3 Signs Your Garage Door Springs Are Failing

Your garage door has springs. The springs help open and close the door smoothly and evenly. Garage door springs come in two styles: torsion and extension. The most common style is the torsion spring. This spring is on a shaft that stores energy by coiling and twisting around the shaft. As the door opens and closes, the spring coils and uncoils, saving energy as it coils and expending it when it straightens out. Opening your garage door would be nearly impossible without the spring, even with an automatic garage door opener. That makes it important to know some signs of a failing garage door spring. 

The Garage Door Opens Crooked

One of the signs that your springs are failing is that your door doesn't open straight. You might not notice this as much if you have a torsion spring since there tends to be only one, but if you have extension springs, there is one on either side of the door, so you will notice more if one side isn't lifting as much. But, even with a torsion spring, you will see if the bottom of the door isn't level when lowered. 

It Strains to Open

If you have to strain to lift the door or your automatic garage door opener has to strain, that can be a sign that your springs are going. Even a hollow garage door is pretty heavy, and trying to lift it without the help of the spring can be hard. Your garage door opener probably doesn't have the strength to open the door on its own, so that the motor will sound overworked and stressed. 

The Door Closes Too Fast

If your garage door seems to open fine but rushes to close, then you likely have a failing garage door spring. In this case, the spring is worn out enough that it can't overcome the gravity pulling down on the door, so it slams down quickly. If you have this problem, you need to get it fixed quickly because it would be too easy for someone to get hurt when the garage door slams down on them. 

If you have a garage door, then you have garage door springs. It's important to know the signs of impending failure of your garage door springs. You should call a garage door repair company to deal with the springs. Because they hold so much potential energy if you aren't handling the springs carefully, you can get hurt, so it's best to let the experts deal with that.

For more information about garage door repair, contact a local company.