What to Do When a Garage Door Spring Breaks

The usual sign of a broken garage door spring is a loud bang from the garage, sometimes loud enough to make people think something fell. After that, the door will not lift, or it lifts a few inches and stops, or the opener hums without moving it.

The spring is what carries the door's weight. A typical door weighs far more than the opener can lift on its own, which is why the opener struggles once the spring is gone. A door with a broken spring can feel extremely heavy when lifted by hand.

Step one: stop using the door. Do not press the remote or the wall button again, because the opener can strain against the weight of the door. Step two: keep people and pets clear of the door, and do not stand under it if it is partly open.

Step three: look from a distance. A torsion spring sits on a bar above the door and may show a visible gap in the coil. Extension springs run along each side, and a broken one may hang loose. Do not touch the spring, the cables, or the brackets nearby. These parts hold stored energy, and a sudden release can cause serious injury.

Step four: if a vehicle is inside and you must get it out, read our guide on opening a garage door manually first. With a broken spring the door can be too heavy to lift safely and can drop if released, so only try it with a second person and stop if the door feels heavy.

Step five: write down what you noticed, including the sound, what the door does and whether the door has one spring or two. That helps when you talk to a provider. Our Garage Door Spring Repair page lists questions worth asking, including whether the other spring should be replaced at the same time.

Call to be connected to an independent local service provider, and ask for the price before work starts. This is not a good moment for a first try at a DIY repair. The tools and the training matter, and a mistake is expensive in more than money.