Garage door jamming in cold weather

In colder weather, my garage door will jam about 12-15 inches from the bottom as it is closing and will then start back up. In the past I have increased the downforce on the door and this has worked for a little while but then it starts acting up again. As it approaches the usual jam spot, it appears jerky as it going down. Not sure if there is anything that I can adjust on my own to help with this or if I need to call a professional. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

bsandhoff,

The first thing you have to do is disconnect the opener at the emergency release where it is attached at the door.
You then have to adjust the spring(s) for the door to have a slight downward force.
The manual for the opener will tell you how much but it should only be a few pounds, enough that it barely comes down on its own.

Once you have the weight on the door set you will then have to move it up and down without being connected to the opener to see where it is binding.
If the door goes up and down easily but the opener still stalls then there is a problem with the opener.

By carefully studying the rollers and how they behave you can often see what is out of adjustment.

If it is only needing a minor tune up, it also wouldn't cost too much for an overhead door specialist to do this for you.

 

I had the same problem and I found out it was the weather stripping I had installed on the outside of the garage door. I had installed it too tight against the door. It worked fine in the warm weather but the rubber got hard in the winter on cold days and would cause it to bind the door just enough to cause it to open about 2 feet and then just stop. I moved the weather stripping out a little bit from the door which still blocks the snow from blowing it but it lets the door come up and down just fine now.