It usually happens like this. You hear a bang from the garage, loud enough to sound like something fell or a shot went off. Nothing looks wrong. Then you press the button and the door groans, lifts a few inches, and stops, or does not move at all.
That is a broken spring in most cases. It is one of the most common garage door failures, and springs tend to give out in cold weather, when the steel is stiffer. It is also a repair you should not attempt. This guide covers what to do right now, so the problem stays a spring and does not become a spring, a bent door, and a burned-out opener.
This guide covers home and business garage doors only. Roger does not handle vehicles of any kind.
Right now: three things not to do
- Stop pressing the opener button. The opener is built to guide the door, not to lift its full weight. Running it against a door with a broken spring strains the motor, can strip the drive gear, and can snap a cable or pull the door off its track.
- Do not pull the red emergency release cord if the door is open or partly open. With the spring broken, nothing is holding the door up but the opener. Disconnect it and the door can drop all at once.
- Do not try to lift the door by hand to get it open. Without the spring the door weighs its full weight, which on a double door is more than one person should ever hold. Keep people, pets, and cars out from under it.
How to confirm it is the spring
You can usually tell from the floor, without touching anything. Look, do not reach.
- Torsion spring, above the door: one or two large coiled springs on a metal bar across the top of the door opening. A broken one has a clear gap of a few inches somewhere along the coil, where it separated.
- Extension springs, along the sides: long springs running above the horizontal tracks on each side. A broken one is hanging loose, stretched out, or lying on the floor or on top of the track.
- Cables: thin steel cables run from the bottom corners of the door up to drums or pulleys. After a spring breaks, a cable often goes slack or comes off its drum.
- The door itself: lifts a few inches and stops, looks crooked, or the opener hums and the door barely moves.
If the door is stuck open
Leave it where it is. Do not run the opener and do not pull the release. Keep everyone out of the doorway and do not park under it. If you need to secure the garage before a technician arrives, close and lock the door from the garage into the house and move valuables out of the garage. A technician can bring the door down safely with the right clamps and tools.
If your car is stuck inside
This is the question most people ask next, and the honest answer is that the car stays put until the door is fixed. Forcing the door up to get the car out is how people get hurt and how a spring repair turns into a new door. Plan another ride for the morning, and tell the technician when you book that a car is trapped. It does not change what the repair is, but it helps them plan the visit.
If you have extension springs and no safety cable
Extension springs are supposed to have a safety cable running through the middle of each spring. When a spring breaks, that cable keeps the pieces from whipping across the garage. If a spring snapped and you see no cable through the others, stay clear of the remaining springs and do not run the door. The technician should add safety cables as part of the repair.
Why this is a pro-only repair
Garage door springs, the cables, and the drums they wind on are all under heavy tension. That stored energy is what lifts the door, and it can break a hand, an arm, or worse if a winding bar slips or a cable comes loose under load. Spring, cable, and drum work is pro-only, every time. That includes "just tightening" the remaining spring, which is how a lot of these injuries happen.
A technician also does more than swap the part. They match the spring to the weight of your door, set the tension so the door balances, check the cables, drums, rollers, and bearings that took the shock, and reset the opener so it is not working harder than it should.
Who to call
Call a garage door repair company, not a general handyman. Spring work needs the right springs in stock, winding bars, and someone who does it every day. If the door is stuck open, the car is trapped, or you cannot secure the garage, say so when you book, so the company knows it is not a routine visit.
When you call, it helps to say: whether you have one spring above the door or springs along the sides, whether the door is open or closed, whether a cable looks loose, whether a car is inside, and the door size (single or double). A photo of the spring area taken from the floor is the most useful thing you can send.
What the repair involves, and what moves the price
Most technicians replace both springs when one breaks on a two-spring door, because the other is the same age and has been carrying the load alone. Cables are often replaced in the same visit if they frayed or came off the drum.
What moves the price is the spring type (torsion or extension), one spring or a pair, the size and weight of the door, the spring's cycle rating, whether cables, drums, or rollers need replacing too, and whether the visit is after hours. You see a qualitative range up front, and the technician confirms the price in person after seeing the door.
Booking through Roger
Describe what happened: the bang, where the spring is, whether the door is open or closed, and whether a car is inside. Roger books one vetted local garage door technician and confirms the appointment, so you know which company is coming. Home and business only.
You can describe the problem on rogerrepair.com and get one garage door pro booked.
Need this fixed?
Describe the problem. Roger matches you to one vetted local pro and books it. $0 to you.
Common questions
Who do I call if my garage door spring snaps?+
A garage door repair company. Spring, cable, and drum work is under heavy tension and is pro-only. Stop using the opener, do not pull the emergency release if the door is open, and tell the company whether the door is stuck open or a car is trapped inside.
Can I open my garage door with a broken spring?+
Not safely. The spring carries the door's weight. Without it the opener strains and can fail, and lifting by hand means holding the full weight of the door, which can drop without warning. Leave the door where it is and have a technician open it.
What was the loud bang in my garage?+
Most often a torsion spring breaking. Look at the coiled spring on the bar above the door opening from the floor. A gap in the coil confirms it. If the door will not lift or only lifts a few inches, that is the spring.