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San Diego and the surrounding area
Gates fail differently. Usually it is not the gate.
Nine times out of ten the gate panel is fine and the fault is in the operator, the safety beam, or the loop detector buried in your driveway. Knowing that is the difference between a part and a rebuild.
Free on-site estimates. Gate work is booked in advance rather than same-day.
- Swing and slide
- Residential and commercial
- Free on-site estimates
- Locally owned and operated
Why gate work is booked ahead
We would rather arrive with the right part
Garage doors are standardised. Gates are not.
A garage door in San Diego is one of a handful of designs with parts we can carry on the truck. Gates come in far more variety: different operators, different control boards, custom fabrication, and access control systems installed by whoever the builder used fifteen years ago.
Booking in advance lets us ask the right questions first, identify the operator, and turn up with the part instead of turning up twice. That is the whole reason for the policy, and it is why we do not quote same-day on gates.
If your gate is stuck open and that is a security problem, say so when you call. We will tell you honestly what we can do and when.
Diagnose it faster
What actually goes wrong
Work down this list before assuming the gate needs replacing.
| Symptom | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| Opens but will not close | Safety photo eye. Often a spider web across the lens, a misaligned bracket, or sun glare at one time of day |
| Will not open for cars, works on the remote | Loop detector in the driveway, or its board in the control box |
| Opens partway then stops or reverses | An obstruction in the track, a failing roller, or force settings that no longer match a gate whose hinges have worn |
| Nothing at all | Power, a tripped breaker, a blown fuse on the control board, or a dead battery in a solar setup |
| Runs but the gate drags or catches | The gate itself. Sagging on a worn hinge, a settled post, or a bent track |
| Grinding or straining at the operator | Gearbox, or a gate that has become heavy for a reason worth finding |
| Keypad or intercom dead | Access control wiring or the unit itself, which is usually a separate system from the operator |
Try this first, it costs nothing
If your gate opens but will not close, look at the photo eye lenses on both sides. A spider web across the beam is one of the most common causes we see, and wiping it off with a cloth fixes it. The full walkthrough is here.
What we handle
Operators, safety, access, and the gate itself
Operators
Swing arm and slide operators. Repair, replacement, and installation. Gearboxes, control boards, limit settings, and force adjustment.
Safety devices
Photo eyes and safety edges. Alignment, replacement, and bringing older installations up to the current entrapment protection standard.
Access control
Keypads, remotes, intercom and telephone entry, and loop detectors set into the driveway. The parts that decide who gets in.
The gate itself
Hinges, rollers, track, posts, and welding repair on a sagging or dragging gate. New gate installation.
The part most people have never been told
Automatic gates have a safety standard, and older ones often miss it
An automatic gate is a heavy powered object that moves across a space people and cars occupy. Two published standards govern that: UL 325 covers the operator, and ASTM F2200 covers how the gate itself is built and installed.
Since 1 August 2018, UL 325 has required a minimum of two external monitored entrapment protection devices for each entrapment zone, in each direction of travel. Monitored means the operator checks that the device is alive and refuses to run if it is not. Photo eyes and safety edges are the usual pairing.
ASTM F2200 covers the gate itself: guards over exposed rollers, screening so hands cannot reach through moving sections, no protrusions on the bottom of a swing gate, and a slide gate that cannot fall over if it is disconnected from the operator.
If your gate predates 2018
It was very likely installed with one safety device, or with force sensing alone. That was acceptable then. It is not what the current standard describes, and the gap matters most for anyone with a duty of care: apartment buildings, HOAs, storage facilities, and any property where the public or a tenant passes through that gate.
We will tell you what you have and what bringing it current would involve. The full explanation of UL 325 and ASTM F2200.
For a private driveway with no children and no through traffic, this is information rather than an emergency. For a property manager, it is worth knowing before an incident rather than after.
Who we do gate work for
Driveways, and the properties nobody else prioritises
Homeowners
Single driveway gates, swing or slide. Operator repair, access control, and the hinge and post work that comes from years of a heavy gate settling.
Property managers and HOAs
Apartment complexes, small storage facilities, gated parking. Where a stuck gate is a tenant problem within the hour and a liability question the day after.
Commercial and property services →Read first
Gate guides
Your gate opens but will not close
The most common gate call there is, and often a five minute fix with a cloth. Work through the safety beam, then the loop, then the force settings, in that order.
Safety and liabilityAutomatic gate safety: what UL 325 and ASTM F2200 require
Since August 2018 a compliant gate operator needs two monitored entrapment devices per zone. Most gates installed before then have one. What that means if you manage property.
Booked in advance
Tell us what the gate is doing.
Swing or slide, what brand the operator is if you can see it, and what happens when you press the button. That is usually enough for us to arrive with the right part.
(619) 576-0055