Having the spring on your garage door break or fail can be a really frustrating problem for a homeowner. How much does it cost to repair a spring on a garage door?
Getting the spring for a garage door repaired or replaced by a professional usually costs between $200 and $300. Carrying out the repairs yourself can be dangerous, and you would need quite a few specialized tools on top of the parts themselves, which will usually cost between $50 and $100 in total.
Read ahead in this article to find out more about how much you can expect to pay to get your spring back in working order so that you can figure out what you want to do next.
What Affects the Cost Of Repairing A Garage Door Spring?
The cost of getting this part of your garage door replaced is always going to vary slightly. There are many things that will affect the overall price, including:
- Your location
- The repair service that you use
- The exact issue with the spring
- The type of spring that you have
Any one of these things can make your repair costs higher or lower. Even if you want to carry out the repair yourself, the replacement parts can vary in price significantly, and you may need to buy yourself some new tools as well.
What Do You Need To Know Before Repairing A Garage Door Spring?
Whether you want to contact a technician to come and sort out the problem for you, or you want to have a go at fixing it yourself, it’s always best to get as much information as possible beforehand.
First, you need to investigate the problem so that you know what you are dealing with. Make sure that it is actually an issue with your spring and not something else – like the batteries on your door remote. It may be the spring itself, the brackets that hold it in place, or another component that has failed.
You will also need to identify what type of door spring you have. There are two main types of door springs: extension springs and torsion springs.
Extension springs
These are the less durable option that you might have, but they are cheaper and slightly easier to replace. They are long and skinny, running parallel to the horizontal tracks of the door. They usually come in one of three types:
- Open-looped extension springs: these have an open wire at the end that can break, in which case the spring will need to be replaced.
- Double-looped extension springs: there are two coils on the end of these and they are less likely to fail.
- Clipped-end extension springs: these usually last the longest of the three kinds of extension springs and are often used on heavier doors.
Torsion springs
You will normally have between one and four of these springs. They are quite broad and will be attached to a bar suspended over the door itself. They are stronger than extension springs, more expensive, and more dangerous to replace by yourself. The most common versions of these are:
- Standard torsion springs
- Early-set torsion springs
- Steel rolling door torsion springs
- Torque-master torsion springs
You are most likely to have extension springs in a residential home, but standard and early-set torsion springs are quite common as well.
How Much Do The Parts Cost?
A new set of garage door springs can cost as little as $30, but they can be as much as $200, depending on what kind you choose.
The actual cost of a new garage door spring may not be too much, but you will also need to factor in the cost of any new brackets and hardware you will also need to finish the job. To safely replace your springs, you should have:
- Adjustable wrench
- Clamps
- Cordless drill
- Hammer
- Leather gloves
- Locking pliers
- Safety glasses
- Socket/ratchet set
- Winding bars
- Wrench set
Garage door springs can be a difficult thing to work with, and fixing them by yourself will take considerable time and effort. Additionally, a cheap or ineffective repair can cause more damage, and you will probably have to replace it again sooner than if a professional had handled the problem. Not to mention the likelihood of causing yourself an injury in the process.
If you do want to try and carry out the repairs yourself, you should carefully follow a guide to make sure that you are staying safe at all times.
How Much Do Technicians Charge For Repairing a Garage Door Spring?
You can expect to pay between $200 and $300 to get a garage door spring repaired or replaced by a professional service, depending on exactly what needs to be done. This may sound a little steeper than finding the parts yourself, but it often works out to be the cheapest option in the long run.
The exact cost of a repair by a technician is going to vary, but you will definitely pay quite a bit as a baseline. No matter how simple the job turns out to be, you will still need to compensate for labor, travel costs, and materials.
At the end of the day, $200-$300 is a pretty good deal for peace of mind and a stress-free solution.
Do You Need a Garage Door Spring?
With the cost of a repair in mind you might be wondering, do I really need the door spring or can I live without it? Well, they’re technically not an essential component for most garage doors but it can be very difficult, or even dangerous, to open your doors without them.
The garage door spring makes your doors light enough for an automatic mechanism to be able to raise them up, so you have to open them manually if your springs break. They also make it nice and easy for you to open the doors yourself. Without springs, many garage doors can be very heavy and hard to lift, if not impossible for some people.
They also keep you safe, by preventing the doors from slamming shut or falling unexpectedly. At the end of the day, they are something that you definitely want to be functioning properly.
Summary: How Much Does It Cost to Repair a Spring on a Garage Door?
So, how much does it cost to repair a spring on a garage door? Well, it depends on the springs themselves, and whether you pay for a professional service or carry out the repairs yourself.
A technician will usually charge between $200 to $300 for most garage door spring repair jobs. Purchasing your own replacement spring can cost as little as $30, but you will also need the appropriate hardware to actually carry out the repair, and it can be very difficult and dangerous to do.
If you consider the time, effort, and risk of doing the work on your own, getting a professional will almost always seem like the best option.