Garage Door Springs

Garage door springs are one of the most important components of any garage door, but they are also some of the components that are most like to break and the most dangerous to replace. You can buy replacement garage door springs online or from any local garage door supply house. Be sure to purchase the correct size and style of springs to ensure correct operation of your garage door.

There two types of garage door springs in general use: a torsion spring is located at the top of the the door. Usually there are a pair of torsion garage door springs wound around a central pole. These are under extreme tension and almost everyone believes that these springs should only be replaced by a professional. Even tightening or adjusting these can be extremely dangerous and should be left to a professional service person. If the spring brakes when you are near it, it can cause several physical injury or even death! If one of these springs is to break, it's a good idea to have the service person replace both since the second spring is often near the point of breakage too.

The other type are extension springs which help lift a garage door up that often ways hundreds of pounds. These springs are usually located in symmetrical pairs along the edges of the garage door. They are relaxed when your garage door is raised, and under tension when the garage door is shut: at this position, they are kept in tension and waiting to help you raise the door with minimal effort. While not as incredibly dangerous as torsion springs, extension garage door springs are also dangerous and really should not be worked on by amateurs. It's important to make sure that broken extensions springs as replaced with exactly the same type and size of spring to ensure that the door works properly. Bringing the broken spring to the store is probably the easiest way to buy the correct replacement one. In many cases, the extension springs will have a strong steel safety cord running through them which protects them from flying away if they ever break or get released: a flying extension spread can do great property damage and also inflict great personal injury as well.  A good 12v LED flashlight may be helpful in completing the job safely.

In general, it's important to have a qualified service person do work on your garage door springs. Both types can be dangerous and are quite dangerous for the amateur handyman. If possible, try to get the person who installed your garage door to do the service work since they should have a good understanding of the model, may already have replacement parts available, and won't waste a lot of time understanding how this particular model of door works.

If you found this useful, please see my other related articles about garage door repair, roller garage doors, garage door prices, and garage door opener parts.