If your garage door spring broke, that loud bang was the spring letting go, and the door just lost the counterweight that made it feel light. Leave the door right where it stopped, keep the opener off, keep people and cars out of the doorway, and have a technician replace the spring safely.
The first hour after the bang is when a simple spring job can turn into a bent door or a hurt hand, usually because someone rushes to get the car out.
What was that loud bang in the garage?
Almost always, it is a torsion spring snapping. That is the tightly wound coil on the steel bar above the door, and it lets go with a sound like a gunshot.
From the floor, look up at the bar without touching anything. A broken torsion spring shows a clear gap somewhere along the coil. Older doors may use extension springs instead, which stretch along the upper tracks on each side. A broken one hangs loose or sags toward the floor, held up by the safety cable through its center if the door has one.
Is it a broken spring or a snapped cable?
A gap in the coil means a spring. A thin steel cable dangling at a bottom corner, or a door hanging crooked with one side lower than the other, means a cable. The two often go together, because a spring that lets go can throw its cable off the drum.
A crooked door is the more dangerous of the two, since it can slip out of the track. Our garage door cable repair covers what happens on that side of the job.
Can I still open a garage door with the spring broken?
No. With the spring gone, nothing is holding up the weight of the door except your arms or the opener, and a heavy door can come down without warning.
The red emergency release is no help here either. On a door that is open or partway up, pulling it can drop the whole door at once. On a closed door, it only frees the door from the opener, which leaves you trying to lift dead weight by hand. The release is meant for power cuts on a healthy door, as our guide to opening a garage door manually explains, and a broken spring is the exception to every step in it.
My spring broke but the opener still lifts the door. Is that OK?
Stop using it. An opener is built to guide a balanced door, and when it hauls the full weight it strains its gears, bends the rail and loads the cables far past what they are meant to carry.
On a door with two springs, the one that survived is now doing double work, so it is the next part likely to fail. Unplug the opener from the ceiling outlet so nobody in the house presses the remote out of habit.
My car is trapped in the garage. How do I get it out?
Leave the car where it is for now and line up another ride. Propping a broken door open with a ladder or a board, or forcing it up with two people, is exactly how doors get dropped on cars and feet.
When you call, tell us the car is stuck inside. We open the door safely as part of the repair, and once the new spring is on and the door is balanced, the car comes out under a door that stays where you put it.
The spring broke on one side. Do both need replacing?
On a door with two springs, usually yes. Both springs have made the same number of trips up and down, so the one still holding is rarely far behind the one that broke.
Two springs are common on double doors and on the big doors out on acreage around Boring, Estacada and Molalla. We point out both springs, tell you what shape each one is in and quote it free, and you decide before any work starts. For what changes the bill on a job like this, read what affects spring replacement cost.
Garage door spring broke? Your first-hour checklist
- Leave the door where it stopped: closed, open or halfway.
- Unplug the opener so the button and remotes do nothing, as long as you can reach the outlet without stepping under the door.
- Keep kids, pets and vehicles out of the doorway, and do not walk under a door that is up.
- Leave the springs, cables, bottom brackets and red cord untouched.
- From a safe distance, take a photo of the bar above the door and each bottom corner.
- Call (503) 487-8942 and tell us what you see and whether a car is inside.
When to call us
Call as soon as the door is left alone and everyone is clear of it. We work out of Damascus, the phone is answered every day from 7 AM until 8 PM, and same day service is the norm on most calls in Gresham, Boring, Sandy, Estacada and up US 26.
Most spring jobs are done in one visit. We fit the new springs, check the cables, drums and rollers that took the shock, then balance and test the door before we leave. Our garage door spring repair service covers torsion and extension springs on homes and shops, and if the door is stuck open on a weekend evening, ring the same number for emergency garage door repair. If the other spring looks tired, our guide on how long garage door springs last lists the warning signs.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to leave the door closed until the repair?
Yes. A closed door with a broken spring is resting on the floor, which is the safest place for it. Keep the opener unplugged and wait for the technician.
How long does a broken spring repair take?
One visit covers most spring jobs. Time on site depends on the door, how many springs it runs and whether a cable or roller took damage when the spring let go.
Why do springs seem to snap when the weather turns cold?
Springs wear out a little with every trip. A cold morning adds strain, so a spring that was already worn thin tends to fail on the first frosty morning of the season.
Do you replace extension springs as well as torsion springs?
Yes. We replace both kinds, and fit safety cables through extension springs where a door is missing them, and we balance the door afterward so it lifts evenly.
Heard the bang and the door will not budge? Call (503) 487-8942. We pick up between 7 AM and 8 PM, every day, and on that first call we tell you when we can get to you.