A garage door spring can break due to various reasons, including normal wear and tear, lack of maintenance, extreme temperatures, or using the wrong type of spring. Regular inspection and maintenance of your garage door system can help identify potential issues before they become significant problems.
Improper maintenance: Many garage door springs break due to a lack of proper maintenance. To increase the life span of your garage door springs, you should lubricate your springs with white lithium grease seasonally and check the balance of your garage door every season.
All garage door springs will fail eventually, but proper maintenance can not only prolong the lifespan of the springs, but alert you when they are getting close to failure.
You can open a garage door that has a broken torsion spring, but it will take some amount of manual effort. You should not try to use your garage door opener. Since a broken spring will not help lift the heavy door, using your opener could burn out the motor.
Expect to spend $120–$350 to replace your garage door spring, including material costs and professional installation. While these heavy-duty springs are built to last, they'll eventually need replacement due to wear and tear. Garage door spring replacement isn't your average DIY project, either.
Standard manufacturer garage door springs have an average lifecycle of about 10,000 cycles, equivalent to approximately 48 months when used daily. Oil-tempered garage door springs show improved endurance, lasting for about 15,000 cycles, which translates roughly to a 10-year lifespan with regular use.
Replacing a garage door spring yourself isn't impossible, but it does require special knowledge about the springs and how a garage door works.
Make sure you always replace both springs when they snap, regardless of which side snapped first. A broken spring without a repaired or replaced second spring can be problematic – as the garage door will now be subject to extra pressure on only one side.
Replacing garage door springs takes 30 minutes to 1 hour. New garage door springs last 7 to 14 years, or between 10,000 and 20,000 up-and-down cycles. It is important to hire a professional to help, because changing a garage door spring can be dangerous.
Most garage door springs are designed to open and close 10,000 cycles or between 7 to 10 years. This will vary depending on which type of spring system you have and how well they are maintained.
Manual Operation in an Emergency
It is clear that opening a garage door with a broken spring, whether manually or using the opener, is dangerous and potentially damaging to the door and the opener and can incur additional costs. The safety risks involved cannot be overstated.
Over time, if not regularly lubricated, the springs will accumulate rust. Rust is a sign that the integrity of the steel is breaking down. Once that integrity breaks down enough the stress brought upon the weakened spring by the constant coiling and uncoiling will cause the spring to snap.
Corrosion – To do their job, coil springs are constantly expanding and compressing. This action causes the plastic coating that protects the wire to crack – exposing it to the elements. Rain, snow and salted roads during winter cling to the wire and over time cause it to corrode and break.
Too much tension: Your garage door will not close completely or will remain closed and blocked.
One of the most common causes of a broken garage door spring is excessive tension on the spring. When the spring is under too much tension, it can become weak and eventually break.
One of the most common garage door services is garage door spring repair. According to Angi, garage door spring replacement can cost between $150 and $350, including materials and labor. If additional repairs are required, you may spend up to $500. A double door generally costs an extra $15 to $30 per spring.
As professionals in the industry, we advise you do not attempt to open your garage door if the spring is broken.
If your garage door has a broken garage door spring, it is reasonably straightforward to replace if you are an experienced DIY enthusiast. The caveat is that you must be extremely careful when carrying out this procedure, as not following the correct safety measures can be dangerous.
We have a full range of garage door parts, such as brackets, locks, springs and cables, available at Lowe's.
How many springs does a garage door have? A garage door typically has one to four springs, depending on the size and weight. For example, residential single-car garages are often single-spring garage doors and residential two-car garages are often dual-spring garage doors.
Many modern garage doors use a torsion spring, lasting about 10,000 open and closing cycles. So, if you use your garage door three times a day, your springs will last about 10 years.