Garage Door Spring Repair
Columbus, Ohio

The most common garage door repair in Columbus

Spring failure accounts for the majority of garage door service calls we run across Columbus and the surrounding suburbs. The reason is simple: standard residential torsion springs are rated for approximately 10,000 cycles. A door that goes up and down twice a day every day accumulates those cycles in about 14 years. Most of the homes in Columbus and Franklin County were built between 1985 and 2010 — which means a large percentage of them are in peak spring replacement territory right now.

We see this in waves across the suburbs. In Hilliard and Grove City, where a lot of the housing stock went up in the mid-1990s, we'll run multiple spring calls in the same subdivision in the same month during winter. The cold weather is a factor — metal contracts in the cold and a spring that's been borderline since October may not survive the first real cold snap in January.

Torsion springs vs. extension springs

Torsion springs

The large coiled spring mounted on a horizontal shaft above the garage door. Most Columbus homes built after the mid-1980s use torsion springs — they're the standard on virtually all residential double-car doors. When a torsion spring breaks, you'll often hear a loud bang, and the door will stay in whatever position it's in. The opener can't lift the door without the spring's counterbalance.

Extension springs

Longer, thinner springs mounted on the horizontal tracks above the door, running parallel to the ceiling. More common on older Columbus homes and single-car doors. Extension springs stretch rather than twist. When one breaks, the door typically drops on one side.

"Torsion springs on most Columbus homes are rated for about 10,000 cycles. If the door's been going up and down twice a day for 15 years, the math works out to right about now. We see a lot of first-time spring replacements on houses built in the early 2000s — they're right at the edge of the cycle limit and the cold just tips them over."

Should you replace both springs at once?

Almost always yes, and here's the honest reason: if one spring has failed after 10,000 cycles, the other spring has also been through 10,000 cycles. It's going to fail — probably soon. The labor involved in replacing a second spring is minimal once you're already there, but it's a full service call if we have to come back in two months.

We replace in pairs by default and explain why before we start. You can choose to replace only the broken spring — that's your call — but we'll tell you what we'd do if it were our door.

Why you shouldn't try to replace a garage door spring yourself

Torsion springs operate under several hundred pounds of tension. A spring that's being wound or unwound incorrectly can release that tension suddenly and cause serious injury. The winding bars slip; the cones crack; people get hurt. This is one of the few garage door repairs where we'd genuinely tell you to leave it alone until a professional gets there.

Extension springs are somewhat more forgiving but still hazardous — a snapped extension spring can travel at high velocity if it's not properly contained by the safety cable running through its center. If your extension spring doesn't have a safety cable, that's something we'll note and address when we're there.

Spring repair questions