Depending upon the weight, type, and size of your garage door, it might have one or two torsion springs. Over time the torsion springs, which raise and lower your garage door, experience wear and tear. Because of them wearing out, torsion springs begin losing their ability to adequately counterbalance your garage door’s weight. Eventually, your garage door’s torsion springs aren’t able to move your garage door at all.
Occasionally, people with two torsion springs will opt to replace only one of them. This is not recommended. Here are two reasons why it’s better to replace both torsion springs rather than simply replacing the broken one.
- When one torsion spring breaks, the other spring then has to bear the weight of your entire garage door by itself. Replacing only the broken torsion spring and having the system reset will not result in a properly balanced garage door. Seeing as how the unbroken spring has been bearing all the weight, it won’t be able to fully do its job after the broken spring is replaced.
- You’ll have to call your professional garage door company again (perhaps sooner than expected) so that they can replace the other torsion spring when it inevitably breaks. This results in you having to spend more money and time dealing with your garage door. Replacing both torsion springs at the same time is typically less expensive than having one torsion spring replaced at a time.
It’s important that your torsion springs be inspected periodically to make sure they are not too worn or fatigued to bear the load of your garage door. Attempting to tinker with or replace torsion springs on your own can be dangerous. A professional garage door repair company is highly recommended to complete the inspection and replacement of broken torsion springs.
