Garage door springs: the one repair you never make yourself

A garage door is heavy - often north of a hundred kilos - and it opens like a feather because steel springs store the door's full weight in torsion. That stored energy is also why the spring line is the single clearest do-not-DIY boundary in the entire house.

Why springs are professional-only, full stop

Torsion springs sit on a shaft above the door, wound tight to many hundreds of newton-metres. Winding or unwinding them without the proper bars and training has injured and killed experienced handymen - the bar becomes a lever the spring's energy controls, not you. There is no partial credit for trying: an unwound spring wrong, a slipped bar, a clamp that lets go - each failure mode is severe. Extension springs on older doors are similarly loaded. If a spring is broken or the door is suddenly heavy: stop using the opener, keep people clear, and call a door technician. This is also not a "get three quotes" repair to agonise over - spring replacement is routine, same-day work for them.

How do you know the spring broke?

A bang from the garage like something fell; the opener straining or clicking while the door rises a few centimetres and stops; the visible gap in a twisted spring on the shaft; or the door feeling absurdly heavy on manual lift. Do not keep pressing the opener - it will burn itself out fighting a door its springs no longer carry.

Everything else is genuinely yours

Rollers and hinges: a few drops of lubricant (garage-door lube, not thick grease) on rollers, hinges and the opener's rail, once or twice a year, removes most squeaks and strains.

The auto-reverse test, twice a year: with the door closing, wave something through the photo-eye beam near the floor - it must reverse. Then place a block of wood under the door and let it close - it must touch and reverse. If it fails either test, the door can close on a child or a car bonnet; the adjustment is in the opener manual and takes minutes.

Hardware check: tighten loose hinge bolts, watch a full open-close cycle for any jerking or belt slipping, and replace weather seal when daylight shows under the door.

The pattern is the house-wide rule: the toolkit handles the mechanical, and the line to a professional is drawn by stored energy and gas - the same instinct that keeps wiring and overloaded circuits honest. Springs sit firmly on the pro side of that line.