2026-03-17 6 min read
Most homeowners in Hoffman don't think much about their garage door springs. until one breaks. Then it's suddenly all they can think about, because the door either won't open at all or drops hard enough to rattle the whole house. A broken spring is one of the most common garage door service calls we get across Richmond County and into neighboring communities like Red Springs and Maxton. The good news is that a failing spring almost always gives you warning signs before it completely lets go. Knowing what to look for can save you from being stranded with a car stuck inside your garage on a workday morning.
Your garage door weighs anywhere from 130 to over 300 pounds depending on the material and size. The torsion or extension springs above and beside the door are what make it feel light. They counterbalance the door's weight so that you. or your opener motor. only has to move a fraction of that load. When those springs weaken or break, the full weight of the door lands on the opener, which isn't designed to handle it. That's how one failing spring often turns into two broken parts.
Torsion springs are the most common setup in modern homes. they mount horizontally above the door on a metal shaft and wind and unwind as the door moves. Older homes in Hoffman sometimes still have extension springs, which run along the horizontal tracks on either side. Both types wear out over time, and both give off warning signs before they fail completely.
This is one of the most reliable early signals. Disconnect the opener by pulling the red emergency release cord and try to lift the door manually. A properly balanced door should feel relatively light and stay in place when raised to waist height. If it feels like you're lifting the actual weight of the door, or if it slowly creeps back down when you let go at mid-height, the springs have lost significant tension and need attention. Don't keep using the opener in this condition. you're forcing the motor to compensate for work it was never designed to do, and you'll burn it out.
Many Hoffman homeowners describe hearing what sounds like a gunshot or a car backfiring coming from the garage. often late at night when temperature drops, or early in the morning. That sound is almost always a torsion spring snapping under full tension. If you hear it, stop using the door immediately. Do not try to open it manually or with the opener. A door with a broken spring can drop suddenly and cause serious injury. This is a call-us-right-away situation, not a watch-and-wait one.
Go ahead and look at the spring mounted above your door. When a torsion spring breaks, it separates. you'll see a gap of roughly two inches or more in the coil where it snapped. Extension springs may not show a clean gap but might appear visibly stretched or hanging loosely. Either way, if you see a gap or distortion in the spring, the door is not safe to operate. Check out our common garage door problems guide for a broader look at what else to watch for during a visual inspection.
If one spring fails while the other is still functioning, the door won't lift evenly. You might notice it rising higher on one side than the other, or the opener straining noticeably and stopping before the door is fully open. This uneven movement puts lateral stress on the tracks and can cause them to bend if ignored. If your door looks lopsided in motion, treat it as a spring issue until proven otherwise.
Some noise from a garage door is normal. But if you notice persistent squeaking, grinding, or a strained sound from the opener mechanism even after lubricating the moving parts, the springs may be losing tension and forcing the opener to work harder. This kind of noise is worth scheduling a service call for rather than ignoring. it usually gets louder right before something fails.
The humidity in Richmond County is genuinely tough on metal. Rust on your garage door springs isn't just cosmetic. it weakens the metal and makes the spring more likely to snap without much additional warning. If you can see orange or brown corrosion on the spring coils, and especially if the spring looks discolored or flaky, it's past due for replacement. Applying a light coat of lubricant twice a year helps slow corrosion, but it won't reverse it once it's set in.
Standard torsion springs are typically rated for around 10,000 cycles. one cycle being one complete open-and-close. A family that uses the garage as the main entrance and exits four or five times a day will burn through a standard spring in roughly five to seven years. A home where the garage door is used less frequently might get closer to ten years or more. If your door is approaching that age range and you haven't had the springs inspected, it's worth doing now rather than waiting for a failure.
For our customers in Hoffman who use their garage as the primary entry point, we often recommend asking about high-cycle springs when the time comes to replace. they cost a bit more upfront but are rated for 20,000 or more cycles and can easily double the time before you need another replacement.
Honestly, no. Garage door springs are under enormous tension. the kind that can cause serious or fatal injuries if the spring releases unexpectedly during removal. This isn't a scare tactic; it's just a mechanical reality. Identifying the warning signs is something every homeowner can and should do. But the actual replacement requires the right tools, the right technique, and experience working with that specific type of tension. Leave the repair itself to a trained technician. You can find more information about safe garage door practices on our garage door safety tips page.
If you're seeing any of the warning signs listed above, don't wait for the door to fail completely. Catching a worn spring early usually means a straightforward replacement. Waiting until it snaps often means additional damage to the opener, the tracks, or the door panels. and a more expensive fix. Check our service areas page to confirm we cover your location in and around Hoffman.
Q: My garage door opens a few inches and then stops. Could that be the springs?
A: Yes, that's a classic symptom. When a spring breaks or loses significant tension, the opener may only be able to lift the door slightly before it detects the excessive load and shuts off to protect the motor. Disconnect the opener and try lifting manually. if the door feels extremely heavy or won't lift at all, a broken spring is the most likely cause.
Q: Can I replace just one spring if only one broke?
A: Technically yes, but it's generally not recommended. Both springs were installed at the same time and have the same number of cycles on them. If one has failed, the other is close behind. Replacing both at the same time ensures even tension on the door and saves you from paying a second service call shortly after the first.
Q: How do I know if my home has torsion springs or extension springs?
A: Torsion springs are mounted horizontally above the door opening on a metal shaft. you'll see one or two thick coiled springs centered above the door. Extension springs run along the horizontal tracks on either side of the door and stretch lengthwise when the door moves. Homes built in the last 15 to 20 years almost always have torsion springs. Older homes in Hoffman may still have extension springs.