Much like the shocks on your automobile, which are supposed to be replaced every 50,000 miles, garage door springs, or torsion springs, have a relatively short life expectancy. Garage door springs age in dog years and are meant to be replaced every five to six years. The potential dangers of failing to replace your garage door springs can have catastrophic consequences. Once the springs break, the massive weight of your garage door (typically upward of 250 pounds) crashes to the ground, crushing everything in its way.

In most garage doors, the torsion springs provide over 90 percent of the lift needed to make the garage door operate smoothly. And after years and years of lifting and going through drastic weather changes, the torsion springs tend to weaken and a break becomes inevitable.

So, the options seem pretty straightforward; responsibly replace the springs on your garage door to avoid a potentially dangerous situation, or keep the springs in place beyond their expected lifespan and hope your insurance covers the damages.

I think the choice is clear.

The problem is, when people want to replace the torsion springs on their garage doors, they think it would be easy, and cheaper, to replace it themselves.

Cheaper? Maybe.

Easier? No way.

Replacing garage door springs is a dangerous task and is a job best left to professionals. Torsion springs are tightly-wound heavy duty springs that, if detached incorrectly, could cause major and unnecessary injuries to yourself or anyone in close proximity.

To quote one online DIYer: “(Despite) many years of dealing with garage projects, I did not hesitate for a minute in determining that the springs on a garage door was something I did not want to handle. Why? It’s dangerous. Those springs are under an enormous amount of tension, and one slip up could easily cause serious injury.”

Furthermore, the massive size and weight of garage doors poses other dangers. If you aren’t able to lift a garage door by yourself, you should not attempt to replace torsion springs. And since lifting a garage door is a nearly Herculean feat, and few of us are professional body builders, handling garage doors is likely to cause serious injury.

Purchasing torsion springs is yet another problem. First, as a necessary preventative measure to stop potential injuries, it’s very difficult for the average Joe to walk into a store and buy torsion springs. Torsion spring providers have chosen to make it difficult to purchase torsion springs in order to avoid lawsuits with regard to accidents. Thus, many times, they refuse to sell to unskilled persons. Meanwhile, garage door repair companies have easy access to parts and really should be utilized whenever a garage door repair issue arises.

If it’s time to replace the torsion springs on your garage door, please avoid unnecessary, dangerous work and contact us at Jason Steich Overhead Doors.