What to Do When a Garage Door Spring Breaks
When a garage door spring breaks, stop using the opener immediately. The springs carry the weight of the door, not the motor, so running the opener will strain it, crease panels and can drop the door. Leave the door closed if it is closed, get it down carefully with a second person if it is open, and do not attempt the replacement yourself. Spring replacement is $150 to $350 per spring installed, and doing both springs on a two spring door adds $120 to $250.
Confirm it
Look at the horizontal shaft above the door opening. A broken torsion spring shows a clean gap in the coil, typically an inch or two, with the two halves apart. On a 16 foot double door there are usually two springs, one either side of the center bracket, and one of them will have the gap.
If you have extension springs instead, which is common on 1950s to 1970s single doors in older neighborhoods like Hialeah, Hollywood east of I-95 and St. Petersburg, they run alongside the horizontal tracks on each side. A broken one is usually obvious: stretched, snapped, or hanging from its safety cable.
If you heard a bang and the door will not lift, it is almost certainly this. Our guide to the loud bang from the garage covers what else it could have been.
The next ten minutes
Do not press the opener button. Not once. The springs carry the door and the opener guides it. Without spring support, the opener will strain the motor, strip the gear, crease the top section, and can pull the door off its track. Every attempt makes the eventual repair larger, and a creased top panel adds a panel replacement at $250 to $800 to a spring job.
If the door is closed, leave it closed. This is the good outcome. Your car may be stuck inside but nothing is going to deteriorate overnight, and the house is secure.
If the door is open, get it down carefully. Two people, hands flat on the bottom section and clear of the joints between sections, lower it slowly. Fingers get caught in section joints and that is a common injury. Once it is down, slide the manual lock or clamp the track above a bottom roller so nobody tries the opener.
Do not pull the manual release with the door raised. Without spring support, disconnecting a raised door lets it come down under its own weight. The manual release guide explains when to use it and when not to.
Getting a trapped car out
If you need the car and the door is closed:
- Pull the manual release with the door down.
- Lift with a second person. Expect it to feel like 130 to 350 pounds, depending on the door. How much a garage door weighs has the figures by size and material.
- Prop it properly. Locking clamps on the track below the bottom rollers on both sides, or a pair of stepladders under the bottom section. Not a broom, not a chair.
- Move the car, then lower the door slowly with both people and leave it closed.
If you cannot lift it, stop. Call for emergency service and say the car is trapped, because it changes how the call is prioritized. Our car trapped in the garage article goes through the options in more detail.
If a storm is coming
Hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November, and a broken spring during a watch or warning changes the priorities.
A closed door is the safe state. The door is the largest opening in the house, and it does not need working springs to resist wind pressure; it needs to be down, locked, and if you have a bracing kit, braced. If your spring breaks with the door closed and a storm is three days out, you can wait for a normal appointment.
A door stuck open is the opposite. An open garage lets the wind into the house, the house pressurizes, and the roof is what fails next. If you cannot get the door down by hand with help, call and say the door is open and a storm is coming. That is a same-day call for us every time. Our guide to preparing a garage door for a hurricane covers the rest of the checklist.
What it costs
| Job | When it applies | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| One torsion spring replaced | Single spring door, or one of two broke | $150 to $350 per spring installed |
| Both springs replaced together | Two spring door, same cycle count | Adds $120 to $250 to the single spring price |
| Lift cables replaced at the same visit | Rust or fraying on the cables | $95 to $300; $225 to $400 with drums |
| Top panel creased by the opener | The opener was run on the broken door | $250 to $800 per section |
| Emergency or after-hours dispatch | Car trapped, door open, storm inbound | $150 to $300 on top, stated before dispatch |
| Tune-up with the spring job | Rollers, hinges, balance, limits | $85 to $160 |
Every figure matches our prices page and is a starting price for a standard single door in normal condition. The full breakdown by door size and spring type is in spring replacement cost, and the spring replacement service page explains what the visit includes. One year on parts and labor, written on the invoice.
The both-springs conversation
If your door runs two springs, expect to be told the second should be replaced too. On this occasion that is genuine.
Both springs were fitted on the same day and have taken the same number of cycles. The survivor is at the same point in its life as the one that just failed, and in practice it follows within months.
Doing both together adds $120 to $250 rather than doubling, because the visit and most of the labor are shared. You are allowed to decline it, and we will do just the one and put the cost of a return visit in writing.
While the springs are off the shaft is also the moment to look at the cables and the drums. Rust on a cable is the most common visible warning we see in Florida, and replacing rusted cables during a spring job costs less than a second visit when one frays through.
Why it happened
Springs fail on cycles, not on age. A standard spring is rated for about 10,000 open and close cycles, which is seven to ten years for a light user and five to seven for a Florida family that uses the garage as the front door. In Wesley Chapel, Riverview and Port St. Lucie, where whole subdivisions went up in the 2000s, the first round of spring failures is arriving now, street by street.
Humidity does the rest. Moisture pits the surface of the coil, salt air near the coast pits it faster, and the fatigue crack starts at a pit. Springs in Cape Coral, Jupiter and Melbourne fail earlier than the cycle rating suggests, and they usually look rusty before they go. How long springs last has the numbers, and if your door is a busy one, high cycle springs explains the 25,000 cycle option that costs a little more once and lasts two to three times as long.
There is usually nothing you did wrong. What you can do next time is book a tune-up at $85 to $160 each April or May, before the heat and before the season, so we see the rust and the balance before the spring sees the end of its life.
Where we are
Same-day spring replacement seven days a week across Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast, Tampa Bay, Central Florida, Southwest Florida and North Florida. Call (561) 897-9930, tell us whether the door is open or closed and whether the car is inside, and we will tell you whether it needs to be tonight.
Related questions
How do I confirm the spring is broken?
Look at the shaft above the door opening. A broken torsion spring has a visible gap in the coil, usually an inch or two, with the two halves separated. Extension springs, on the horizontal tracks of many older single doors, are stretched, snapped or hanging. It is obvious from the floor once you know what to look for.
Is a broken spring an emergency?
It depends. Door closed and the car is outside: it can wait until morning and you save the $150 to $300 emergency premium. Car trapped and needed, door stuck open, or a storm watch posted and the door cannot be closed: it cannot wait. We say the premium before we dispatch either way.
Can I just replace the spring myself to save money?
No. A wound torsion spring stores enough energy to break bones and it releases instantly if it is not unwound under control with winding bars. It is the single most common serious injury in this trade. The job is $150 to $350 per spring installed and takes us about an hour.
What if a hurricane is coming and my spring is broken?
A closed door with a broken spring is the safe state, so leave it closed. If the door is open and will not close, that is the one situation we treat as urgent no matter the time, because an open garage lets the storm pressurize the house. Get it down by hand with help if you can, lock it, and call.
Do I have to replace both springs?
On a two spring door we recommend it, because both have the same cycle count and the survivor usually fails within months. It adds $120 to $250 rather than doubling the price. You can decline, and we will tell you in writing what a return visit costs.
Why did it break? Did I do something wrong?
Almost never. Springs fail on cycles, about 10,000 for a standard spring, and a Florida door cycles hard because the garage is the front door. Humidity and salt air pit the coil and the crack starts there. A door that opens six times a day reaches the end in five to seven years.