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Whether it is keeping unwanted guests like bugs and other critters out of your garage or just to remove a cold draft in the winter adjusting the gap at the bottom of your garage door is simple and easy to do with just a couple tools.
The cause of this bottom gap is most likely the down travel limit setting being out of adjustment. Before adjusting make sure the bottom seal of your garage door is in good repair without any damage and then grab a step ladder, flat head screwdriver, and a flashlight. Find the the down travel limit adjustment screw and rotate counterclockwise to lower the down position setting.
If you can’t find the down limit screw on your specific garage door opener or need a little more direction lets dive a bit deeper into different garage door opener brands and travel limit switch designs.
Tools Needed
- Step Ladder
- Flat Head Screwdriver
- Flashlight
Types of Travel Limit Switches
Adjustment Screws
Commonly found on most modern belt-driven and chain-driven garage door openers the travel limit adjustment screws are easily adjustable and usually found on the back or left-hand side of the garage door opener. The most common brands you will see this type of travel adjustment are LiftMaster and Chamberlain. You will either be able to see the up and down travel limit screws from ground level or might need to open up the security light cover to access. These adjustment screws will move metal contacts that will cut off the power to the motor at the desired down and up positions.
Switches
Travel switches can be found on brands such as the Genie screw drive garage door opener. This type of travel adjustment switch is located on the screw drive rail with one for the up position and one for the down position. These switches can be slid up or down the rail which will change the contact point with the trolley and thus change the up or down stop position of travel.
Locating Travel Limit Switches
Adjustment Screws
If you have adjustment screws you will see 2 holes through the garage door housing. This is the part where the flashlight comes in handy as the screws are usually offset inside the housing and hard to see the screw slot position without a flashlight. You will see a picture of a garage door and a down arrow for the down position travel adjustment and a garage door with an up arrow for the up position travel adjustment.
Switches
If you have a switch type of travel adjustment you will see a small lever arm which extends down and mounted to the rail. Depending on the garage door position you will see the trolley contacting either the up or down travel position switch. The switch closest to the garage door opener is the up travel switch and one closest to the wall which is the down travel switch.
Adjusting Travel Limit Switches
Adjustment Screws
Assuming the garage door opener housing is in good condition you should see an arrow located around the hole for the down travel and up travel adjustment screws. This arrow will provide direction on which way to turn the screw to move the door lower for the down position and higher for the up position. For most brands you can expect 2 -3 inches of adjustment per full rotation of the adjustment screw.
Switches
Adjustment of a travel switch is as easy as loosening the one or two set screws then adjusting the switch up or down the rail to the desired position and finally re-tightening the set screw(s). If a garage door was not originally setup correctly you might have to adjust the connection arm which runs from the trolley to the garage door but this would only be for extreme cases.
Testing Travel Limit Switches
Once you have your adjustments made you will want to open the garage door to halfway, stop the travel, and then reverse the travel to lower the garage door and test the new down travel position. You will want to see the bottom seal compress against the floor along the whole length of the garage door. If you see this you have successfully adjusted the down position and you are good to go!
Need More Help?
Check out the video below where I will show you how to make adjustments to the down travel adjustment screw for a Chamberlain Whisper Drive garage door opener.
