Broken spring? The door is 200 lb right now. Don't lift it.
You heard a bang like a gunshot from the garage, and now the door won't move. Or the opener grinds and lifts it two inches. That is a broken torsion spring, and it is the single most common garage door failure in Montréal.
Is the door safe to use right now?
No. Stop using it and unplug the opener. A torsion spring stores enough energy to lift a 200 lb door; when it breaks, that load transfers to the cables, the opener and whatever is under the door. Running the opener on a broken spring is how a cable snaps, a drum shatters, or a door comes down on a car. If the door is already closed, leave it closed and use another entrance until we arrive. If it is stuck open, keep people and vehicles out from under it. Do not prop it with a ladder or a 2×4.
Does this sound like your door?
- A loud bang from the garage, sometimes hours before you noticed the door was stuck
- A visible gap in the coiled spring above the door. A clean two-inch break
- The door lifts a few inches, then stops or slams back down
- The opener strains, hums, then clicks off
- The door is far too heavy to lift by hand, or it feels fine going up and crashes coming down
- One side of the door rises higher than the other and the top corner binds in the track
Before you call, and where to stop
This is not a DIY repair. A wound torsion spring holds enough stored force to break a wrist or worse, and winding bars are not the tool people improvise with. Every year Québec emergency rooms see spring-winding injuries. Call somebody with the bars and the training.
What it costs
Firm price quoted at your door, before any work. Call for today's number.
Torsion spring replacement
The most common repair we do. Price moves with door weight, spring wire size and whether you replace one spring or the pair. We quote the pair by default and explain why.
- New spring(s) rated to your door's actual weight
- Cable inspection and re-spooling
- Full balance and force test
Extension spring replacement
Common on older single-car Montréal garages with low headroom. Always replaced in pairs, always with safety cables installed if they are missing.
- Matched pair of springs
- Safety containment cables
- Pulley and bracket inspection
Sounds like your door?
Call now and describe it to a technician in ninety seconds. You'll get an arrival window on the spot.
Fair questions
Should I replace one spring or both?
If your door runs two springs and one broke, replace both. They were installed the same day and have the same cycle count. The second one is typically weeks or months from failing, and a second call-out costs you another service visit. If your door genuinely has one spring, we will usually recommend converting to two, which halves the load on each and roughly doubles service life.
Why did it break now?
Almost always ordinary wear, not a defect. A standard spring is rated for about 10,000 cycles. Roughly seven years at four open-close cycles a day. Cold accelerates it: steel gets brittle below about −20 °C, which is why our January call volume triples. If your door is seven years old and you use it four times a day, you are simply at the end of the spring's rated life.
How much does a broken spring cost to fix?
See our pricing page for how the number is built. The number depends on door weight, spring size and whether you are replacing one or two. No surprise line items.
Can you do it today?
Usually yes. Spring stock is on the van. Torsion and extension, standard sizes for residential doors up to 16 feet.
Not quite your problem?
Garage door stuck or off-track
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Where we fix this
Door stuck right now?
We answer from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m., 7 days a week. Emergencies go to the front of the queue, and you get a firm arrival time on the call.
Open 8 a.m. to 1 a.m., every day · 514-224-7693