Gate problems that can't wait
Some gate faults can sit until a scheduled visit. These can't. If your property is standing open, vehicles are trapped inside, or the gate itself has become a hazard, we treat it as an emergency and dispatch from whichever hub is closer.
- Gate stuck open: property unsecured
- Gate stuck closed: cars or trucks trapped inside
- Vehicle strike: bent panels, broken hinges, damaged operator arm
- Storm damage: wind-racked gates, downed limbs, water in the control box
- Dead operator after a power outage or surge
- Slide gate off its track or grinding on the rollers
What happens when you call
One number reaches both hubs: (971) 871-7861. Tell us what the gate is doing and we'll often walk you through the manual release on the phone so you can get vehicles moving before we arrive. On site, the technician makes the gate safe first, then diagnoses and repairs. If a part has to be ordered, we don't leave your entrance hanging. We secure the gate open or closed, whichever protects you better, and come back to finish.
- Dispatch from Tualatin or Vancouver, whichever gets to you sooner
- Trucks stocked with common boards, hinges, rollers, photo eyes, and remotes
- Gate made safe and movable before anything else
- Repair quoted before work starts: no surprises after the fact
Every major brand, including someone else's install
You don't need to know who made your operator. We repair LiftMaster, DoorKing, Nice/Apollo, FAAC, Viking, Linear, Chamberlain and Elite, Mighty Mule, and HySecurity, plus EMX photo eyes and loop detectors and DoorBird and ButterflyMX entry systems. If the original installer is gone or won't call you back, that's fine. We service gates we didn't install every week. When a bent panel or broken hinge is the problem, our own fabrication shop rebuilds it instead of waiting on a manufacturer.
Storms, outages, and the manual release
Oregon and Washington winters are wet and windy, and gates take the brunt of it. What your gate does when the power dies depends on how it's set up: operators with battery backup can be programmed to fail secure (stay closed) or fail open, and old batteries quietly stop holding a charge until the night you need them. Every operator also has a manual release that frees the gate to move by hand. Before we leave any emergency call, we show you where yours is and how to use it, so the next outage is an inconvenience, not a lockout.
Frequently asked questions
My gate is stuck closed and I need to leave. What do I do right now?
Nearly every automatic gate has a manual release. On swing-arm operators like LiftMaster or Nice/Apollo, it's a pin or lever on the arm itself; on slide operators like DoorKing or Viking, it's usually a release key on the housing that lets the drive go slack so the gate rolls by hand. If it's a heavy slide gate on any slope, block the wheels before you let go. A released gate can roll on its own. Call us and we'll talk you through it while the truck is on the way.
A car hit my gate. Repair or replace?
More gates are repairable than people expect. Bent pickets and panels can be cut out and re-fabricated in our shop, and a racked frame can often be straightened and re-hung on new hinges. Full replacement usually only makes sense when the frame is twisted out of square or the hinge posts have shifted in their concrete. We photograph and document the damage so you have what you need for an insurance claim.
Why did my gate stop working after a power outage?
Three common causes: the backup batteries aged out and couldn't carry the load, a surge damaged the control board, or a GFCI or breaker tripped and never reset. Behavior during the outage is also a programming choice. Some operators are set to stay closed on battery power, others to open and stay open when the battery runs low. We test the board, batteries, and incoming power, then set the outage behavior you actually want.
What affects the cost of an emergency gate repair?
Mostly which part failed and how the gate is built. A photo eye, hinge, or roller is a quick swap; a control board or motor costs more, and straightening a frame after a vehicle strike adds fabrication time. Brand matters too: LiftMaster and DoorKing parts are widely stocked, while some older or off-brand boards have to be ordered. We quote the repair before work starts, and if a part must be ordered we secure the gate in the meantime.
What safety devices is my gate required to have?
The UL 325 standard requires automated gates to have monitored entrapment protection: photo eyes and/or contact edges covering each direction of travel and every pinch point. Modern operators are built to refuse to run without a monitored device connected, which is itself a common cause of a 'dead' gate. If we find your gate missing protection during an emergency call, we'll say so and can usually add EMX photo eyes or edge sensors on the same visit.
My opener keeps burning out every couple of years. Why?
Almost always, the operator is undersized for the gate. Operators are rated by gate weight, gate length, and duty cycle, meaning how many times a day the gate runs. A light residential unit like a Mighty Mule on a long steel gate, or any residential operator on a busy multi-tenant entrance, will overheat and die young. The fix is matching the operator to the job: a heavier-duty unit from LiftMaster, Viking, or HySecurity sized for your gate and your traffic.
My gate is stuck open. What should I do right now?
Secure what the gate was protecting first: lock building doors, move vehicles and anything easy to carry, and treat a commercial yard as open until it's fixed. Then check the two things that hold a gate open by design, a vehicle or object sitting over the loop and a blocked or dirty photo eye. Clearing those closes more stuck-open gates than any part we carry. If it still won't close, the manual release lets you push the gate shut by hand, carefully. A released slide gate can roll on its own on a slope, and a hand-closed gate isn't secure unless you chain and lock it. Then call (971) 871-7861. A gate standing open is an emergency by our definition, and we dispatch from whichever hub is closer, Tualatin or Vancouver.
Where we do this work
Across the Portland metro from our Tualatin HQ and across Clark County from our Vancouver hub. See every city we serve, or jump straight to Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, Vancouver, or Camas.