How do I know a spring is broken?

Most people hear it. A snapped torsion spring releases its stored tension at once and it is loud. After that the door will not lift, or the opener strains and stops. Look at the shaft above the opening: a broken torsion spring shows a visible gap in the coil.

Can I still use the door?

No. Running an opener against a dead spring damages the opener and can pull the door off its track. If the door is stuck open, call rather than forcing it.

Why replace both springs when only one broke?

The surviving spring has run the same number of cycles under the same conditions. Replacing one restores the door but leaves the second failure a few weeks or months away, and you pay for two visits.

How long does the job take?

A standard residential spring replacement is normally the same visit, and the door is balanced and tested before we sign off.

Can I replace a spring myself?

It is the one job on a garage door we would tell anyone to leave alone. A wound torsion spring holds enough energy to break bones, and it needs the right winding bars and a way to hold the shaft.

Do you do extension springs as well as torsion?

Yes, both systems. On extension springs we also check that containment cables are fitted, since that is what stops a broken spring becoming a projectile.

Garage Door Spring Repair in Windermere, FL

Springs replaced as a matched pair and the door balanced before we leave.

Call (689) 407-8963 Get a free quote

A technician's hands using a winding bar to tension a torsion spring on the shaft above a residential garage door, photographed from inside a Florida garage with natural daylight coming through the open bay.

FL license #93-2002026
Torsion and extension systems
Both springs replaced together, every time
Balance verified before sign-off

The spring does the lifting, not the opener

Springs are the counterbalance. They store the energy that offsets a 200 pound door, the cables carry that work down to the bottom brackets, and the opener only steers a load the spring has already balanced.

Take the spring out of that equation and the opener is being asked to drag the whole door on its own. It cannot. That is why a broken spring means a door that barely moves, strains loudly, or will not lift at all.

We service both systems: torsion springs mounted on a shaft above the opening, which store energy by twisting, and extension springs running along the upper tracks on each side, which stretch and contract as the door travels. Both are diagnosed, replaced and balanced in one visit, as part of garage door repair in Windermere.

Florida humidity shortens the rated life

A standard spring is rated for a set number of open and close cycles, against test methods published by DASMA, the industry standards body, and that rating comes from a controlled environment. It was not calculated for a West Orange County summer.

Mornings here start cool and dry, moisture rolls in by early afternoon, and the coils absorb that swing every day. Micro-corrosion builds along the coil surface. It is not visible, not loud and not dramatic, and then one morning the spring snaps. The same pattern shows up in Gotha, Winter Garden and Ocoee, and it is the same mechanism behind humidity damage across the rest of the hardware.

So a spring that fails earlier than its rating is not usually a defective product. It is this climate doing what it does, which is also the argument for replacing both springs rather than one.

Close-up of a torsion spring above a residential garage door with visible rust and corrosion forming along the steel coils, lit by natural daylight inside a Florida garage.

Why both springs get replaced

On a two-spring door the surviving spring has done exactly the same work as the one that broke.

Replacing one

Cheaper today, and it restores the door.

The old spring keeps its accumulated fatigue
Wear rates are now out of sync across the pair
The second failure is usually weeks or months out
You pay a second call-out for the same job

Matched pair replacement

Both springs replaced together so their wear stays synchronized.

One visit, one balance calibration
Both springs reach end of life at the same point
Tension is set against the door's actual weight
The opener stops compensating for an uneven pair

Standard practice on every two-spring door we service, not an upsell decided on the driveway.

What a spring job includes

The spring is the visible part. The rest is what keeps it from happening again soon.

Door weighed or measured so the spring is specified, not estimated
Both springs replaced on a two-spring system
Cables, drums and bottom brackets inspected while the tension is off
Winding done with proper bars, never improvised tooling
Balance tested by hand with the opener disconnected
Opener force limits reset and the safety reversal tested

Spring work carries stored energy and is the job we most often get called to after a DIY attempt. Read why DIY spring repair is dangerous first, and verify it with the Florida DBPR for whoever you hire.

Call (689) 407-8963

Where we work

Windermere, FL 34786

Primary service zone, Orange County. Not sure whether you are inside the radius? Call (689) 407-8963 and ask.

Windermere 34786
Winter Garden
Ocoee
Bay Hill
Gotha
Apopka
Clermont
Maitland
Kissimmee
Pine Hills
Orlando
Oak Ridge

Repair cost guide Repair or replace Heat and humidity damage Orange County permits

Questions about springs

How do I know a spring is broken?

Most people hear it. A snapped torsion spring releases its stored tension at once and it is loud. After that the door will not lift, or the opener strains and stops. Look at the shaft above the opening: a broken torsion spring shows a visible gap in the coil.
Can I still use the door?

No. Running an opener against a dead spring damages the opener and can pull the door off its track. If the door is stuck open, call rather than forcing it.
Why replace both springs when only one broke?

The surviving spring has run the same number of cycles under the same conditions. Replacing one restores the door but leaves the second failure a few weeks or months away, and you pay for two visits.
How long does the job take?

A standard residential spring replacement is normally the same visit, and the door is balanced and tested before we sign off.
Can I replace a spring myself?

It is the one job on a garage door we would tell anyone to leave alone. A wound torsion spring holds enough energy to break bones, and it needs the right winding bars and a way to hold the shaft.
Do you do extension springs as well as torsion?

Yes, both systems. On extension springs we also check that containment cables are fitted, since that is what stops a broken spring becoming a projectile.