How to Tell Your Garage Door Spring Is Broken (6 Signs)

The 6 signs, in the order we diagnose them

If you heard a loud bang from the garage and now the door won't open, you almost certainly have a broken torsion spring. It's the single most common garage door failure we see in Hampton Roads — we replace broken springs on 8–12 doors a day across Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and surrounding cities.

Before you call a technician, you can confirm it yourself in about 30 seconds. Here are the six signs, in order of reliability.

1. There's a visible gap in the coiled spring above the door

Stand inside the garage and look up at the spring (or springs) mounted on a shaft directly above the door. A healthy torsion spring is one continuous, tightly-wound coil. A broken spring has a clear 1–2 inch gap where the metal has snapped and unwound.

If you see that gap, the spring is broken. Don't operate the door. Call us.

2. The door is suddenly much heavier than usual

Pull the emergency-release cord (the red handle hanging from the opener rail) straight down until you hear it click. This disconnects the opener. Now try to lift the door manually.

A properly balanced door should feel like it weighs 10–15 pounds — you can lift it with two fingers. A door with a broken torsion spring can weigh 150–250 pounds. If you can barely budge it, or it refuses to go up at all — broken spring.

Important: if it feels that heavy, let it back down gently and don't try to force it. You can damage the door, the tracks, or yourself.

3. The opener runs but the door doesn't move

You press the button, you hear the opener motor running, but the door sits there. That's almost always one of two things: (1) a broken spring — the opener can't lift the door's full weight, or (2) a stripped plastic drive gear inside the opener. A quick look up at the spring (Sign #1) tells you which.

4. The door only opens 6–12 inches and then stops or reverses

Many opener models have a force-limit safety: if they have to push or pull harder than the set limit, they stop and reverse. A broken spring makes the door too heavy, the opener hits the limit, and the door immediately backs down.

5. The door is crooked — one side higher than the other

Most residential garage doors have two springs, one on each side. If only one broke, the spring on the remaining side can lift its side of the door partially — resulting in a crooked, scary-looking opening. Don't operate it. Call us.

6. You heard a loud "bang" or "gunshot" sound from the garage

A torsion spring has several hundred pounds of torque stored in it. When it breaks, it unwinds violently against the metal shaft it's mounted on — producing a distinctive sharp crack. Homeowners in attached garages often mistake it for a gunshot.

What NOT to do if you suspect a broken spring

• Don't try to lift the door with the opener. You can strip the opener's main gear (a $150 repair) or damage the opener's motor ($400–$700 replacement).
• Don't try to replace the spring yourself. Torsion springs store hundreds of foot-pounds of energy. Every year, homeowners are injured — sometimes seriously — attempting this. The parts are relatively cheap; hospital visits aren't.
• Don't drive your car under a partially-open door. If the spring snapped mid-opening and the door is sitting halfway, it can drop at any moment.

What to do instead

Close the door manually if it's partially open, disengage the opener (pull the red cord), and keep the door closed until a technician arrives. If a car is trapped inside, we'll prioritize you as an emergency — call (757) 777-3330.

What will the repair cost?

Single-spring replacement typically runs $180–$280 in Hampton Roads. Replacing both springs as a matched pair (which we strongly recommend — they've lived the same life) is $280–$420 complete. We upgrade to 20,000-cycle springs by default for a few dollars more, roughly doubling the spring's service life vs. builder-grade 10,000-cycle springs.

See our full spring repair page for details, or book a same-day service call.