South Dade
Photo-Eye Repair in Cutler Bay
A Cutler Bay door that closes only while someone holds the wall button is almost always a photo-eye problem. The eyes sit a few inches off the floor on each jamb, and a modern operator will not let a remote finish the close unless those two units can see each other. Holding the wall button is the constant-pressure path that still brings the door down. It is a reasonable way to get one car out. It is a poor way for the house to live.
What you can check from the floor
Stand inside with the door fully open and find the small indicator on each eye. Pass your foot through the space between them and watch whether the light changes. A broom handle, a leaf, or a cobweb in that line is enough to stop a remote close, and you can often see it without climbing. Wipe a dusty lens with a damp cloth. A dry paper towel scratches the plastic, so leave the paper towel in the kitchen.
What we do at the opening
Keys Door Co aims the pair, confirms they have power, and follows the wire back to the operator before a new set of eyes goes on the jamb. A staple through the wire, or a nick where the cable passes a hinge, looks exactly like a bad eye from the driveway. Swapping the eyes and leaving that break in the wire wastes the visit. When the beam is sound and the remote is the only failure, we program or replace the handheld and leave the eyes where they are.
The garages on these streets
Old Cutler Road and the interior avenues both lead to this kind of opening, and the cross street tells us which afternoon we are walking into. Shaded lots collect debris at ankle height. Open tract aprons put the sun straight into a west-facing lens. The header is a normal joist line either way, so this is not a special low-headroom puzzle unless you tell us the ceiling was furred down after the house was built.
What to have ready when you call
The brand printed on the operator head, if you can read it without a ladder. Which of the three controls still closes the door. Whether the trouble is all day or only when the sun is on the apron. The cross street in Cutler Bay. If the door has started reversing before it reaches the floor, say that separately, because the down limit and a bind in the track can imitate a blocked beam.
When the phone is the better path
If the door is stuck open on an apron people use all evening, call (645) 256-1794. If the door is already closed and simply ignores the remote, the form is enough. We call you back to set the visit, and the street belongs in the first line so we are on the shaded side of town or the open side, not guessing between them.
Request this visit.
Call (645) 256-1794 about this door.
We answer any hour Sunday through Friday.
Saturday stays closed.
Keys Door Co is family-owned, local, and insured.
We have worked this coast for over ten years.
Common questions
Why does the door close from the wall button but not the remote?
The wall button, held down, is a constant-pressure close. The remote has to honor the photo eyes, and it refuses the close when the beam is broken or the lens is blinded.
Can I tape the eyes so the door will close until you get here?
Tape makes the operator ignore an entrapment device. Use one careful held-button cycle if a car has to come out, then leave the door down.
Will a new remote fix a door that reverses before it reaches the floor?
A remote does not aim the eyes or set the down limit. Reversing early can be the beam, the limit, or something binding in the track, and on a Cutler Bay slab all three are checked at the opening.
Place reference: Town of Cutler Bay
Request service
Name the street and whether the door is up, down, or stuck.
- Repairs and replacement parts
- Openers and controls
- New garage doors