Emergency · same day
Broken spring
repair
There was a bang like a gunshot from the garage, and now the door will not lift — or it lifts a foot and drops. That is a torsion spring. It is the most common garage door failure there is, it is not your fault, and it is a routine fix.
Read this before you do anything
Do not try to force the door open
The spring counterbalances the entire weight of the door. With it broken, you are lifting 150 to 400 lb by hand, held up by nothing. If your car is inside, leave it there. Pull the red release cord only if you have someone helping you, and never put anything under a partly open door.
What has actually happened
The spring lifts the door. The opener only steers it.
This is the part almost nobody knows, and it is why the repair is cheaper than people fear. That motor on the ceiling is rated to pull about 25 lb. It could never lift your door. What lifts your door is the tightly wound steel spring above it, which stores enough energy to counterbalance the whole thing so that the door is nearly weightless.
Springs are rated in cycles — one up and one down. A builder-grade spring is rated for around 10,000 cycles. A household that opens the door four times a day gets through that in about seven years. Then it snaps, usually in cold weather, usually first thing in the morning, and usually with a bang the whole street hears.
How to tell it is the spring
- A visible two-inch gap in the coiled spring on the bar above the door
- The opener strains, clicks, or hums and the door does not move
- The door lifts a few inches and stops, or slams back down
- The door is unbearably heavy to lift by hand with the release pulled
- A loud bang from the garage, at any time, with nobody in there
Why we replace both
If your door runs on two springs and one has gone, the second one is exactly the same age and has done exactly the same number of cycles. It is typically within months of failing. Replacing the pair while the door is already apart costs less than the second service call will, and we will always show you the option rather than deciding for you.
What we fit
Where the headroom allows, we fit 25,000-cycle springs as standard — roughly double the life of the builder-grade spring most doors leave the factory with, for a small difference in part cost. It is the single best value upgrade on a garage door and we would rather not be back in seven years.
The price moves with door weight, spring size and cycle rating — see how we price.
The honest warning
This is the job the trade is worst at
A broken spring is an emergency, which means you are calling in a hurry and you are not going to shop around. That is precisely why it attracts the operators the Better Business Bureau warns about — the phone quote of $49 that becomes $900 once your car is trapped, and the technician who tells you the whole door needs replacing.
Can I replace a torsion spring myself?
We would strongly advise against it, and we are not saying that to sell you a job. A wound torsion spring holds enough energy to break bones, and the winding bars have to be the right size or they slip. There are cheaper things to be brave about.
Does a broken spring mean I need a new door?
Almost never. The spring is a wear part, like a tyre. If someone tells you a snapped spring means a new door, get a second opinion — a door with a sound skin and sound tracks has years left in it.
Will you come out today?
Usually, yes. Spring failures are the calls we hold slots open for. If we cannot get to you today we will say so on the phone rather than book you and slip.
Should I replace the opener at the same time?
Only if it is also failing. They are unrelated parts and the spring going has done your opener no harm. If your opener is over fifteen years old and lacks the modern safety reverse, that is a separate conversation we will have separately.
My car is stuck inside. What do I do?
Call us and say exactly that — it moves you up the list. Do not try to lift the door far enough to reverse out; a door held by nothing can come down on the roof of a car, or on you.
Spring gone? We hold slots for this.
Same-day repair across Dracut and Greater Lowell, at a price you are told before we start.