Broken Garage Door Spring? Here’s What Just Happened

It usually happens on an ordinary morning. You hear a bang from the garage loud enough that you check the street for a car accident, and when you press the remote the door groans, lifts an inch, and quits. Nine times out of ten a torsion spring has broken.

Why springs break

Springs, not the opener, do the lifting. A standard steel door weighs 150 to 250 pounds, and the opener only supplies the nudge that gets it moving. Springs are rated in cycles: a builder-grade spring is good for roughly 10,000 open-close cycles, which is about seven years for an average household and closer to four if your garage is the door everyone uses.

Tampa Bay shortens that clock in its own way. Humidity and salt air corrode a spring from the outside in, and the pitting that leaves behind becomes the crack that finally gives. Near the water, St. Pete, Clearwater, Palmetto. We routinely see springs fail years before the same spring would fail inland, which is why we quote galvanized where it's available.

What to do right now

• Don't keep pressing the remote. The opener will strain against a door it can't lift and strip its gears.
• Don't pull the red emergency release while the door is up. With a broken spring the door is unbalanced and can slam down.
• If the door is already down, leave it down and use the side door.
• If your car is trapped inside, wait for a technician rather than lifting a 200-pound unbalanced door by hand.

Replace in pairs

If you have two springs and one broke, the other has the same age and the same cycles on it, and will fail within months. Replacing both costs far less than a second service call, and matched springs keep the door balanced. Any technician who offers to replace only the broken one is doing you a disservice.

Why this is not a DIY job

A wound torsion spring stores a startling amount of energy. Unwinding one without the correct winding bars, or with a screwdriver as a substitute, is how people lose fingers. Cable and drum work carries the same hazard. This is the one garage door repair we ask homeowners to leave alone entirely.