Garage Door and Gate Glossary
The trade has its own words for parts most people never look at. Here they are in plain language, with where each part sits and which page covers the work on it.
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| Term | Plain-words meaning | Where you will see it | Related service page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Torsion spring | A heavy coiled spring on a steel shaft above the door that twists to carry its weight | Across the top of the opening, inside the garage | Garage Door Repair |
| Extension spring | A long spring along each side track that stretches as the door closes | Above the horizontal tracks, on older or lighter doors | Garage Door Repair |
| Cable | A steel lift cable that runs from the bottom corner of the door up to the drum | Up both sides of the door | Garage Door Repair |
| Drum | A grooved wheel at each end of the spring shaft that winds the cable in | Top corners of the opening | Garage Door Repair |
| Track | The steel channel the rollers ride in, vertical by the door and curving back along the ceiling | Both sides of the door | Garage Door Repair |
| Roller | A small wheel on a stem that runs in the track at each hinge | Along both edges of the door | Garage Door Repair |
| Panel | One horizontal section of a sectional door; most doors have four or five | The face of the door | New Garage Door Installation |
| Weatherseal | Rubber or vinyl strips that close the gaps at the floor and around the frame | Bottom edge of the door and the jambs | Garage Door Repair |
| Opener | The motor unit that moves the door up and down | On the ceiling, or on the wall beside the door | Garage Door Openers |
| Trolley | The carriage on the opener rail that the door arm hangs from | On the rail between the motor and the door | Garage Door Openers |
| Safety sensor | A pair of small eyes that send a beam across the opening and stop a closing door or gate | Low on each side of the door, or at the gate opening | Garage Door Openers |
| Travel limit | The opener setting for where the door stops when fully open and fully closed | In the opener’s settings | Garage Door Openers |
| Swing gate | A gate hung on hinges that swings open like a door, in one leaf or two | Across the driveway, between posts or pillars | Driveway Gate Installation |
| Slide gate | A gate that rolls sideways along the fence line to open | Across the driveway, with fence space beside it | Driveway Gate Installation |
| Gate operator | The motor that opens and closes an automatic gate | On an arm by a swing gate, or in a box beside a slide gate | Gate Repair and Operators |
| Keypad | A small panel with numbered keys that opens the door or gate with a code | Beside the garage door outside, or on a post by the gate | Gate Repair and Operators |
| Manual release | The cord, key or lever that disconnects the motor so the door or gate moves by hand | A red cord on the opener trolley; a key or lever on a gate operator | Gate Repair and Operators |
From inside the garage most of these parts are in plain view: the tracks up each side, the rollers at every hinge, the struts across the panels and, on a door with its spring overhead, the shaft and drums along the top of the opening.
One Part, Several Names
Why does the same part have different names?
Makers, catalogs and regions name parts their own way, and some names are older than the parts that carry them now. A torsion spring may be called the spring over the door, a lift cable the counterbalance cable, a trolley the carriage, and a gate operator an opener or a motor.
Is a garage door opener the same as a gate operator?
They do the same job for different things. Trade habit calls the garage unit an opener and the gate unit an operator, though you will hear both words for both.
What is a sectional door?
A door made of horizontal panels hinged together, which bends at the hinges as it rolls up the curved track. Almost every garage door fitted today is sectional.
What do I say if I do not know the word?
Describe what you see and hear. The signs and symptoms page works from there, and so does a phone call.