Broken Garage Door Spring Repair in Spokane
That bang you heard was the torsion spring letting go. The door is now several hundred pounds of dead weight - here is what it costs and why you should not lift it.
In Spokane, torsion spring replacement typically costs $220-380 for a single spring and $320-520 for a matched pair, parts and labour included.
The job takes 60-90 minutes and is completed on the first visit in the large majority of cases.
A standard residential torsion spring is rated for roughly 10,000 cycles, which is about 7-12 years for a household that opens the door four times a day.
What actually happened
Your garage door does not lift itself with the opener motor. The motor only guides it. The lifting is done by torsion springs mounted on a steel bar above the opening, which store energy when the door comes down and release it when the door goes up.
When a spring snaps, that stored energy releases all at once - hence the bang, which most people describe as sounding like a gunshot inside the garage. What is left is a door with no counterbalance at all. A double door that felt light yesterday now weighs 150 to 250 pounds.
Why you should not lift it by hand
This is the part worth reading twice, because it is the one that puts people in hospital. With the spring broken, nothing is holding the door up except your hands. If your grip slips, or the opener trolley releases, the door comes down at full weight onto whatever is underneath - which is often a hand on the bottom panel.
Running the opener is no better. Openers are built to guide a counterbalanced door, not to lift a dead one. Forcing it usually strips the drive gear, which turns a $220-380 spring job into a $380-700 opener replacement on top.
One spring or two?
If your door has two springs and one broke, the second one is the same age and has taken the same number of cycles. It is usually within months of failing too. Replacing both while the technician is already there costs meaningfully less than paying for a second call-out - which is why a matched pair at $320-520 is the more common outcome than a single at $220-380.
How to tell it is the spring and not the opener
- Look at the bar above the door. A broken torsion spring shows a visible gap of one to two inches where the coil separated.
- Pull the red emergency release cord and try to lift the door by hand. If it is impossibly heavy, the spring is gone. If it lifts smoothly, your problem is the opener.
- If the opener motor hums but the door does not move, that points to the opener or a stripped gear, not the spring.
Common questions
How much does garage door spring replacement cost in Spokane?
Typically $220-380 for a single spring and $320-520 for a matched pair in Spokane, including parts and labour. Most Spokane calls are finished within the hour and a half.
Why did my garage door spring break?
In Spokane the first genuinely cold morning of the season is when most of them go, because steel loses ductility as it gets colder and a spring near the end of its cycle life fails then rather than gradually. Cycle count matters more than the age of the door.
How long do garage door springs last?
The rating is about 10,000 cycles, which is 7 to 12 years at four openings a day. In Spokane the rating is optimistic though: cold steel is less forgiving, so a spring that would have limped on elsewhere tends to let go on the first hard freeze. Ask about a 20,000-cycle spring while the technician is already there - the labour is identical.
Can I just replace the spring myself?
It is possible but genuinely dangerous. Winding a torsion spring requires proper winding bars and correct torque; using the wrong tools is how people lose fingers. The parts cost is a small fraction of the total, so there is limited saving for a large amount of risk.
Why do springs in Spokane break in winter?
Steel loses ductility as it gets colder, so a spring near the end of its cycle life is most likely to fail on a genuinely cold morning. Spokane sees a distinct cluster of spring failures in the first hard freeze of the season.
How long will the new spring last?
A standard spring is rated for about 10,000 cycles, roughly 7-12 years of normal use. High-cycle springs rated to 20,000+ cycles are available for a modest premium and are worth asking about if your garage is your main entrance.