Emergency Springs · Kawartha Lakes
Extension Spring Replacement
The home inspector's report on the house you are buying flags the garage door: extension springs with no safety cable running through them, coils showing rust, and a door that sank when he lifted it partway. The seller has never had it looked at.
Call now · open 24/7(249) 490-5342Right now
Before the door is looked at
Call (249) 490-5342, open 24/7.
When a spring breaks, the safe approach for the household is to leave the door where it is, keep people and vehicles clear, and avoid running the opener, which can damage the top section, the trolley or the gear drive.
Pull the manual release only when the door is fully closed unless a technician asks otherwise; a door disconnected while partly open can move on its own if the springs are out of balance.
Never drive a vehicle at a closed door to get out; the door collapses and the stored tension in the counterbalance is released. Use the release, the outside key release, or a technician.
In plain words
What you have afterwards is a door that behaves like a much lighter object. Both corners leave the floor together, the door holds still when you stop it at waist height, and it settles onto the floor instead of slamming. The opener runs quietly, because it is guiding a balanced door rather than hauling a heavy one, and its safety reversing works as designed. Both springs are new, both carry a containment cable, the pulleys turn freely and both S-hooks sit in the same hole. You also get the spring rating and door weight written down, so the next set can be ordered without measuring everything again.
How the visit goesThe opener groans on the way up and the door slams the last foot on the way down, hard enough to rattle the windows. The motor is the same one it always was; something in the springs has stopped doing its share.
Extension Spring Replacement · Kawartha Lakes
How the visit goes
- 1
Pulleys, cables and the hooks that set them
Each side of an extension system has two pulleys, one on the moving end of the spring and one fixed at the front of the horizontal track, and a lift cable that runs from the bottom bracket over both to an S-hook or clip on the track hanger. Each pulley is spun to feel for a rough bearing and looked at for a wheel worn to a sharp groove or wobbling on its bolt. The cables are followed for fraying, rust at the bottom loop and a wrap that has slipped off a pulley. Worn pulleys and cables are renewed with the springs, since a seized pulley is often what shortened the old spring's life.
- 2
Threading the containment cables
Before a spring is hung, a containment cable is fed through the centre of its coil. One end is anchored at the rear, to the hanger or the framing behind it, and the other is run forward past the pulley and fixed to the bracket at the front of the track or to the wall, with enough slack that the cable never carries load while the spring works. The cable is checked to be clear of the pulley wheel and the lift cable so nothing rubs. Both sides are done the same way, whether or not the old installation had them. A spring that breaks in future is held on the cable rather than crossing the garage.
- 3
A monthly look along the springs
Extension springs are easy to inspect because they hang in plain view. Once a month, with the door fully closed so the springs are stretched, stand inside and look along each one from the back hanger to the pulley. The coils should be evenly spaced along the whole length; a section stretched wider than the rest is a spring losing its temper. Then raise the door and look again: with the door open the coils should close up tight, and both springs should hang at the same height. Rust bloom, a pulley that sits crooked, a cable off its groove or a containment cable hanging loose are all worth a call while they are still small.
In the van
- Extension springs, matched pair
- Track clamps or locking pliers
- Rear spring hangers and angle iron
- Lag screws and hanger bolts
- Bottom brackets and clevis pins
What affects the quote
- 1
Containment cables to add
A door that never had containment cables gets them with the new springs, along with anchor hardware into the framing. It is a small parts line and a worthwhile one.
- 2
Getting the van to the garage
A detached garage down a shared laneway, a rural property or a building with the bay behind a gate takes more time to reach and set up in, and the quote allows for that.
- 3
Hangers and anchor points
A rear hanger that has loosened, a front bracket bent by a jumped cable, or framing that needs a new anchor point adds fasteners, angle iron and a little time.
Same fees day, night or weekend.
Extension Spring Replacement: questions
I added insulation and windows to the door. Does that affect the springs?
Yes, and it is one of the more common reasons a pair of springs is suddenly found wanting. Insulation panels, glazed sections, a wood overlay or a new steel skin all add weight the original springs were never chosen for, so the door grows heavy and the opener strains. When the springs are replaced, the door is weighed as it is now, and the new pair is rated for the door you actually have.
Could I switch to torsion springs instead of replacing the extension ones?
Sometimes, and it is worth asking. A torsion system needs room above the door opening for its shaft and a header that can carry the spring bracket, which many older garages with a low ceiling simply lack; extension springs are there for that reason. Where the headroom exists, a conversion is a separate job with its own hardware and quote. The technician can tell you on the spot which route suits your garage.
What happens during the visit?
The technician releases the opener, opens the door fully and clamps it so the springs go slack, then inspects springs, pulleys, cables, hangers and containment cables and weighs the door. The old springs come off, a matched pair goes on with containment cables through them, the lift cables are routed over the pulleys and the two sides are set to matching hook positions. The door is balanced by hand, the opener reconnected and its reversing tested with you watching.
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Extension Spring Replacement near you
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
Kawartha Lakes information
- Town
- Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
- In business
- 21 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (249) 490-5342
- Visits
- On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.
What the census means at the door
56%
Older homes. About 56% of homes in Kawartha Lakes were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.
Decades of freeze and thaw work on the concrete apron in front of an older garage, and an uneven floor means the bottom seal meets a gap on one side. A thicker seal or an adjusted threshold closes it and keeps snow and cold air out.
84%
Mostly houses. Single-detached houses make up about 84% of homes in Kawartha Lakes (2021 Census).
Detached houses commonly have attached two-car garages with a wide double door, which is a heavy door on a pair of torsion springs. Spring and cable work on these doors is done as a matched set so the door lifts level and the opener carries only its intended load.
Nearby
Open 24/7
Request a visit
The home inspector's report on the house you are buying flags the garage door: extension springs with no safety cable running through them, coils showing rust, and a door that sank when he lifted it…
Call now · open 24/7(249) 490-5342- On-site assessment preferred
- Same fees day, night or weekend
- 21 years in business