Garage Door Spring Replacement Greater Boston & Surrounding Areas

A single torsion spring replacement runs $250 to $450 installed. Replacing a pair of springs (which we recommend if you have two) runs $350 to $600. High-cycle springs rated at 20,000 or 30,000 cycles add about $80 to $150 to the price. Extension springs (older systems with springs along the tracks instead of above the door) run $150 to $300 installed. We give you the exact price before we touch anything.

Cold steel is more brittle than warm steel. A spring that's near the end of its cycle life will hold together at 70°F but snap at 15°F. New England has a tight cluster of spring failures every January and February, especially during cold snaps after a stretch of mild weather. There's nothing wrong with your door. The spring was due, and the cold pushed it over. The fix is the same any time of year.

Not without help. With a broken spring, the door weighs its full physical weight - 150 pounds for a single door, 300 pounds for a double. Without the spring counterbalancing it, you're lifting all of it. Two strong adults can usually get a single door open enough to drive a car out, but it's risky and the door can crash down. Don't lift a double door manually with no spring. Call us. We can often be there inside two hours in our core service area.

Yes, very. Torsion springs are wound with 300 to 500 pounds of stored energy. The winding bars used to install them can rip your wrist or your face off if they slip. People die doing this. Every year. We see DIY spring jobs go wrong about once a month. The cost of professional spring replacement is mostly labor and safety. If you absolutely insist on doing it yourself, use proper winding bars, never standard screwdrivers, and read the manufacturer instructions twice. Better, just call us.

Standard 10,000-cycle springs last 5 to 10 years for a typical New England family. If your family is busy and the garage door is your main entry, expect closer to 5 to 7 years. If you only use the garage door a few times a week, you can get 10 to 12 years. High-cycle springs at 20,000 cycles last roughly twice as long. We track cycle count on every spring we install, so you have a baseline for next time.

Look up at the shaft above the door. The spring should be a tight, even coil. If you see a gap anywhere in the coil, the spring is broken (or partially broken) right now. If the door is heavier than usual when you lift it manually, the spring is losing tension. If the opener is straining more than it used to, the spring is getting weak. If the door starts to come down on its own when you stop it halfway, the spring is shot. Any of these means call us before it strands you.

Almost always, yes. The opener's job is to gently lift a door that's already counterbalanced by the spring. The opener has nowhere near enough power to lift a 200-pound door by itself. If the spring is broken, the opener will hum, strain, and give up after a few seconds, sometimes throwing a flashing light error code. Other causes of a stuck door are a broken cable, a track jammed by an object, or a stripped opener gear, but spring failure is by far the most common.

We stock standard residential torsion springs in all common wire diameters and lengths, which covers about 95% of doors we see across MA, NH, and RI, including the older 1960s and 1970s housing stock in Arlington, Medford, Cambridge, and parts of Watertown. For oversized commercial doors, very old extension-spring systems, or unusual European doors, we may need to order a specific spring, which usually takes 24 to 72 hours. We can almost always provide same-day service for standard residential doors.