Torsion springs vs. extension springs
Most garage doors built in the last 25 years use torsion springs — the wound steel coils that mount horizontally on a 1-inch shaft above the door opening. As the door closes, the spring winds up and stores energy. As the door opens, that stored energy unwinds and counterbalances the door's weight so the opener (or you, by hand) only has to overcome a few pounds of imbalance instead of the door's full 130–250 lb weight.
Older homes and some narrow single-car doors still use extension springs, which mount along the horizontal tracks on each side of the door and stretch as the door closes. Extension springs are more dangerous when they fail because there's typically no containment cable retrofitted, and the broken half can whip across the garage.
We service both. If you have an extension-spring system that's failed, we always recommend either a containment-cable retrofit or — more commonly — a conversion to a torsion system if your headroom allows.
Why we replace springs in pairs
On a dual-spring door, both springs were installed the same day, ran the same number of cycles, and went through the same Topeka summers and winters. When one breaks, the other is rarely far behind — usually within a few months. Replacing only the broken one means a second service request a free quote and a second labor charge before the year is out.
Single-spring doors are different. If you have only one spring on a dual-car door, that's almost always an undersized original install we'll recommend correcting to a properly-sized dual-spring setup.
Cycle ratings: 10k vs. 20k vs. 25k
A garage door spring is rated by how many open-close cycles it's engineered to survive before metal fatigue causes failure. Builder-grade springs are typically 10,000-cycle rated. For a typical Topeka household running the door 4 times a day, that's about 6.8 years of life.
We stock 20,000-cycle springs as our standard upgrade — about $80–$120 more than builder-grade, but they roughly double the lifespan to 13–14 years. For workshops, multi-driver households, or detached garages used as gym/shop space where the door cycles 8+ times daily, 25,000-cycle commercial-grade springs are worth the extra cost.
Why DIY spring replacement is not safe
A wound torsion spring stores between 200 and 800 ft-lbs of torque, depending on door size. Releasing that energy without the right winding bars, without locking the door in the up position, or with the wrong size bar in the cone can break fingers, knock out teeth, and put winding bars through drywall and car windshields. ER visits from DIY spring jobs are common enough that most garage door pros have stories.
Our techs use proper 1/2-inch winding bars, lock the door, replace the springs in pairs, set the correct turns of preload for your door's drum size and door height, then run the door across a full cycle to verify balance before leaving.
What a typical spring repair looks like
Most spring replacements take 60–90 minutes from arrival to door tested. We'll inspect cables, drums, end-bearing plates, and the center bearing while we're in the hardware — those parts wear at a similar rate, and it's far cheaper to replace a $35 cable during a spring job than as a separate service request a free quote six months later.
Standard residential torsion spring replacement runs $250–$450 installed, depending on door size and whether you choose 10k or 20k cycle springs. We give you the flat quote before any work starts.