What to Do When a Garage Door Spring Breaks
By Morgantown Garage Door Repair
A loud bang from the garage, then a door that won’t open: that is the classic sign of a broken spring. It happens most often in cold weather, when steel is more brittle and the spring is already near the end of its life.
How to Tell
- A visible gap in the torsion spring on the bar above the door.
- The opener runs but the door barely lifts, or lifts crooked.
- The door feels extremely heavy if you try to lift it by hand.
What Not to Do
- Don’t keep pressing the opener. It isn’t built to lift the full weight of the door.
- Don’t try to lift the door by hand or prop it open.
- Don’t try to wind or replace a torsion spring yourself. The stored energy in those springs causes serious injuries.
What Replacement Involves
New springs are sized to the weight and height of the door. On a two-spring door, both are usually replaced together. The cables and bottom brackets get checked, the door is balanced, and the opener force is re-checked.
Why It Happens in Morgantown
Morgantown sees about 28 inches of snow a year and plenty of mornings below freezing. Springs that have opened and closed thousands of times tend to give out on those cold mornings.
If a spring has broken, leave the door down and call for a free estimate.