How to Tell if Your Garage Door Spring Is Broken (and What to Do Next)

Broken springs are the most common garage door failure we see in Central Florida. The good news: the signs are easy to recognize, and the repair is usually done in under two hours. The bad news: it is one repair you should never try yourself.

What garage door springs actually do

A typical two-car steel door weighs 130 to 200 pounds. The opener isn’t strong enough to lift that alone; the springs do the heavy lifting by storing energy when the door closes and releasing it when it opens. The opener just guides the door.

Most homes have one of two types:

• Torsion springs sit on a metal bar right above the door opening. They twist to store energy.
• Extension springs run along the horizontal tracks on each side and stretch when the door closes.

Either way, every spring is rated for a certain number of open-and-close cycles. Builder-grade springs are often rated around 10,000 cycles. At four cycles a day, that’s roughly seven years.

Five signs your spring is broken

1. You heard a loud bang from the garage. A torsion spring snapping sounds like a gunshot or a firecracker. People often think something fell.
2. The door opens a few inches and stops, or the opener strains and the door doesn’t move at all.
3. The door feels incredibly heavy when you pull the red emergency release and try to lift it by hand. A balanced door should lift with little effort and stay put halfway.
4. You can see a gap in the spring. Look at the torsion spring above the door: a 2-inch gap between coils means it has broken.
5. The door goes up crooked, or a cable is hanging loose next to the door.

What to do right now

• Stop using the opener. Without the spring, the opener is trying to lift the full weight of the door and can burn out its gears in seconds.
• Don’t try to lift the door by hand unless you have to get a car out, and even then get help. With a broken spring the door is dead weight.
• Keep kids and pets away from the door and the area under it.
• Call a professional. If your car is trapped inside, tell us when you call; that goes to the front of the line.

Why you shouldn’t replace a spring yourself

Torsion springs are wound under hundreds of pounds of force. Releasing or setting that tension without proper winding bars and procedure is how people lose fingers or get struck in the face. Online videos make it look simple; emergency rooms see the results. Extension springs can whip loose too, especially without safety cables.

A professional also measures the door and the old spring (wire size, inside diameter, length) so the new spring matches the door’s weight. A wrong-sized spring leaves the door out of balance and wears out the opener.

Replace one spring or both?

If your door has two springs and one broke, the other has done exactly the same number of cycles. It usually fails soon after. We recommend replacing both at the same visit, which saves you a second service call.

What it costs

At Bird Garage Door, spring replacement typically costs $150 to $350 depending on the spring type and door size. That includes correctly sized high-cycle springs (rated for 25,000+ cycles), balancing the door, lubrication and a full safety test, and it comes with a lifetime warranty on parts and labor.

How to make the next springs last longer

• Lubricate the springs lightly with a garage door lubricant two or three times a year.
• Watch for rust, especially if you live near the coast: an orange coating means the spring is weakening.
• Ask for high-cycle springs if your family uses the garage as the main entrance.
• Schedule a yearly tune-up so tension is checked before something breaks.

Heard the bang? Call us or request a free estimate and we’ll get your door working again, usually the same day.