Garage door spring replacement

Broken torsion and extension springs replaced with properly sized, cycle-rated parts — usually the same day you call.

If you heard a bang like a gunshot in the garage and now the door won't lift, you have a broken spring. It's the single most common garage door failure and it accounts for more of our calls than everything else combined.

Here's what actually happened. Your garage door weighs somewhere between 150 and 300 pounds. The opener doesn't lift that weight — the springs do, by counterbalancing it so the door is nearly weightless in motion. The opener just guides it. When a spring breaks, that counterweight disappears, and the full weight of the door lands on whatever is holding it.

That's why the door suddenly feels impossibly heavy by hand, and why an opener that tries to lift it can strip its own gears — turning a straightforward spring job into a spring job plus an opener repair.

Don't run the opener. If the door is closed, leave it closed. If it's open, don't force it down. Call (847) 841-0279 and we'll take it from there.

Know what you have

Torsion or extension?

Two types of spring are used on residential doors, and which one you have changes the repair.

Torsion springs

Mounted on a metal shaft above the door opening, running horizontally. Most doors installed in the past twenty-five years use these. They're safer in failure, last longer, and give smoother travel. A standard double door usually has one or two.

Extension springs

Long, lighter springs running parallel to the horizontal tracks on either side of the door, stretching as the door closes. Common on older installations and on lighter single-car doors. They should always have a containment cable running through them — without one, a snapping extension spring becomes a projectile. If yours don't have them, we'll fit them.

If you're not sure which you have, look above the door. A metal bar spanning the opening with a spring wound around it is torsion. Springs along the side tracks are extension.

Signs it's coming

Symptoms before the break

Springs often give warning before they go. Worth knowing, because a planned replacement is cheaper and far less disruptive than an emergency one.

A visible gap in the coil. Look at the spring above your door. A two-inch separation where the coil has parted means it has already broken.
The door opens crooked or one side lags the other.
The door feels heavy by hand when you disconnect the opener and lift it manually.
The door drops fast in the last foot of travel instead of settling gently.
The opener strains and the motor sounds like it's working harder than it used to.
Loose or dangling cables beside the track, which often accompany spring failure.
Rust or gaps along the coil, particularly on doors that have been through a few Chicago winters.

Cold weather doesn't cause springs to fail on its own, but it exposes ones near the end of their life. That's why we get a run of spring calls every January.

The repair itself

What we do on a spring call

Measure before we replace. Wire gauge, inside diameter, length and wind direction all have to match the door's weight. A spring that's close but not right will fail early and can damage the opener in the meantime. We measure rather than guess.

Replace in pairs. On a two-spring door, both get replaced. They've run the same cycles and the second is rarely far behind the first.

Check everything the break touched. When a spring goes, cables, drums and the opener often take some of the load. We check them rather than leaving you with a second failure next month.

Balance the door. After replacement we disconnect the opener and test the door by hand. It should stay put at waist height rather than drifting up or falling. If it doesn't, the tension isn't right and we adjust it before we leave.

Test the safety reverse. Last step on every job.

Common questions

Spring replacement, answered

How much does garage door spring replacement cost?

It depends on whether you need one spring or two, the size and cycle rating your door calls for, and whether anything else was damaged when it broke. Rather than quote a number that turns out to be wrong for your door, we come out, look at it, and give you the exact figure before any work starts. Call or text a photo and we'll talk it through.

Should I replace one spring or both?

If your door has two torsion springs and one broke, replace both. They were installed at the same time and have run the same number of cycles, so the second is usually close behind. Replacing one means paying a second service call within a year or two.

How long do garage door springs last?

Springs are rated in cycles, not years. A standard 10,000-cycle spring lasts roughly seven years for an average household opening the door four times a day. A busy family with an attached garage can go through one in four. High-cycle springs rated to 20,000 or more cost a little more and last roughly twice as long.

Can I replace a torsion spring myself?

We'd strongly advise against it. A torsion spring under tension stores a serious amount of energy, and winding one requires the right bars and a feel for when it's at the correct tension. This is the repair that sends people to the emergency room, and the parts saving over a professional job is small.

Is it safe to open the door with a broken spring?

No. The spring is what counterbalances the door's weight. With it broken, you're lifting 150 to 300 pounds of dead weight, and an opener that tries to lift it can strip its own gears. Leave the door where it is and call.

Get it sorted

Heard a bang and now it won't open?

That's a spring. Call and we'll usually have it fixed the same day — including tonight, if that's when it broke.

Call (847) 841-0279 Emergency repair