Garage door spring repair

Springs wear out by the cycle, not by the calendar. DASMA defines a cycle as one trip from fully closed to fully open and back to closed. Haas Door's specifications for its commercial doors call for torsion springs calibrated to the door's load with a 10,000-cycle life at minimum, and optional spring wire rated for 25,000, 50,000 or 100,000 cycles. The math is simple: a door that cycles four times a day runs about 1,460 cycles a year, so a 10,000-cycle spring reaches its rating in a little under seven years. Double the trips and you halve the life.

Conditions shorten that. DASMA's technical sheet on spring cycle life says rust reduces the effective area of the spring wire and leaves corrosion pits where fatigue cracks accelerate, and it recommends keeping doors closed where possible in places with extreme heat or cold, frequent rain, or a salty coastal location. FEMA's coastal construction guidance says metal corrosion is most pronounced within 3,000 feet of the ocean. The same DASMA sheet warns that a spring sized for the wrong door, or a door made heavier by paint or add-ons, wears out early.

A spring replacement is a sizing job first. DASMA's official color codes identify a spring's wire size, but DASMA notes that's only partial identification: inside diameter, length, stretch, material and finish matter too. A spring that doesn't meet the door's counterbalance requirement can shorten the life of the door and the opener and make the door unsafe to lift by hand, so the new spring is matched to the door, not to the paint on the old one.

Then comes the winding. DASMA's guidance is to apply the number of turns in the door manufacturer's instructions, in the direction they specify: too much torque strains cables, drums and bearings, and too little lets an open door drift down. On a two-spring door, DASMA recommends replacing both even if only one broke. While the tension is off, it's also the right time to check the parts that work with the springs.

• Spring size: wire size, inside diameter and length matched to the door's weight
• Winding: the manufacturer's turn count, in the specified direction
• Cables and drums: checked for fraying and seated in the drum grooves
• Bearings and brackets: center bearing, end bearings and bottom brackets checked for wear and rust
• Balance: the finished door holds its place about 3 to 4 feet off the floor

Higher-cycle springs make sense on doors that work hard: a garage that's the family's main way in and out, a shop door, or a farm building door that opens all day. Using the same math, a 25,000-cycle spring on a door that cycles four times a day lasts about 17 years on paper, against about 7 for a 10,000-cycle spring. Springs come in standard and higher cycle ratings, and we can talk through which fits how often you use the door.

Extension-spring doors need one more check. DASMA says every extension spring needs a safety cable running through the middle of the spring and fastened at each end, so a broken spring can't whip across the garage. Torsion springs are contained by the shaft they ride on. If your extension springs don't have containment cables, that's worth fixing at the same visit.

The springs on your door decide what a spring repair costs: what kind they are, how many there are and how much weight they lift. These are the things we ask about on the phone and check at the door:

• Torsion springs on a shaft above the door, or extension springs that run beside the tracks
• How many springs: on a two-spring door, DASMA recommends replacing both even if only one broke, since the other is the same age
• The weight and size of the door, which set the spring's wire size and length
• Standard springs or higher-cycle springs, which last more cycles between replacements
• Other worn parts found along the way, such as frayed cables, flat rollers or a loose bottom bracket

Tell us what you see when you call (302) 735-0046, and we'll talk through the options for your door.