How to Open a Garage Door

Remove your garage door from the garage door opener track. This step only applies if your garage door opener is not working due to a power outage or if the batteries need to be replaced in the remote and you are unable to replace them immediately. If you don't have a garage door opener, skip to the next step. To remove the garage door from the track, go inside your garage and pull down on the rope that hangs from the garage door.

Unlock the bolt, located on the garage door, that slides into a hole in the frame of the garage. If you have a separate lock to secure it in place, you must first remove it from the garage slide lock. To remove the slide lock, pull it up so that it clears the iron padlock hole and slide the lock in the opposite direction of the hole in the frame of the garage.

Walk to the center of your garage door and pull the handle up. If your garage door does not have a handle, slip your fingers under the door, grip the bottom of the door and lift. When you have lifted the garage waist-high, grab the bottom of the garage door with both hands and lift with a curling motion. When you have lifted the garage door shoulder-high, turn your wrists so that you are gripping the garage door with your wrists back in a neutral angle and lift in a motion as if your were performing shoulder presses. If you have a pull-out garage door, you will need to move backward while opening the door.