2026-03-12 7 min read
If you live out here in Ponder. or anywhere in the western stretch of Denton County. your garage door probably gets a serious workout. Most households around Remington Park Estates and the newer subdivisions along FM-156 use the garage as the primary entry point to the home. That means your springs are cycling multiple times a day, every day. When those springs start to go, things can go sideways fast.
The good news: springs rarely fail without warning. Here's what to watch for.
Torsion springs sit horizontally above the door opening and do the heavy lifting. literally. They counterbalance the weight of the door (which can top 200,400 pounds) so your opener doesn't have to muscle it up alone. When they're working properly, you barely think about them. When they're not, you'll know.
If you were in the house and heard what sounded like a gunshot or a car backfiring from the garage, that was almost certainly a spring snapping. When a torsion spring breaks, it releases stored tension all at once. violently. If this happens, stop using the door immediately and call for service. Do not try to open the door manually or with the opener.
Spring tension is what makes a 300-pound door feel manageable. If you disconnect the opener and try to lift the door by hand and it feels like it's anchored to the ground, that's a strong sign the springs are no longer carrying their share of the load. A properly balanced door should hold itself steady at about waist height without you supporting it.
Pull the door up to about halfway and let go. It should stay put. If it slides back down or shoots upward, the counterbalance system is off. That often points to worn or broken springs that have lost tension.
Take a look at the springs above your door. A gap of two inches or more in a torsion spring means it has snapped. replace it immediately and don't use the door. Beyond gaps, look for rust (which makes the metal brittle and prone to snapping), discoloration, or coils that appear stretched out rather than tightly wound.
This matters especially here in North Texas. The temperature swings between our brutally hot summers and the occasional hard freeze cause metal components to expand and contract repeatedly. accelerating wear on springs, hinges, and tracks. Humidity during our spring storm season doesn't help either, speeding up surface corrosion on springs that aren't regularly lubricated.
If your door looks lopsided. tilting to one side, moving jerkily, or one corner rising faster than the other. there's a good chance one spring has failed while the other is still holding on. That imbalance puts serious strain on your cables, tracks, and opener motor. Left alone, it turns one broken spring into multiple broken parts.
Your garage door opener is not designed to lift the full weight of the door. Its job is to guide a balanced door, not haul a dead-weight slab of steel. If the opener is groaning, stopping mid-travel, or reversing before the door is fully open, it may be compensating for springs that aren't doing their job. Running the opener under that kind of stress will burn out the motor over time. turning a spring repair into a much more expensive opener replacement as well. If you're evaluating your opener's overall health, our opener comparison guide breaks down how different drive systems handle that load differently.
Most standard torsion springs are rated for around 10,000 cycles. At four cycles a day. a pretty normal number for a busy household. that's roughly seven years. But several things can shorten that life considerably:
- Temperature extremes: North Texas sees scorching triple-digit summers and occasional hard freezes. Metal components expand and contract dramatically with those swings, putting extra stress on the spring's coil structure. - Moisture and rust: Our spring storm season brings humidity that can accelerate corrosion on springs that aren't lubricated. Denton County has seen repeated severe weather events with significant hail and high winds. storms that have damaged homes from Flower Mound to Sanger. A post-storm inspection should always include a look at your springs, not just the door panels. - Heavy doors: Older ranch-style homes in the Ponder area and the custom builds on the southwest side of town sometimes have heavier wood or solid-core steel doors that cycle springs faster than lighter modern doors.
Yes. and this is advice worth heeding. Springs wear at roughly the same rate since they share the load equally over thousands of cycles. If one breaks, the other is close behind. Replacing both at the same time costs only marginally more than replacing one, but it saves you a second service call in six months and keeps your door operating in balance. Make sure to also review how to test your door's safety features after any spring replacement to confirm everything is operating correctly.
This isn't a project for YouTube and a socket set. Garage door springs are under enormous tension. when they release unexpectedly, they can cause serious injury. This is one of the repairs where professional service is non-negotiable. If you're seeing any of the warning signs above, schedule a service call before a slow failure turns into a sudden one.
Ponder Garage Doors services Ponder and the surrounding communities including Krum, Argyle, Sanger, and Denton. so help is never far away. Check our service areas page to confirm we cover your location.
How long do garage door springs typically last in North Texas? Most standard torsion springs are rated for around 10,000 cycles. In North Texas, where temperature swings between hot summers and cold fronts are significant, springs can wear faster than the rated lifespan. especially if they aren't regularly lubricated. At average household usage, expect to replace them every 7,10 years, possibly sooner on heavy doors or high-use garages.
Can I use my garage door if a spring is broken? You should not. A door with a broken spring is extremely heavy and puts dangerous stress on the opener motor, cables, and tracks. In some cases, the door can drop unexpectedly. Disconnect use of the door and call a professional as soon as possible.
Should I replace one spring or both at the same time? Both. Springs wear at the same rate since they share the load. If one has broken, the other is likely near the end of its life as well. Replacing both at once restores proper balance and avoids a second service call in the near future.