2026-03-21 6 min read
There's a specific kind of morning that garage door technicians know well. A homeowner wakes up, hits the button on the wall, and instead of the familiar hum and rise of the door, they hear a loud bang. like a gunshot going off inside the garage. and nothing moves. A spring has snapped. The car is stuck inside. And now the day is officially derailed.
The frustrating part is that in most cases, that spring had been sending warning signals for weeks. The homeowner just didn't know what to look for.
If you own a home in Bessemer City. whether it's one of the newer builds near Barkers Ridge Drive or an older traditional-style house that's been in the family for decades. your garage door springs are working hard every single day. Here's how to know when they're getting close to the end.
Before getting into the warning signs, it helps to understand what these components are dealing with. Torsion springs. the most common type, mounted horizontally above the door. store mechanical energy when wound tightly, then release it to assist in lifting the door. Without them, your opener motor would be attempting to lift the full dead weight of a door that often weighs over 150 pounds.
Most residential torsion springs are rated for roughly 10,000 cycles. At an average of four door uses per day, that translates to roughly seven to nine years of use. Heavier doors, high-frequency use, and exposure to humidity (very relevant in Gaston County's climate) can shorten that considerably.
The key takeaway: springs wear out on a predictable timeline, and waiting until they snap completely is always the more expensive path.
This is the most reliable early indicator. Disconnect your automatic opener by pulling the red emergency release cord, then try lifting the door manually. A properly balanced garage door should feel relatively light. the springs are doing most of the counterbalancing work. If the door feels like you're lifting dead weight, or you simply can't raise it easily, the springs are losing tension or have already failed.
Leave the door in the manual test at mid-height and step back. A healthy door stays in place. If it slowly slides down or refuses to hold position, that's a clear sign the springs can no longer support the door's weight.
If you or a family member heard what sounded like a gunshot or something heavy falling in the garage. especially if it happened when no one was using the door. a spring almost certainly snapped. When a torsion spring breaks under full tension, it releases stored energy all at once and makes a noise that's unmistakable. After this happens, do not attempt to operate the door manually or with the opener. Call a professional. Operating a door with a broken spring can cause serious injury.
Take a look at the spring mounted above your garage door. Under normal operation, the coils sit tightly together. If you can see a gap of roughly two inches or more in the coil, the spring has snapped. This is a definitive sign. not a "watch and wait" situation. The door should not be used until it's repaired. Our team at Garage Door Bessemer City can typically handle spring replacements the same day. See our full services page for what we cover.
This is where Bessemer City's humid subtropical climate becomes directly relevant. Moisture in the air accelerates corrosion on metal springs year-round, and garages that aren't climate-controlled. which is the majority of homes here. expose those springs to high humidity for months at a time. Rust weakens the structural integrity of the spring and dramatically shortens its usable life.
During your next visual check, look for reddish-brown discoloration on the coils. Minor surface rust can sometimes be addressed with lubrication, but deep corrosion usually means replacement is the right call. Regular lubrication is your best prevention. the same habits covered in our chain maintenance guide apply here.
Does your door tilt or look lopsided when it opens or closes? If one spring has failed while the other is still functioning, the door will rise unevenly. one side higher than the other, with a jerky or tilted motion. Beyond being a sign of spring failure, this uneven movement puts additional strain on the cables, tracks, and opener motor, creating a domino effect of wear on other components if left unaddressed.
If your automatic opener is making more noise than usual, moving the door more slowly, or stops working altogether, it may not be an opener problem at all. When springs are losing tension, the opener motor has to compensate by doing far more work than it was designed to handle. Running a failing opener against a worn spring can burn out the motor entirely. turning a spring replacement into a spring-plus-opener replacement.
Most residential garage doors use two torsion springs. When one breaks, the other has usually been through the same number of cycles and is under the same amount of wear. Replacing only the broken one often means you're back to dealing with the same problem within a few months. The standard industry practice is to replace both springs at the same time so they wear evenly going forward.
If your garage door is in the seven-to-nine-year range and you haven't had the springs inspected recently, it's worth a proactive check. especially before a season change. We've found that springs in Bessemer City homes often show accelerated rust and wear compared to drier climates, simply because of how much humidity the area deals with through spring and summer.
Garage door springs are under extreme tension. enough that a snap during removal can cause severe injury. This is one of those jobs where the risk genuinely isn't worth the savings. A trained technician has the right tools, safety procedures, and experience to complete the replacement quickly and correctly.
If you're noticing any of the signs above, reach out to us before the situation becomes an emergency. It's a faster fix, a safer process, and almost always cheaper than dealing with a full failure. You can also visit our FAQ page for common questions about spring lifespan and replacement costs.
Spring replacement costs vary based on the type of spring and whether you're replacing one or both. Extension spring replacement generally runs less than torsion spring work, which tends to be more involved. Getting a quote from a local technician is the most accurate way to know what you're looking at for your specific door.
No. and we'd strongly advise against it. Operating the door with a broken spring puts enormous strain on the opener motor and cables, and creates a serious safety risk. The door can drop suddenly or come off track. Stop using the door and call for service.
Torsion springs are the large coiled springs mounted horizontally above the door opening. Extension springs run along the horizontal tracks on each side of the door and stretch as the door closes. Both types wear out over time, though torsion springs are more common in newer construction throughout Bessemer City and surrounding communities like Kings Mountain and Cherryville.