Garage Door Spring Replacement: What You Need to Know

The springs are the hardest-working part of your garage door. They counterbalance the full weight of the door, often well over a hundred pounds, so the opener and your hands only ever move a small fraction of that load. Because they take the strain on every single open and close, springs are the most common garage door part to fail.

Most spring failures announce themselves with a loud bang from the garage, almost like a firecracker. After that the door may refuse to open, rise only a few inches before stopping, feel suddenly and impossibly heavy, or hang noticeably crooked. A clear gap in the coil of the torsion spring mounted above the door is a sure sign one has snapped.

A door with a broken spring is not safe to operate. Running the opener can strain the motor, bend panels, or pull the door off its tracks, and trying to lift it by hand is how people get seriously hurt, because the springs are under extreme tension. Leave the door where it is and avoid parking a vehicle underneath it until it is repaired.

Springs are rated by cycles rather than years. A standard spring is built for roughly 10,000 open-and-close cycles, which for most homes is about seven to ten years of use. When one spring goes the other is usually close behind, so replacing both at once keeps the door balanced evenly and saves you a second service call later.

Our licensed technicians fit springs in the correct size and cycle rating for your door, then inspect the cables, drums, rollers, and bearings, rebalance the door, and test the opener's safety reverse before they leave. It is typically a same-day fix, and we always walk you through what we found before any work begins.