Usually. Springs, cables, rollers, drums, bearings, sensors and the common opener parts ride on the truck, so most emergency repairs finish on the first visit. If a panel or a specific opener has to be ordered, we secure the door so the house is safe and come back when the part lands.
My spring broke. Do I have to replace both?
On a two-spring door we recommend it. Both were installed at the same time and have cycled the same number of times, so the second is usually not far behind. You are free to replace only the broken one, and we will tell you what we would do on our own house.
Do you service doors you did not install?
Yes, every major residential brand regardless of who installed it, including LiftMaster, Genie, Chamberlain, Clopay, Amarr, Garaga, Hörmann, Midland and Wayne Dalton, plus older units where parts are still available.
Should I just keep pressing the opener button?
No. If a spring is broken the opener is trying to lift a few hundred pounds it was never built to carry, and you will burn out the motor or strip the gear on top of the spring you already need replaced. Unplug it and call.
More answers on the full FAQ page.
Call now and a person picks up
Thirty-three years in Southern Idaho, and the emergency line still reaches the shop that sends the truck.