Broken Garage Door Spring? What to Do

It usually starts with a bang from the garage, loud enough that people mistake it for something falling. The next morning the door will not open, or lifts a few inches and stops. Nine times out of ten that is a broken torsion spring, the most common garage door failure we see across South Florida.

How to tell the spring is broken

• You heard a loud bang. A torsion spring under tension releases with a sound like a firecracker when it snaps.
• The door feels extremely heavy. Springs carry almost the whole weight of the door. Without them a double door can weigh over 150 pounds at the handle.
• There is a visible gap in the coil. Look at the spring on the shaft above the door. A broken spring shows a clean two inch separation in the middle of the coil.
• The opener strains, then reverses. Openers are not built to lift a dead door, and most modern units sense the load and stop.
• The door rises crooked. On two spring doors, one broken side lifts unevenly and can jam the tracks.

What to do right now

1. Stop using the opener. Forcing it can burn out the motor and bend the top panel, turning a spring job into a spring plus opener plus panel job.
2. Leave the door where it is. If it is closed, leave it closed. If it is stuck partway, do not walk or park under it.
3. Do not disconnect the red release cord while the door is up. With a broken spring, pulling the release on an open door lets it free fall.
4. Keep kids and pets out of the garage until the door is repaired.

What a safe fix looks like

A proper spring replacement is more than swapping the broken coil. We replace springs in matched pairs, because when one spring has reached the end of its cycles its twin is close behind. We then rebalance the door by hand so it holds steady at any height, check the cables and drums that took the shock of the snap, and safety test the opener force settings.

In South Florida, standard springs rated for about 10,000 cycles often age faster because salt air and humidity corrode the steel. High cycle springs rated for 25,000 to 50,000 cycles cost a little more and usually outlast the door itself.

What it costs

Most torsion spring replacements in Palm Beach County run about $200 to $500 for the pair, installed, balanced and warrantied. You can see how that compares to other repairs in our garage door repair cost guide, and the full service details on our garage door spring replacement page.