Identifying Garage Door Spring Issues

Your home has many important entrance ways including your front door, your bedroom door, and even your bathroom door. When these begin to creak or otherwise show signs of damage, we immediately begin to find ways to fix them using either WD-40 or replacing the whole door itself. There is one more entrance way that needs the same consideration but often gets neglected, the garage door. The garage door protects our vehicles and miscellaneous knick-knacks from the elements yet, we don’t know something is amiss until the day we can’t seem to get it to open or it falls down completely.

Garage door springs come in two categories: torsion springs and extensions springs. Their basic function is to counter the weight of the garage door itself. Think of it this way, if a garage door weighs around 100 pounds, then you need a spring capable of producing an equal 100 pounds of “spring force”. So when even one of these springs begins to stop serving that purpose, you can imagine the issues that arise.
So what are some ways that can be used to identify when a garage spring needs replacing?

While springs can last upwards of a thousand open and shut cycles, inclement weather as well as extended wear and tear from multiple users can make this process that much quicker. The first sign of a bad spring is typically one of three things: low tension in the spring, lack of regular maintenance, and them physically snapping.

Low tension in the spring can be spotted rather easily by an expert or if you happen to know what to look for. The reason low tension is a major indicator of a spring needing replacement is because they no longer serve their primary focus (as mentioned earlier) but in addition, increases the risk of the coil snapping while your car is backing out and bringing the door down on it. If you or an expert notices that there is something amiss with the garage spring in regards to tension, do not wait! Call a garage repair service immediately.

Outside of tension, the second most important factor to consider is maintenance. When was the last time you or someone you know oiled the garage door springs in your home? If your answer was never, then you probably are in need of replacing them. Garage door springs, like anything else, require constant maintenance to continue to work. In addition to oiling each one, there is also a process of rebalancing that needs to happen within the first two years of being installed.

Most home owners, unless specifically told by the realtor or construction company, will neglect to rebalance their garages and this causes a massive amount of wear and tear that shortens the life cycle of the springs significantly. It’s no surprise that a spring in need of rebalance is called “failing” however there are some tests to see if your springs are unbalanced.

Users with or without an opener can move the garage door to the up position and watch for any discrepancies in the track. Typically, if either bottom roller is uneven with the vertical or horizontal track, this is a sign of spring failure and they need to be serviced ASAP. The other way to test for an unbalanced spring is to pull your door down to where it is about in the middle of the track. If it is able to rest in that position without outside help, then there are no major Issues. However, if it slowly moves up or down, then the door is no longer being fully supported.

Finally, the best way of identifying garage door spring issues, is if they simply snap! This can happen in a wide variety of ways but is often accompanied by a large bang that can be heard from just about anywhere in the house. This sound is the one of the coils snapping in two, leaving just the bare cable exposed. While the garage may still operate as intended for a short period of time, each cycle you place on the door from then on is a gamble.

Another way to tell if they’ve snapped (if you never heard the noise) is to look up when you open the garage and see if the attached springs are separated, loose, or in two parts which is a telling sign that it’s time to get your garage springs replaced.

Now that we know how to identify it, how can we fix it?

If you imagined all the horrible things that can happen and go wrong, then you’re absolutely right! The reason for garage door repair specialists is because it’s not a simple mechanism that anyone can replace like a light bulb. Calling a professional when you see any signs of low tension, lack of maintenance, or snapping of a garage spring is the right thing to do.

Another benefit of having someone else look at the springs is peace of mind. Sometimes, we overlook crucial details that seem insignificant to us. An expert will spot this in a second and when deciding a course of action, make sure that the garage door is replaced and fixed right the first time.

So before you head to work, why not check in on those springs that keep your most important entranceway operational. They may be overlooked but proper maintenance can keep an inevitable problem from turning your great morning into a horrible one.