Spring Repair

Broken springs are a bigger problem than most people understand. The torsion spring is an integral part of your garage door because it is that tension that raises the door. Although your garage door opener does contain a motor and it is responsible for actually lifting the door, the torsion spring holds the door’s weight during the lifting process. In fact, the motor inside the opener is ofter a 1 or 1/2 horsepower engine, and could not lift the door normally. The torsion spring is doing an important job in your garage, but most homeowners never know it. Share on X

The spring must be routinely lubricated and wound tighter for it to keep working. If all of the components are in correct working order, the garage door should be very light and easy to lift, because the spring’s tension is helping pull it upwards. Similarly, if you’ve detached your garage door from the opener, you should be able to lift it easily and, if you release the door, it should stay balanced exactly where it is. Oftentimes, homeowners do not have their residential garage door springs inspected or maintained, and so they gradually wear out after repeated use. In fact, every spring is only rated for a certain number of door operation cycles, sometimes as low as 10,000 – that might sound like a lot, but if you leave your house twice every day, that won’t even last seven years. Homes with multiple cars coming and going through the same garage door could see the spring wear out in as few as four years.

Winding the spring is an incredibly dangerous procedure for an untrained homeowner to attempt, and as such we recommend never attempting to wind your spring yourself. The spring is under tremendous force, and without proper technique and winding bars, it is much easier than you’d expect to lose a hand if the spring grabs your sleeve. Keep in mind that your door, especially if it is older and made of wood, weighs several hundred pounds, and that the spring is powerful enough to balance that weight. When a spring is not serviced and, when it has been worn out completely, replaced, it presents a risk of breaking. Modern designs usually wrap the spring around the opener’s shaft, preventing it from launching off when it breaks, but this safety measure still does not prevent the door from crashing to the ground if the spring breaks. Have an expert come out and inspect your spring if it hasn’t been serviced in the last couple years, because the cost of a service call is worth the peace of mind knowing that you aren’t endangering a loved one’s life.

Spring repair is just one of the many services we can offer for a homeowner or business owner with a broken garage door. Visit that page