Reasons Why Your Garage Door Springs Break

The garage door’s springs do the majority of the work in opening and closing. Most of the time, they’ll work with no problem, and you can enter and exit the garage without a hassle. However, these springs are liable to break over the long run.

If you want to avoid major headaches and repair costs, read on about reasons for garage door springs breaking.

The importance of garage door springs

First, let’s go over how exactly garage door springs are taking on so much of the burden. There are two basic types of springs used on garage doors:

• Extension springs: These are mounted on either side of the door. These springs extend and contract with the help of pulleys and cables that are utilized when the door is in motion.
• Torsion springs: This system uses tightly-wound springs that are located horizontally on a steel shaft and have cable drums at either ends.

Both types of springs play a primary role in the opening and closing of the garage door. The springs gain tension when the garage door is closed; then, when it opens, that tension is released, and the spring helps with lifting the door. Note that the springs have the most tension when your garage door is closed; that means that if the springs break, it’s more likely to happen when the door is in the closed position.

Springs can occasionally break in the open position, which could cause the garage door to come crashing down. This is why it’s important to never walk under a garage door that’s in operation.

Why garage springs break

Here are some common things that could cause the springs to malfunction:

• Rust: The accumulation of rust will, unsurprisingly, result in shortening the lifespan of your garage door springs. Rust leads to more friction on the coils when the door opens and closes. The corrosion then weakens the coils, causing failure to occur earlier.
• Lack of maintenance: At some point, every garage door spring will reach the end of its useful life. That said, you can delay this significantly by taking proper care of them. This includes having a technician do a visual inspection of the springs and track system regularly. This includes adding grease where it’s needed as well as providing a safety check.
• Wear and tear: This is the most common form of spring failure. Most springs will last for about 10,000 cycles of the door opening and closing. You may think that’s a lot, but just going in and out of the garage once per day means you’ll use two cycles. For those who plan to use the garage frequently, you may want to invest in extended-lifespan torsion springs that can handle more than twice that amount.

Whenever you need help with garage doors, turn to the pros at Denton Overhead Door & Garage Door Repair. We offer a wide range of services to both homeowners and business owners alike. We do it all, including maintenance, repairs and installations. Call now to get a consultation and free estimate.

Categorised in: Garage Door Repair