Marin County, California
Garage door repair in Lucas Valley-Marinwood, CA
Garage door repair and replacement in Lucas Valley-Marinwood, sorted by what stopped working. Here half the homes were built before 1963 and the area averages 3 freezing nights a year.
Call (844) 833-1738 to schedule a visitCalls may be recorded. Describing the problem commits you to nothing.
What stopped working?
Each of these has its own page: what it looks like, what is safe to check yourself, and what the visit covers.
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Broken springA loud bang, then a door that lifts a few inches or feels far too heavy. -
Snapped cableThe door hangs crooked, or a cable dangles beside the track. -
Off trackRollers have left the track and the door tilts, binds or grinds. -
Won't openNothing happens, the opener hums, or the door lifts a few inches and quits. -
Won't closeThe door starts down and goes back up, or closes only while the button is held. -
Opener runs, door doesn'tThe motor hums or runs and the door stays where it is. -
Car hit the doorPanels bent, tracks pushed out, and the garage may not close.
What is different about Lucas Valley-Marinwood
These come from public data about Lucas Valley-Marinwood and from the rules that apply here. Each one names its source.
Openers older than the safety rule
Half the housing in Lucas Valley-Marinwood was built before 1963. A home that still has the opener it was built with may have one older than the federal protections: openers made for sale after January 1, 1991 have had to reverse on contact, and a second, external protection, usually photo-eye sensors near the floor, was required from 1993. If yours has no sensors near the floor, run the reverse test before anything else.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates; CPSC Publication 523, non-reversing automatic garage door openers
Mild winters
On average, Lucas Valley-Marinwood has 3 days a year with a low at or below 32°F at the nearest NOAA climate normals station, about 4 miles away. In a freeze, the rubber seal along the bottom of a door can stick to the floor; free it before blaming the opener.
Who licenses the work in California
California has a license class for this work: D-28, Doors, Gates and Activating Devices. The CSLB describes it as a contractor who "installs, modifies or repairs all types of residential, commercial or industrial doors including overhead or sliding door assemblies." Under Business and Professions Code § 7048, a state license is needed for a job of $1,000 or more in labor and materials, or for any job that requires a building permit, and the small-job exemption does not cover anyone who advertises as a contractor or has employees.
Look up a license with the Contractors State License Board (CSLB)
California requires anyone hired to service or repair a residential opener to check, when the work is done, whether it reverses on contact with a rigid obstacle two inches high, and to affix a red certificate to an opener that fails (Health & Safety Code § 19890(e)). Since July 1, 2019, openers installed in the state must have a battery backup, and a replacement door may not be connected to an existing opener without one (§ 19892).
What you will be asked
- What stopped working, in one sentence: a bang and then the door would not lift, a crooked door, a door that goes back up.
- The door: sectional panels or one solid piece, one car wide or two, and roughly how old.
- The springs: a coil on a bar above the door, or springs along the tracks, and whether one shows a gap.
- The name on the opener’s motor housing, and roughly how old it is.
- Whether the door is open or closed right now, and whether a car is inside.
The line takes: repair, replacement and installation of garage doors and openers, for owners and renters, at homes and at commercial buildings. It is not for: buying parts, doors on box trucks and trailers, or a price quoted over the phone without a visit. The price is named after someone has seen the door.
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Reverse testThe monthly check with a 2-by-4 that residential opener manuals require. -
Door replacementA new door: measurements, wind label, insulation and the three-day rule. -
Opener replacementAn old opener, one that fails the reverse test, or one that has quit. -
Wind-rated doorsCoastal Texas, South Florida and anywhere the code asks for a wind label. -
Before you callWhat the call covers, what you will be asked, and what to check.