All garage doors use a spring system to open and close the doors. Springs are necessary because they actually do most of the work when it comes to lifting the doors. Torsion springs are our favorite method here at Hung Right Doors, so if you have the opportunity to convert your spring system, we recommend that you do so. However, the other methods work perfectly fine, so it’s not a big deal if your current spring system works fine.
There are three main types of spring systems:
- Torsion
- Extension
- Torque master
The garage door torsion springs have a bar or spring shaft mounded between two steel cable drums above the garage door’s front. Sometimes these springs are mounted behind the door at the back of the tracks, but this is only in case of very low headroom in the garage and is pretty rare. The springs are threaded on the spring shaft and lift the door by spinning the shaft, and therefore the drums are mounted to steel cables on either side of the door. This is the best spring system in our opinion because it is the safest when the springs break, and they are pretty easy to replace by a professional if they break. The only downside to this system is that if your door has two springs and one of them breaks, you have to replace both of them. Springs are rated for the same number of rotations, so if one garage door spring breaks, the other is often not too far behind. Hung Right Doors charges separately for springs and labor, so we would hate to charge you for one spring and one full labor charge and then charge an additional labor fee two weeks later when we replace the other spring. It takes almost the same amount of effort to replace one spring as it does two. You may feel like you are saving money at first by only replacing the broken spring, but it really is better to knock it out all at once.
Extension springs are two smaller springs mounted on either side of the door, above the horizontal tracks. These springs are often less expensive than the torsion springs and easier to replace if they are broken. The downside is that they aren’t well secured onto the door, so if they break, they are prone to flying all around the garage, which can cause damage to anyone or anything in the garage.
Torque master springs are only installed on Wayne dalton brand garage doors and are mounted inside of a tube, so you can’t see the springs from the outside. They last a long time and do a great job pulling the door. But when they break eventually, they are impossible to repair and have to be replaced entirely. If a customer needs a repair on a torque master system, we will convert the whole system into a torsion spring system so that all parts of the garage door are easily accessible for work and repair.