Gate motor and garage door repairs in Weltevreden Park

The land was the farm Veltevreden, which dates from 1861 and stayed in the Smit family for over 130 years. It remained largely rural even after gold was found on the Witwatersrand in 1886, and most of the suburb was built in the 1970s and 1980s, with spacious houses and green spaces, followed by many townhouse complexes. The result is a large suburb with several extensions, lying roughly between Beyers Naudé Drive and Hendrik Potgieter Road. The old farmhouse became part of the Gables Office Estate in 2007, and the farm's graveyard still survives, tucked away in the suburb.

The 2011 Census counted 24 429 people over 10.02 km², and the Panorama Residents Association covers the area. Fairland, Berario and Constantia Kloof are close by, as are Allen Glen High School and the Weltevredenpark Public Library. We work in all of them.

Some faults are an inconvenience; others leave your home open or your car stuck. We treat these as urgent:

• A gate stuck open, above all after dark.
• A gate stuck shut, with you or your car on the wrong side of it.
• A garage door that won't open with the car inside, or one hanging crooked on its tracks.
• A complex gate that has failed for every unit at once.

Same-day repairs happen here when the day's bookings allow, and the 24/7 emergency repairs across Gauteng are there for the faults above at night. More on how emergency visits work is on emergency repairs.

Before anything else, look at the safety beams. If something is standing between them, or a spider has built across one, the motor won't close an open gate. Clear it and try again.

If the gate still won't move, you can move it by hand, as long as you release the motor the way its maker shows:

• Centurion D5-Evo: flip the camlock cover aside, turn the key a quarter turn clockwise, open the access door and turn the thumbwheel clockwise until the gearbox lets go.
• ET Drive 500 or 600: lift the lock cover, turn the key, and swing the lever out from the gearbox.

Then slide or swing the gate shut and lock the release again, so the motor's gears hold it closed. On a D5-Evo, slide the gate until the drive engages before the motor runs again. Other makes are on how to open a gate manually.

Work out first whether a spring has gone. A loud bang from the garage, a door that has suddenly turned very heavy, or a gap in a spring are the giveaways. If that's what you see:

• A closed door stays closed. Don't pull the manual release to try to lift it.
• An open door: keep everyone, and the car, out from under it. ET warns that a door with a broken or tired spring can plummet when it's released from the motor, and Digidoor that a roll-up door with a failed torsion spring closes instantly when its clutch is let go.

If the springs are fine and only the motor or the power has failed, the release works as its maker describes and the door can be moved by hand. More is on a broken garage door spring.

Weltevreden Park belongs to our Roodepoort area: gate motors, garage doors, electric fences, intercoms and CCTV, with the whole area on Roodepoort. All our spare parts are genuine, and every repair carries our six-month guarantee on our repairs.

The job card on this page has Roodepoort selected, which covers Weltevreden Park. Add your address, say what the gate or door is doing, and turn on the "It's urgent" switch if it can't wait. For a gate standing open at night, calling or sending a WhatsApp is quicker than the form. No call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies.