2026-03-18 6 min read
Most homeowners in Hendersonville don't think about their garage door springs until the door simply stops working. That's understandable. springs are out of sight, tucked above the door, and they do their job silently for years. But when they fail, the consequences are immediate: a door that won't open, a car trapped in the garage, and often a repair call at the worst possible time.
The good news is that springs usually give you warning signs before they break completely. Knowing what to watch for can save you from an emergency and keep you from burning out your opener motor in the process.
Your garage door. whether it's on a ranch-style home in Haywood Knolls or a newer custom build in Champion Hills. weighs anywhere from 150 to 400 pounds. The springs are what make that weight manageable. They store tension when the door closes and release it when the door opens, counterbalancing most of that weight so your opener motor only has to do a fraction of the work.
There are two main types. Torsion springs are mounted horizontally on a bar above the door. the most common setup in modern homes. Extension springs run along the sides of the tracks and are more common in older homes with low-clearance garages. Both types are under significant tension at all times, which is why spring replacement is not a DIY project. A spring under load can release with enough force to cause serious injury.
For more background on how the full system works together, check out our frequently asked questions page.
Disconnect your automatic opener by pulling the red emergency release cord, then try to lift the door manually. A properly balanced door should rise smoothly and stay in place when you lift it to waist height. If it feels like you're lifting the full weight of the door. or if it drops back down when you let go. the springs are no longer providing adequate counterbalance. This is one of the most reliable early indicators that replacement is coming.
Take a look at your torsion spring when the door is closed. A spring in good condition is tightly wound with no separation between the coils. If you can see a visible gap. even an inch or two. the spring has already stretched beyond its functional range. A gap signals that the spring can no longer store enough energy to support the door's weight, which puts the full load on your opener motor and accelerates wear on your cables and rollers.
If your garage door rises crookedly. one side higher than the other. that usually means one spring has failed while the other is still functional. The working spring pulls its side up while the broken side drags. Beyond being a sign of spring failure, this imbalance puts immediate stress on your cables, tracks, and the opener itself. The longer you run the door in this condition, the more expensive the eventual repair becomes.
A breaking torsion spring makes a distinct sound. a sharp, loud bang, similar to a firecracker going off inside the garage. If you hear this, especially at night or early morning, the spring has snapped. The door may still move slightly (the opener will try to lift it), but it will feel extremely heavy and you should stop using it immediately. Forcing a door with a broken spring can burn out the opener motor in a single attempt.
This is worth knowing because our coldest months. January through early March. are peak season for spring breaks in Hendersonville. Cold metal is more brittle, and torsion springs that are already worn are much more likely to snap on a cold night than a warm one.
Given Hendersonville's average of more than 50 inches of rainfall per year and persistently high summer humidity, rust on garage door hardware is a real concern. especially in older homes near downtown or in areas like Etowah where garages may be less well-sealed. Surface rust on springs increases friction in the coils and weakens the metal over time. A light coat of lubricant a few times a year helps slow this down, but if the rust is deep or the coils feel rough when you run a cloth over them, replacement is the right call rather than trying to rehabilitate the spring.
Most standard torsion springs are rated for around 10,000 cycles. one cycle being a single open-and-close. If your household uses the garage door four times a day (which is modest for a family using it as a main entrance), that works out to roughly seven years. Use it more frequently or have a garage that gets more temperature swings, and you could see springs wear out in five years or less. Homes closer to Brevard or Flat Rock with older, less-insulated garages tend to see faster wear because the hardware experiences a wider range of temperatures year-round.
If your door is approaching or past the seven-year mark, it's worth having the springs inspected even if you haven't noticed obvious symptoms. Proactive replacement on your schedule is far better than an emergency call when you're already late for work. Hendersonville Garage Doors can do a full spring and hardware inspection as part of a routine tune-up. explore our services to see what's included.
Yes. and this is important. If one spring breaks, the other is likely close behind since both springs experience the same amount of wear over the same number of cycles. Replacing both at once costs less than two separate service calls and puts you back on the same maintenance schedule for both sides. It's the standard recommendation, and any reputable technician will tell you the same.
If you're seeing any of the warning signs above, don't wait for a full failure. Reach out to our team and we'll get your springs inspected before they leave you stranded. We serve Hendersonville and the surrounding communities including Flat Rock, Asheville, and Mills River. so help is close by whenever you need it.
We get this question a lot, and the honest answer is: please don't. Torsion and extension springs are under hundreds of pounds of tension even when the door is closed. A spring that releases unexpectedly during removal can cause severe injury. This is one of the few garage door tasks where professional service isn't just convenient. it's genuinely a safety issue. The cost of professional spring replacement is far less than a trip to the emergency room.
Not necessarily. A worn spring that hasn't fully broken yet will still allow the door to open, but your opener motor is compensating for the lost spring tension by working much harder than it should. This accelerates wear on the motor and other components. If the door feels heavier than usual or moves unevenly, have the springs checked even if the door is technically still functioning.
It's easy to tell by looking. Torsion springs are the large horizontal coil (or coils) mounted on a bar directly above the garage door opening. Extension springs run along the horizontal tracks on either side of the door and look like long, stretched coils. Most homes built in the last 20 years in Hendersonville use torsion springs, while older homes. particularly the ranch-style and bungalow properties common in established neighborhoods. may still have extension springs.