Broken garage door spring repair

How to tell a spring broke

• A sharp bang from the garage while nobody was using the door. A wound spring lets go all at once.
• A gap of an inch or two in the coil on the bar above the door. That is the break.
• The opener runs, the door lifts a few inches and stops, or the opener hums and nothing moves.
• The door feels like it weighs a few hundred pounds when you try it by hand. Without the spring, you are lifting all of it.
• On older garages with springs along each side track, one stretched spring hanging loose, or a door that rises crooked.

Cables that went slack or came off the drum usually go with a broken spring. Don't try to put them back.

What to do until it's fixed

Stop pressing the opener button. An opener is built to guide a balanced door, and lifting the full weight can strip its gear or bend the door's top section. If the door is closed and your car is inside, plan on another ride for the day. If it is stuck open, keep everyone out from under it and don't try to force it down.

Pull the red emergency release cord only if a technician tells you to. With a broken spring, a door can drop fast once it is disconnected from the opener.

Why springs break here

Every spring has a life measured in cycles. One cycle is one open and one close. This Old House puts torsion springs at up to about 20,000 cycles and extension springs at about 10,000. A family that uses the garage four or five times a day goes through that faster than one that parks in the driveway.

Cold is the other part. The Colorado Springs airport averages about 156 nights a year at or below freezing (NOAA, 1996-2025). Steel gets less forgiving in the cold, and a spring that has been wearing for years often gives out on the first hard freeze of the fall. More on cold weather problems.

Average nights per month at or below 32 degrees, Colorado Springs airport

What spring replacement costs

This Old House lists spring replacement at $300 to $540 installed, about $420 on average, as of March 2026. Torsion springs run $350 to $540 installed and extension springs $300 to $400. The springs themselves cost $80 to $120 for torsion and $20 to $60 for extension, so most of the bill is the labor and the trip.

I'd replace both springs at once on a two-spring door. They were installed together and have the same number of cycles on them, so the second one is usually close behind. Full cost breakdown.

Why we wouldn't do it yourself

A torsion spring is wound tight enough to lift the door, and all of that force comes back through the winding bars if a set screw slips. Spring work causes serious injuries every year. It is the one garage door job we always leave to a technician. Why torsion springs are dangerous.