The Loud Bang From the Garage Wasn’t Nothing

Heard a sound like a gunshot from the garage and now the door won’t budge? That’s a torsion spring snapping, and it’s more common than most homeowners realize.

Springs carry the entire weight of the door. When one goes, the opener is suddenly trying to lift dead weight it was never built for which is why forcing it with the wall button usually ends in stripped gears, not an open door.

A few signs it’s the spring and not something else:

• The door feels like dead weight when lifted by hand with the opener disconnected
• A visible gap in the coiled spring above the door
• The opener hums or clicks but the door doesn’t move
• One side of the door hangs lower than the other

This isn’t a repair to attempt solo. A torsion spring holds enough stored tension to cause serious injury, and the job calls for winding bars and a spring matched to your door’s weight and cycle rating not a wrench from the garage shelf.

The fix itself is usually quick once the right parts are on hand. Springs get replaced in a balanced pair, the door gets re-tensioned, and the opener is tested so it isn’t straining again a year later.

For anyone in the Puyallup area dealing with this, here’s more on garage door spring replacement in Puyallup same-day service is usually available.