The bang, the gap, the immovable door — how to be sure it’s the spring, what’s safe to do next, and what replacement costs.
A breaking torsion spring is loud — homeowners regularly mistake it for something hitting the house. The steel fractures, months of stored tension release instantly, and from that moment the heaviest object in your home has no counterbalance.
This page does three things: confirms the diagnosis, keeps you safe until the truck arrives, and sets cost expectations so the quote makes sense. What it deliberately does not do is teach spring replacement — that’s winding-bar work with injury statistics behind it.
Look for these, in order of certainty:
Safe:
These cause the injuries that fill garage-door lawsuits:
Same-day replacement is the norm — techs carry the common spring sizes and finish in 30–60 minutes, and a pro will quote your exact door over the phone before dispatch. Expect the tech to rebalance the door, inspect cables and bearings (a spring failure shock-loads both), and run the opener’s force calibration afterward.
If the door is closed and you can leave it closed — yes, safely. The urgency comes from trapped vehicles and stuck-open doors. Waiting for a standard-hours appointment also saves the emergency premium.
Springs can lose tension without visibly breaking (worn, unwound, or wrong-sized from a past repair), and extension-spring systems hide damage in stretched coils. The manual-lift test tells the truth; a tech confirms with a weight-and-balance check.
Say exactly that when you call — vehicle-trapped calls get priority dispatch, including early morning and after-hours slots. Techs can safely lift and secure the door even before the full spring job if timing is tight.