Garage door cable repair
A snapped lift cable drops one side of the door and leaves it hanging crooked in the track. Replacing both cables and resetting the drums runs $180 to $260. Stop using the door until it's done, because a door hanging on one cable is carrying its weight in a way it was never built to.
What you'll see
One side of the door sits lower than the other, or the door has jammed at an angle in the track. There may be a loose cable coiled on the floor or wound off its drum at the top.
Cables fail from fraying rather than suddenly. If you catch a cable with broken strands before it goes, you avoid the damage that comes when the door drops on one side.
Why we replace both
Cables come as a matched pair and they wear at the same rate. Replacing one leaves the other at the same age with the same wear, and it will follow. The labor is the same whether we do one or two.
We also check the drums and the shaft while we're there, because a cable that came off its drum usually did so for a reason, and a bent drum will chew a new cable just as fast.
Where cables corrode first
It's the bottom of the door that rusts, not the top, and the same is true of the hardware. The bottom of the cable, the bottom rollers, the track feet and the bottom bracket are what we inspect first, because a door closed on a damp slab overnight keeps that lower few inches wet for hours at a time.
Where we do this work
Newark, Fremont, Union City, Hayward. In Hayward that means 94545 and 94544 in the south of the city, not the whole of it.
Questions we get asked
Can I still use the door with one cable broken?
No. Leave it where it is and call. A door held by one cable can come down, and running the opener will bend track and twist sections on top of the cable job.
Is a cable failure related to the springs?
Often, yes. Both are original to the door in most cases, so a door old enough to snap a cable is usually close to needing springs too. We check the springs at the same visit and tell you what we find.
Get a price for cable repair
Call (510) 509-9998 and describe the door. We'll tell you what it usually is, what it usually costs, and when we can get to you.
Newark · Fremont · Union City · Hayward