2026-04-16 6 min read
There's a specific kind of bad morning that Louviers homeowners know: you hit the opener button, the motor hums, and the door barely moves. or doesn't move at all. You walk out and see it: one of the springs has snapped, sometimes coiled on the floor, sometimes dangling from the shaft. If you're lucky it happened when you were home and not halfway down US-85 toward Highlands Ranch. If you're unlucky, you're blocked in completely.
Spring failure is one of the most common garage door problems in Douglas County, and at nearly 5,800 feet where temperature swings between a January night and a March afternoon can exceed 50 degrees, springs here work hard. That thermal stress accelerates metal fatigue. Understanding how springs work. and when they're about to fail. can save you from being caught off guard.
Most residential garage doors use one of two spring systems:
Torsion springs mount horizontally above the door on a metal shaft. When the door closes, the spring winds up and stores tension. When you open the door, that stored energy does the heavy lifting. Most modern homes have torsion spring systems because they're more balanced, last longer, and are safer when they break.
Extension springs run along the horizontal tracks on either side of the door. They stretch and contract as the door moves. Older homes. and Louviers has some genuinely old garage structures, given that garages were added to the village's DuPont-era homes back in the 1920s. are more likely to have extension spring systems.
Both types are under enormous tension. That's the key safety point we'll come back to.
Springs rarely snap without warning. Here's what to watch for:
- The door feels unusually heavy. If you disconnect the opener and try to lift the door manually, it should go up smoothly with one hand. If it feels like lifting dead weight, the springs aren't providing proper counterbalance. - Visible gaps or separation in the spring coil. A torsion spring that's about to fail often develops a visible gap in the coil before it fully breaks. - The door opens unevenly or tilts to one side. This often means one spring has more tension than the other, a sign of uneven wear. - Squeaking, grinding, or popping sounds during operation, especially in cold weather, indicate metal fatigue and insufficient lubrication. - The opener struggles or reverses. If your opener is working overtime or reversing on its own, it may be compensating for failing springs rather than the door mechanism itself.
For a more complete checklist, our post on the 5 warning signs your garage door springs need replacement goes deeper on each symptom.
Most torsion springs are rated for 10,000 cycles. One cycle is one open-and-close. For a typical household that uses the garage door four times a day, that works out to roughly 7 years. But in Louviers and the broader Douglas County area, the thermal stress of big temperature swings. freezing nights, warm afternoons, and the occasional rapid weather shift that Colorado is known for. can shorten that lifespan. Springs that aren't regularly lubricated tend to fail even faster.
The takeaway: if your springs are more than 6,8 years old and you haven't had them inspected, it's worth having a technician take a look before they fail at the worst possible moment. Schedule a check with our team before it becomes an emergency.
In the Denver metro and Douglas County area, torsion spring replacement typically runs between $150 and $350 for a single spring, including labor. Replacing both springs at the same time. which is almost always recommended. adds to the material cost but saves on labor since the door only comes off the tracks once. If you have extension springs, the cost is generally similar, though the hardware itself is cheaper.
Factors that affect the final price: - Spring type and size: Heavier doors (particularly insulated two-car doors common in newer Louviers-area builds) need heavier-duty springs. - Single vs. both springs: Replacing only the broken spring leaves the other aging one in place. Most experienced technicians will recommend replacing the pair. - Access and complexity: Some older garage structures with non-standard setups take longer to work on.
This is worth being direct about: garage door spring replacement is one of the few home repairs where a mistake can genuinely injure or kill you. Torsion springs store an enormous amount of energy under tension. A spring that releases suddenly. which can happen instantly if a winding bar slips. can cause severe injury. The tools required (winding bars, a properly torqued cable drum setup) are specialized, and the technique matters.
Professional technicians go through this process regularly and know exactly how much tension each spring needs based on the door's weight. That's not something you can estimate safely without experience. The money saved on a DIY attempt rarely justifies the risk.
If your door is stuck right now due to a broken spring, don't try to force it open with the opener. you can strip the motor or bend the door. Disconnect the opener and leave the door in place until a technician arrives. For more on what to do when things go wrong suddenly, our storm damage and emergency repair guide covers immediate next steps.
Spring failure often happens alongside cable problems. The cables attach to the bottom corners of the door and work with the springs to control movement. When a spring snaps, the sudden release of tension can snap or fray a cable simultaneously. A good technician will inspect the cables during any spring replacement. if they're frayed or worn, replacing them at the same time saves a second service call.
Want to know more about what our full repair services cover? Visit our services page for a complete breakdown.
Q: Can I open my garage door manually if a spring has broken? A: Technically yes. there's a red emergency release cord on the opener trolley. but a door with a broken spring is extremely heavy without the spring's counterbalance. Only lift it if you absolutely must, and get help. Don't leave it propped open unsupported.
Q: How do I know if I have torsion or extension springs? A: Look above the door when it's closed. If you see a single horizontal spring mounted on a shaft above the center of the door, that's a torsion spring. If you see springs running along the ceiling parallel to the tracks on each side, those are extension springs.
Q: Should I replace both springs even if only one broke? A: Yes, almost always. Both springs have the same number of cycles on them. If one failed, the other is not far behind. Replacing both at once saves a second service call and keeps the door operating evenly.