Garage Door Spring Broke? What to Do (and What Not to Touch)

It usually goes like this. You hear a bang from the garage that sounds like something fell off a shelf. Later you press the remote, the opener hums, the door lifts a few inches and stops, or it doesn't move at all.

That's very likely a broken spring. Here's how to confirm it, what to leave alone and how to get it fixed without making things worse.

Why springs matter so much

A garage door is heavy, far heavier than you'd want to lift on your own. The opener doesn't do the lifting. The springs do. They're wound to balance the door's weight, so the opener (or you) only has to guide it.

When a spring breaks, all that weight lands on the opener, the cables and whoever pulls on the door.

Most GTA homes have one of two setups:

• Torsion springs: one or two springs on a metal shaft above the door opening. When one breaks, you'll usually see a clear gap in the coil.
• Extension springs: long springs running alongside the horizontal tracks overhead. A broken one may hang loose or look stretched out of shape.

Signs it's a spring

• A loud bang from the garage when nobody was using the door
• A visible gap in a torsion spring coil
• The door is suddenly very heavy or won't lift by hand
• The opener strains, lifts a few inches, then stops or reverses
• The door goes up crooked, or a cable is hanging loose

What not to do

Don't keep pressing the remote. The opener isn't built to lift the full weight of the door. Repeated tries can strip the opener's gear or bend the top section of the door.

Don't pull the red emergency release if the door is open. With a broken spring, the door can drop fast once it's disconnected from the opener. If the door is stuck open, leave it, keep people and cars out from under it, and call.

Don't try to wind, unwind or adjust torsion springs yourself. The springs and the winding cones hold a lot of stored energy. This is the one part of a garage door that really is a job for someone with the right bars and training.

Don't try to muscle the door up alone to get the car out. Call first. There may be a safer way.

Why it often happens on a cold morning

Springs wear out by cycles. Every open and close is one. A spring near the end of its life can let go on any day, but the first cold snaps of the season are a common time for it. The door can be stiff or slightly frozen to the floor, lubricants thicken, and the whole system works harder.

If your door is older and gets opened several times a day, it's worth having the springs checked in the fall, before you're stuck on a January morning with the car inside.

What a proper repair includes

When you call, ask what the repair covers. A good spring repair usually means:

• Springs matched to your door. Springs are sized for the door's weight and height. The wrong spring leaves the door heavy or makes it shoot up.
• Both springs replaced on a two-spring door. They're the same age. If one broke, the other is usually not far behind.
• Cables, drums, bearings and rollers checked. A breaking spring can kink a cable or knock it off its drum.
• The door balanced. With the opener disconnected, a balanced door should stay roughly where you leave it halfway up.
• The opener's safety reverse tested once the work is done.

Our garage door spring repair page explains how we handle it, and garage door cable repair covers cables that came off. Wondering what drives the cost? Our guide to garage door repair cost in Toronto explains the factors without guessing at a number.

What to tell us when you call

The more we know, the better prepared the visit:

1. Is the door open, closed or stuck partway?
2. Single or double door, and roughly how wide?
3. One spring above the door, two, or springs along the side tracks?
4. Any loose cables, or is the door crooked?
5. The opener brand, if you know it
6. Photos of the springs and the bottom corners of the door

We repair garage doors across Toronto and the GTA, including North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough, Mississauga and Vaughan.

Spring broke? Call or text GTA Garage Pro at (365) 360-4168, Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 8 PM. If it happens after hours, leave the door as it is and text us photos.