Garage Door Spring Repair
Broken torsion and extension springs replaced and balanced, from 7 AM to 10 PM, across the west valley.
When a garage door spring snaps, the door turns into dead weight. Neither your arm nor the opener can raise it, and the right move is to leave it shut and phone us. Springs do the lifting and the opener mostly guides the door along. Most doors use torsion springs, which wind and unwind on a bar over the opening, and some use extension springs that stretch alongside the tracks. Either kind holds a great deal of stored energy, which is why DASMA wants only trained technicians handling spring systems.
We build each replacement around the door in front of us. The door goes on a scale, and we read wire gauge, coil length and inside diameter off the old spring instead of guessing from a chart. If a door runs two springs we change both, as DASMA advises, because the survivor has logged the same cycles as the one that failed. On extension springs we also thread a safety cable through each spring so a break stays contained.
A spring's life is counted in cycles, each one a complete trip up and back down. Clopay puts the design life of most garage door springs at 10,000 cycles. A household that opens and closes the door four times a day uses that up in about seven years, so before recommending a standard or higher-cycle set we ask how hard the door is worked.
How a broken spring shows itself
- A sharp crack from the garage, and afterwards the door refuses to rise
- A torsion spring above the door with a split in its coil
- The door lifts a hand's width and sinks back
- The opener strains, groans or quits partway up
- The door feels like dead weight when you try it by hand
- Extension springs look stretched unevenly or hang loose
🔥 The Santa Clara Foothills Factor
Springs here wear out on cycles more than on weather, but cold mornings still count. Clopay notes that springs break most often in cold weather, when the steel is more brittle. NOAA's 1991-2020 normals show about 13 mornings a year at or below 32°F at the Los Gatos station, against about 3 at the San Jose airport, so foothill springs see more cold starts than valley-floor ones.
Commuter households add cycles quickly, so we size the set to how often the door runs rather than to the weather.
How We Handle It
Weigh and measure
We measure the door's weight, the spring wire size, coil length and inside diameter, and note whether it has torsion or extension springs.
Exact quote first
You approve one exact price for the correct spring set before anything is unwound.
Safe replacement
We replace both springs with winding bars, set the correct turns, and add or check the safety cables on extension springs.
Balance proof
With the opener disconnected the door should hold at half-open. Then we reconnect it, set travel and force, and cycle the door.
Garage Door Spring Repair — FAQs
Do both garage door springs need to be replaced if only one broke?
How long do garage door springs last?
What are the signs that a spring has snapped?
Is it safe to raise the door by hand with a broken spring?
Torsion or extension spring: how do I tell which one I have?
Are higher-cycle garage door springs worth it?
Spring replacement price
Springs are priced per spring. We weigh the door before choosing them.
- Garage Door Spring ReplacementFrom $150 per spring
- Diagnostic Service Call$0 with a completed repair
