Garage Door Cable Repair in Rhode Island | 911 Garage Door RI
from $149
Garage Door Cable Repair in Rhode Island
Lift-cable replacement, drum re-spooling, and tension recalibration. We pair new cables with a spring inspection so the door is safe and balanced before we leave.
Garage Door Cable Repair is one part of our garage door repair coverage in Rhode Island. For the full picture — symptoms, costs, and when to repair vs. replace — start with the complete Garage Door Repair guide, or browse every garage door repair service we offer.
Lift cables transfer the spring's stored energy to the door panels — they're under high tension every cycle and degrade slowly through fraying, corrosion, and mis-spooling on the drum. A cable repair visit replaces both cables (always replace as a pair so the door stays balanced), re-spools the drums to the correct number of wraps, recalibrates spring tension to match, and inspects related components like the bottom bracket where one end of each cable terminates.
Cables are galvanized aircraft-grade steel — typically 1/8-inch diameter for residential doors and 3/16-inch for heavier or commercial doors. We carry both diameters along with the bottom-bracket fittings, drum caps, and shaft set-screws that occasionally need replacement alongside the cables.
Cable failure usually leaves the door off-track or hanging crooked. Continuing to operate the opener after one cable has snapped causes the other side to take the full load and is the fastest way to bend tracks or damage panels. Stop the opener and call for repair when you see a frayed or snapped cable — fast service is standard.
How to tell you need garage door cable repair
Frayed cable visible at the drum
Strands of steel poking out of the cable indicate active wear. Cables don't self-heal — frays accelerate to snap.
Door hangs crooked when closed
If one corner is higher than the other when the door is fully down, one cable has stretched, slipped on the drum, or partially failed.
A fully snapped cable leaves the door off-track or jammed. Don't try to force it — call for repair.
Rust streaks on cables
Coastal homes see cable corrosion progress until the strands weaken. Visible rust means the cable is no longer at full strength.
Loud bang followed by crooked door
Cable snap sounds similar to spring snap but is usually quieter. If the door is crooked after the noise, suspect cable failure.
What breaks in Rhode Island — and how we fix it
Mis-spooled drum
When a cable jumps off its drum groove, it crosses over itself and wears at the crossover point. Re-spooling fixes the spool but the wear point becomes the weak link.
Drum cap or set-screw failure
If the drum slips on the shaft, one cable unwinds while the other tries to hold. This sudden imbalance can snap the loaded cable.
Bottom bracket failure
The bracket where the cable attaches at the door bottom occasionally cracks or pulls free, letting the cable whip free under tension.
Coastal corrosion
Salt-air pitting on uncoated cables can drop tensile strength 30–40% over 10+ years. Galvanized aircraft cables resist this far better.
Spring imbalance
An over- or under-tensioned spring puts uneven load on the cables and accelerates wear on the loaded side.
How we handle garage door cable repair in Rhode Island
1
Start with a call. Two minutes online — or one call — books your garage door cable repair in Rhode Island into a 2-hour window, confirmed in under five minutes with the tech's name and photo.
2
See the problem. First the tech shows you what's wrong and how the garage door cable repair gets fixed — a free diagnosis on most repairs, $39 on minor service calls that disappears if you proceed.
3
The written number. The garage door cable repair price arrives as one written flat rate, valid for 30 days. No hourly creep, no after-the-fact add-ons.
4
One visit, done. One visit is the norm for garage door cable repair — with the common springs, cables, rollers, and opener boards already on board, there's seldom a reason to come back.
Garage door cable repair pricing in Rhode Island, spelled out
Garage Door Cable Repair the United States starts at from $149, quoted flat-rate and in writing before the garage door cable repair begins, with no surprise add-ons or hourly creep. Seniors (65+) and military save 10% on labor; financing covers projects over $1,500 at 0% APR for 12 months, with no prepayment penalty.
The reasons Rhode Island homeowners pick us for garage door cable repair
We've been a trusted choice since 1974 — over 50 years of family-owned garage door service across Rhode Island. Our techs are CSLB-licensed (#1098234), background-checked, and complete an internal 12-week training program before rolling on calls alone.
Ten years of workmanship guarantee come standard with our garage door cable repair, distinct from the manufacturer warranty on parts. If our workmanship is at fault, we return and make the garage door cable repair right, free, for the full ten years. Springs rated for 30,000 cycles carry a lifetime warranty for the original homeowner, and parts and accessories carry standard 1–5 year warranties by item.
The garage door cable repair quote covers what the door needs — nothing more. Salaried (never commissioned) technicians run a transparent diagnostic where you see what we see, healthy parts included; we recommend repair when it's right and replacement when the long-term economics favor it. That flat-rate garage door cable repair quote comes in writing, good for 30 days.
Our garage door cable repair service map
We provide garage door cable repair throughout Rhode Island, with fast coverage in every major Rhode Island metro.
Reach times for garage door cable repair vary by traffic and time of day, so we quote an accurate ETA when you call — and the dispatch line routes straight to an on-call technician, no voicemail in between.
What people ask before booking garage door cable repair
Top questions homeowners searching for Garage Door Cable Repair near me ask us:
Why replace both cables?
Cables on a balanced door wear at the same rate. The second cable is days to weeks behind the first. Replacing both at once is faster, cheaper than two visits, and properly re-balances the door.
How long does cable replacement take?
Most cable jobs run 45–60 minutes including spring tension verification and balance test. Add 15 minutes if drums also need replacement.
Can I keep using the door until repair?
No — running the opener with a failed cable bends tracks and risks the door coming off the rail entirely. Disconnect the opener and avoid using the door until repair.
What's the cost?
Cable repairs are quoted flat-rate before starting; the figure depends on whether the drums or a bottom bracket also need replacement. No surprises once you approve the written quote.
What's the coverage?
5 years on cables and drums. 10-year workmanship on the install. Galvanized cables in coastal homes typically last well beyond it.