Your garage door is supposed to operate simply. You push the button, it rolls down, and it closes -- flush with the ground. But what if it doesn't? In some cases, your garage door may shoot up again after having closed. This can be really frustrating, since you need the door to close so you can leave the house! Here are the steps you should follow when this happens.

1. Temporarily release the door to manually close it.

If you need to go somewhere and need the garage door to be closed immediately, you can release the door from the automatic opener and then close it manually. Usually, you just have to pull a cord to do this. The cord may be hanging from the garage door opener or along the track, just in front of the opener. Once you've pulled the cord, you should be able to slowly lower the door to the ground with your hands.

2. Adjust the down limit.

Later, when you have the time to fix the door, start by locating the down limit screw of knob. This is usually located on the left or right side of the garage door opener. If you turn it just one quarter of a turn to the minus side, this may help your door opening problem. The opener could have accidentally been adjusted in a way that causes the door to hit the ground before it has opened as far as the setting suggests it should -- which triggers it to rise back up. Adjusting the down limit knob should fix this.

3. Reconnect the door.

Once you've adjusted the down limit, pull the door all of the way back up so it locks back into the automatic opener. Then, press the opener button. If you've fixed the issue, the door should close flush with the ground.

4. Adjust the down limit again.

If the door still hits the ground and shoots back up again, try turning the down limit knob another quarter turn. Then, try closing the door again. Keep adjusting the knob one quarter turn at a time until the door closes flush with the ground.

If adjusting the down limit knob does not correct the issue with your door, then call a garage door services company. There may be something wrong with the springs holding your garage door up, or with the open/close mechanism itself. 

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