2026-03-18 6 min read
Most garage door failures don't announce themselves in advance. One morning everything works fine, and the next you hit the button and nothing happens. or worse, you hear a sharp crack from the garage that sounds like a gunshot. That's a broken spring, and it's the single most common reason a garage door suddenly stops functioning.
In North Reading, where a significant portion of the housing stock consists of colonials, Cape Cods, and ranch-style homes built in the postwar decades through the 1980s, it's not unusual to find garage doors running on springs that have never been replaced. If your home was built before the 1990s or you've never had the springs serviced, this post is worth reading carefully.
Springs are the unsung workhorses of your garage door system. A standard residential garage door weighs somewhere between 150 and 300 pounds. Your opener motor isn't designed to lift that weight on its own. the springs do the heavy lifting by storing and releasing tension as the door moves. When springs are functioning properly, the door feels nearly weightless. When they fail, the opener has to compensate, which strains the motor and can burn it out entirely.
There are two types commonly found in residential garages:
- Torsion springs sit horizontally above the door opening on a metal shaft. They twist to store energy and are the more durable, more common type in newer installations. - Extension springs run along the horizontal tracks on each side of the door. They stretch and contract as the door moves. Older homes in North Reading and neighboring Lynnfield often still have extension springs on original hardware.
Both types are rated by cycle count. A standard spring is rated for roughly 10,000 cycles. one full open and close equals one cycle. At four uses per day, that works out to about seven years of service life. High-cycle springs rated for 20,000+ cycles are available and worth asking about when it's time for replacement.
The goal is to catch spring problems before the spring actually breaks. Here's what to look and listen for:
Disconnect the opener by pulling the red emergency cord, then try lifting the door manually to about waist height and letting go. A properly balanced door. with healthy springs. will stay in place. If it drops to the floor or shoots upward, the springs are either failing or already out of balance. This is the most reliable test you can do yourself.
A squeaking or grinding sound that wasn't there before is often the first audible warning. Loud popping during operation, or a single sharp crack when the door is at rest, usually means a torsion spring has snapped. If you hear that sound, stop using the door immediately. The opener will attempt to move the door without spring support, which can burn out the motor within a few cycles.
Look at the spring mounted above your garage door. If you can see a gap of an inch or more in the coil, the spring is broken and needs immediate replacement. Even without a visible break, rust or discoloration on the coils is a warning sign. a rusty spring is more brittle and prone to sudden failure. In this part of Massachusetts, where we see significant humidity, temperature swings, and road salt in the air, springs corrode faster than they would in drier climates.
If your door looks lopsided as it moves. one side rising faster than the other. one spring has likely failed while the other is still holding. This uneven strain accelerates wear on cables, rollers, and tracks, and can cause the door to jump off its track entirely if left alone. This situation calls for a prompt service call rather than hoping the remaining spring holds out.
If your opener hums loudly, moves the door slower than usual, or stops before the door is fully open, it may be compensating for a failing spring. Continuing to operate the door in this state can burn out the motor and turn a spring replacement into a more expensive opener replacement as well.
The honest answer is: it depends on how heavily you use the door. At typical residential use. four to six cycles per day. standard springs last roughly seven to nine years. If you're running the garage door ten or more times daily, like many households do when it doubles as the primary entry point, you might see springs wear out in five years or less.
For North Reading homeowners, the freeze-thaw cycle adds wear that warmer climates don't experience. Metal repeatedly contracting in January and expanding in May accelerates fatigue, particularly in springs that are already mid-life.
This is one job where being handy doesn't help you. Garage door springs are under enormous stored tension. enough to cause serious injury if released improperly. Replacing them requires specific winding bars and techniques, and getting the tension calibration wrong means the door won't balance correctly. A 150- to 300-pound door dropping without warning is not a theoretical risk.
Always have a trained technician handle spring replacement. A professional will also inspect the full system. cables, rollers, tracks, and opener. while they're there, which can catch other issues that the spring failure may have been masking. You can review what's included in a full service visit on our services page.
When springs are replaced, it's standard practice to replace both at the same time, even if only one has broken. Since both have been running the same number of cycles, the second spring is typically weeks or months from failure anyway. Replacing the pair together saves a second service call and ensures even door balance.
If you're in a neighboring town like Burlington or Andover and wondering whether your springs are due for inspection, the same guidance applies. spring lifespan is about cycles and age, not geography.
Can I still use my garage door if one spring is broken? No. You should not operate the door with a broken spring. The opener will attempt to carry the full weight of the door, which it isn't designed to do. this will damage or destroy the opener motor quickly. More importantly, an unbalanced door can fall unexpectedly, creating a serious safety hazard. Disconnect the opener and call for service.
Should I replace both springs at the same time, even if only one broke? Yes, and most professionals will recommend this. Both springs have been working the same number of cycles, so if one breaks, the other is typically close behind. Replacing both at once ensures balanced operation, prevents a second service call in the near future, and is almost always more cost-effective than two separate visits.
How do I know if my garage has torsion or extension springs? Look above the door when it's closed. If you see a single horizontal metal rod with a tightly wound coil in the center or near each end, those are torsion springs. If you see springs running along the horizontal track sections on either side of the door (parallel to the ceiling), those are extension springs. Still not sure? The team at North Reading Garage Doors can identify your setup and advise on the right replacement option during a quick inspection.