A loud bang, and now the garage door will not open: what a broken spring means

Something snapped in the garage and the door is not moving

You heard it from inside the house: a bang like something heavy hitting the floor. Or you did not hear anything, and this morning you pressed the remote, the opener hummed, the door rose a few inches and stopped. Maybe it is crooked, hanging lower on one side. Your car is inside, you have somewhere to be, and the door that has worked every day for ten years has quit without warning.

We run ProperShop Garage Door Services for the Dallas area, and this is the call we get more than any other. In most cases the cause is a broken spring, and the good news is that it is a routine repair when it is done correctly. The bad news is that it is also the single most dangerous part of a garage door to touch. This guide shows you how to confirm what happened, what is safe to do in the meantime, what a technician should inspect, and what you are actually paying for.

Why a garage door depends on its springs

A residential garage door can weigh well over a hundred pounds, and a double door much more. The opener motor does not lift that weight. The springs do. A torsion spring mounted on a shaft above the door, or a pair of extension springs running along the horizontal tracks, is wound to counterbalance the door so that it feels nearly weightless when balanced. The opener only has to guide it. When a spring breaks, the opener is suddenly asked to lift the full weight of the door, and it cannot.

Springs break because they wear out. Every open and close is one cycle, and springs are rated for a certain number of cycles. A family that opens the door several times a day uses them up faster. Dallas heat and the temperature swings of a North Texas winter contribute, and so does rust from humidity if the spring was never lubricated. A spring that breaks after years of service has usually done its job; it is not a sign of a bad door.

The cables are the other half of the system. They connect the bottom of the door to the spring assembly and carry the tension. When a spring snaps, the cables often go slack or slip off their drums, which is why the door hangs crooked. Fixing the spring without correcting the cables is an incomplete repair.

How to confirm a broken spring without touching anything

Stand inside the garage with the door closed and look above it. A torsion spring runs horizontally along a shaft over the door. If you see a visible gap of an inch or two in the coil, it is broken. Extension springs run along each side above the tracks; look for a spring that is hanging, stretched or in two pieces. Look at the cables on each side of the door: if one is loose, coiled on the floor or off its drum, that confirms the system has lost tension.

Then watch the opener. Press the button once. If the motor runs but the door barely moves or the opener trolley travels without the door following, the opener is trying to lift a dead weight. Stop pressing the button. Repeated attempts strain the opener's gears and can strip them, turning a spring repair into a spring and opener repair.

Finally, look at the door itself. A door that is crooked, with one side higher than the other, or that has come off the track on one side, should be left exactly where it is. Note what you see and take a few photos; they help us arrive with the right parts.

• Gap in the torsion spring coil above the door
• Extension spring hanging, stretched or in pieces
• Cables slack, off the drum or on the floor
• Opener runs but the door does not follow
• Door crooked or off the track on one side

What is safe to do while you wait, and what is not

Do not try to lift the door by hand. Without the spring, you are lifting the full weight, and a door that gets partway up can come down fast. Do not pull the red emergency release cord on the opener if the door is open, because releasing it lets the door fall. Do not attempt to replace or adjust a spring yourself. Torsion springs store a great deal of energy and require specific tools and sizing; this is not a job for a weekend, and injuries from it are serious.

What you can do: keep people and pets away from the door, leave the opener alone, and if the door is stuck partly open and you are worried about security, call for emergency service rather than forcing it closed. If your car is trapped and you need to be somewhere, that is exactly the situation same-day and 24-hour service exists for. A broken spring is not a wait-a-week problem when it is holding your car hostage, and it is never a do-it-yourself problem.

What our technician does on a spring call

Every service call starts with a full inspection of the door and hardware, not just the part you called about. The technician checks the springs, cables, drums, bearings, rollers, hinges, tracks and the opener, and then explains what they found before anything is replaced. We separate what needs attention now from what can wait, and we do not upsell; you decide with the facts in front of you.

For the spring itself, the technician identifies the type and measures the door's weight and dimensions so the replacement spring is sized to that specific door. A spring that is close but not right will leave the door heavy or make it fly up, and it will wear the opener. The old spring is removed safely, the new one installed and wound to the correct tension, the cables reseated or replaced if they are frayed or rusted, and the door balanced so it stays put at waist height with the opener disconnected. The opener is then reconnected and its force and travel settings checked.

Before leaving, the technician lubricates the moving parts, runs the door through several cycles and walks you through what was done. On a door that has one of two torsion springs break, we talk through replacing both, since the second has the same age and cycles on it.

• Full inspection of springs, cables, rollers, tracks, hinges and opener
• Plain explanation of findings before any work begins
• Spring sized to the door's weight and dimensions
• Safe removal, installation and winding to correct tension
• Cables reseated or replaced; door balanced; opener settings checked
• Lubrication, test cycles and a walkthrough with you

What drives the price of a spring repair

We quote after inspection rather than publish prices, because the inspection determines the job. The main variables are the spring type and size, since torsion and extension systems differ and a heavy double door needs a larger spring than a single. Whether one spring or a pair is replaced is next. Cables that have frayed or rusted, rollers that are cracked, bearings that have seized or an opener that was damaged by repeated attempts to lift the door each add parts and time.

The time of the call matters too; emergency service outside normal hours is its own category. What should not vary is the explanation. You should know what is being replaced and why before anyone opens a toolbox, and you should be shown the parts that justify the recommendation.

Choosing a garage door company when you are in a hurry

Being stuck makes people accept the first voice on the phone, and that is how a routine spring repair turns into a sales pitch for a new door. Ask whether the company inspects the whole door or just replaces the part you named. Ask how they size the spring. Ask whether they will explain findings before doing work and whether you can decline anything. Ask whether same-day service is actually available and what the hours are.

Ask about the technician: are they employed and trained by the company, and will they show you the worn parts? Ask what happens if the door is still not right after the repair. A company confident in its work answers all of this quickly and without pressure, even at nine at night.

• Inspects the full door, not only the part you named
• Sizes the spring to the door rather than using a universal part
• Explains findings and lets you decide
• Clear emergency and same-day availability
• Shows you the worn parts and stands behind the repair

The errors that make a broken spring more expensive

Pressing the opener button over and over is the first, and it is how openers get stripped. Forcing the door up by hand is the second, and it is how people get hurt and panels get bent. Ordering a spring online and attempting the swap is the third; the sizing is usually wrong and the winding is dangerous. Replacing only one of two torsion springs to save money is the fourth, because the second one is on the same clock and will bring you back within months.

Ignoring the cables and rollers while the spring is being replaced is the fifth. The door is already apart; worn parts cost far less to address then than on a separate call. And never lubricating the door is the long-term error that shortens the life of every part on it.

What happens after you call us

You call or book online and describe what you see: the noise, whether the door is crooked, whether the opener runs. We schedule a technician the same day where available, and around the clock for emergencies. On arrival the technician inspects the whole door, explains the findings, gives you a price and waits for your approval. Most spring repairs are completed in that visit, and you leave with a door that is balanced, quiet and safe.

We serve Dallas, Plano, Frisco, Richardson, Carrollton, Addison, Coppell, Flower Mound, Lewisville, Grapevine, The Colony and nearby cities. If what you actually want is a new door, the same visit can start a design consultation and measurements, with installation available the same day. Either way, the first step is the same: stop pressing the button and make the call.

Questions people ask me