Garage Door Spring Repair & Replacement

How Garage Door Springs Work

A double garage door weighs roughly 130 to 350 pounds, depending on how it's built. Your opener isn't designed to lift that. The springs do the heavy lifting, storing energy as the door closes and releasing it as the door opens, while the opener simply guides the door up and down.

That's why you can't work around a broken spring by running the opener anyway. Without the springs, the opener is trying to lift the door's full weight, and it'll strip a gear or burn out trying. Leave the door closed, park outside, and call us.

Torsion vs. Extension Springs

Torsion springs mount on a steel bar above the door opening and wind tighter as the door closes. They're standard on most modern doors because they control the door better and wear more predictably. A broken torsion spring shows a clear gap of an inch or two in the coil.

Extension springs run alongside the horizontal tracks and stretch as the door closes. They're common on older doors. Each one should have a safety cable running through it, because a broken extension spring without one can whip across the garage. If yours are missing those cables, we'll add them.

Why Garage Door Springs Break

Springs are rated in cycles, and one cycle is one full open and close. A standard spring is typically rated around 10,000 cycles. If your household opens the door four times a day, that's about 1,500 cycles a year, so a standard spring lasts roughly six to eight years. Busy households with several drivers get there sooner.

High-cycle springs use heavier wire and are commonly rated for 20,000 cycles or more. They cost more up front, but on a busy door they're often the better buy, and we'll price both options so you can choose.

What shortens spring life:

• Cycle count: the main factor, and unavoidable.
• Springs too weak for the door's weight, which is common when a heavier door was installed on the old springs.
• Rust, especially near the coast, where salt air reaches the hardware.
• Years without lubrication, which makes the coils bind against each other.

How We Replace Garage Door Springs

Every spring is defined by its wire size, inside diameter, length and wind direction. Those have to match your door's weight and the cable drums, and a spring that's close but not exact will wear out early or leave the door out of balance. We measure the old spring and the door so the new ones fit right.

If your door has two springs and one breaks, we replace both. They've done the same number of cycles, so the second one is close behind, and doing both now saves you a second service call later.

With the springs off, we also inspect the bearings, drums and cables, because a seized center bearing or a fraying cable can ruin new springs. Pritesh Patel summed up the spring replacement in a Google review: "Excellent, efficient service from Roberto with fair pricing."

Garage door cable repair →

Why Spring Replacement Isn't a DIY Job

A wound torsion spring on a typical double door stores a dangerous amount of energy. It's adjusted with hardened winding bars made for the job, and when a bar or a makeshift tool slips, it can cause serious injuries. Hospitals see these accidents every year.

Springs sold online in close-enough sizes are another risk, and a mismatched spring on a door above your car is no place to cut corners. Call us instead. Many spring jobs can be priced over the phone, and we'll have your door working again, often the same day.