I've been reading quite a few posts regarding issues with the Craftsman openers and wondering to myself, was it a smart way to go? I guess hind sight is 20/20. So, Christmas '07 we purchased a Craftsman 1/2 HP garage door opener as a gift for my mother-in-law. Less than 1.5 years later we're experiencing the same symptoms as schneider-rolfo. Door will not open or close or make any noise whatsoever when using either the remote or the hardwired console. The remote stopped working a few months ago and replacing batteries didn't resolve. Now, neither console or remote do anything. I noticed that one of the sensors' LEDs will not light regardless of alignment while the other is working (I don't recall if it's green or amber, but know that it is lit.) Could the issue be caused by a faulty sensor or might it be something else more serious? Sears, who did the install, wants $65 just to come out to diagnose the problem and I'm sure it will be more to have them fix any issues as the warranty on these I've been told are only 60 or 90 days. Any thoughts before I spend the cost of a new opener to get someone out to look at and repair it? Thanks.

For everyone having the problem with your garage door not closing... I've read this entire blog and tried everything suggested. The force/travel adjustments would solve my problem for a while then it would come back so, if you've already checked sensors, wiring for damage/connection, adjusted the up/down force, adjusted the up/down travel here's something to try before buying a new opener: Inside the unit find the up/down travel adjustment mechanism(see photo). At the end opposite the screw-heads you turn to adjust the travel there is a gear mechanism. When these gears wear they can slip. In addition, the chassis for the gears is plastic and over time will weaken-my opener is almost 12 years old! My gears are still in pretty good shape. The problem is that the chassis would flex and allow the gears to jump hence, the reason my adjustments would work for a while then the problem would come back. Now I know this will sound like a hokey fix but I figure it is better than dropping a couple hundred bucks on a new opener...I pushed a toothpick into the hole in the main chassis where the travel mechanism is snapped in essentially eliminating the chassis from flexing and allowing the gears to slip. make sure you do this on the side opposite the gears. If you do it on the same side you will put a larger space between the gears making the problem worse. This has been working for nearly a month now. I attached a picture of the travel adjust mechanism for reference. It is difficult to see the toothpick in the photo. It is right next to the brown wire connection opposite end of the mechanism from the adjustment screw heads. One other hint: the opener will most likely get hot running the door up and down making your adjustments and will shut off (thermal overload protection). I don't know why but after this happened the green light next to the remote programming button on the back would flash 5 times-off-flash 5 times...repeatedly. I had to pull the power for a couple minutes to get the light to stop blinking. Either let the unit cool for about 10 minutes after it shuts off or to keep your unit from overheating, place a small floor fan in position to blow on the motor. Craftsman 1/2 HP model# 139.53971SRT manufacture date: 02/2000

The front door is now painted a glossy black, and it looks so much better than it did before. However, it seems that nothing we do around the house is ever as simple as we think it's going to be, and painting the door was no different. Last week I'd asked DH to stop by the Benjamin Moore store on his way home from the gym, after calling and asking the manager to have a quart of "a deep, glossy black" ready to go when he stopped in. I first expressed my confusion over the many different shades of black on the BM website, and the manager said, "Oh, we have a standard gloss black that's already mixed and ready to go." That was fine with me. When I went to paint on Saturday, I opened the can, gave it a good stir, but noticed that it looked very gray - not really black at all. Maybe it will look different on the door, after it dries, I told myself - and proceeded to apply 3 coats. It looked even worse when it dried, taking on a deep blue-gray cast. It wasn't at all what I wanted. I ended up running to a nearby Ace Hardware yesterday morning, and taking one of their gloss black paints off the shelf. Turns out it was absolutely perfect, and I guess I have to just view the weird BM stuff as primer. I'm definitely returning the unused BM quart to the store, though, as it's not at all what I'd asked for. I wonder what happened ... bad batch, perhaps?

Hi there - thank you for posting! For some added curb appeal, definitely update the color of the garage, front door and two peaks in the front. Make the peaks a fresh, bright white like PPG's Delicate White. The front door and garage door would benefit from a nice, rich navy/gray - like PPG's Silver Blueberry. Best, Meghan