Your garage door torsion springs are located above the garage door inside your garage. If your torsion spring has broken, the first thing you will notice is a gap in the spring itself. In addition, the door may be struggling to lift up when you engage your opener. If your garage door has 2 springs, when one breaks you will need to change both out because the springs are rated for the same number of cycles/lifespan and the other will most likely fail soon after. Most of us use our garage door as a front door and it is frustrating when you cannot open and close your garage door properly. To avoid having your springs break, we recommend that you have regularly scheduled preventative maintenance and keep tabs on the approximate number of cycles on them. If you know the age of your springs you can do a rough calculation on the approximate number of cycles you use to guestimate when you should replace them. Most springs have a lifespan of about 10,000 cycles. If you open and close your door 3 times a day every day of the year, 3 x 365 = 1095 times your door goes up and down in a year. That means your springs should last you approximately 9 years. However, if you’re door is opened and closed 5 times a day, that means the springs will only last about 5-6 years, which is why it is important to know how often your door goes up and down each day.
When it comes to DIY projects, this is not one that we recommend doing yourself. Garage doors are heavy and when your spring is broken, there is little help holding the door up and will cost you far more if the door should fall and damage panels or other components. Broken springs should only be repaired by trained technicians. Call us today to schedule your repair at 936-870-5490.