Showerthought: My garage door spring snapped and I fixed it myself for $35

Last Sunday I went to pull out of the driveway and heard this loud BANG. Thought a tree branch hit the roof. Turns out the torsion spring on my garage door just gave up. Called around for quotes - cheapest was $250 plus labor. Spent 30 minutes on YouTube and another $35 at the hardware store for a new spring and winding bars. Took me about 2 hours to swap it out. Door works fine now. Anyone else take a swing at garage door springs? I know people say they're dangerous but I just went slow.

2 comments

2 Comments

perez.barbara1mo ago

That "loud BANG" part really hit home for me. One of our springs snapped last winter and the noise literally woke me up from two floors away. I remember jumping out of bed thinking someone crashed into the house or something. You saved a ton of money doing it yourself, seriously. I ended up paying a guy $275 and he was in and out in like 45 minutes. Kind of wish I had your confidence to watch a few videos and just go for it. The idea of the spring letting go again while I'm messing with it just freaks me out too much though.

terryr461mo ago

A buddy of mine tried this same thing a few years back. He watched a couple videos, bought the spring, got all set up. Long story short, he didn't let the tension off the old spring right and it whipped around and cracked his drywall pretty good. Took him three tries to get the new one wound even too. He ended up calling a guy anyway, so your mileage may vary on that one.