Why has your garage door stopped working? What a technician will check
A garage door that won't open is one of those faults that can be anything from a flat remote battery to a genuinely dangerous mechanical failure, and it isn't always obvious which one you're dealing with from the symptoms alone. Some causes are quick and completely safe to check yourself. One in particular is neither of those things, and it's worth knowing the difference before you start troubleshooting.
Start with the easy, safe checks
Before assuming the worst, it's worth ruling out the simple causes. Check the remote's battery, and confirm the wall control unit still has power. Look at the opener itself — many units blink an error code through their status light when something specific has tripped a fault, which is worth noting down before calling anyone. Check whether the manual release cord has been accidentally pulled, which disconnects the door from the motor entirely. And check the small sensor units mounted low on either side of the door track — misalignment here, or something blocking the beam between them, is one of the more common reasons a door refuses to close or reverses unexpectedly, and it's covered in more detail in our garage door safety article.
When it's the spring, and why that's different
A door that suddenly feels much heavier than usual, drops partway rather than closing smoothly, or is accompanied by a loud bang from inside the garage is a classic sign of a broken spring. Torsion springs commonly last around 15,000 to 20,000 open-and-close cycles, compared with roughly 10,000 cycles for extension springs, which in year terms commonly works out to somewhere around 14 to 20 years for a higher-cycle torsion spring in typical household use, and around 7 to 12 years for a standard spring, though a household that cycles the door many times a day will reach that count sooner than one that opens it once or twice. This is precisely the fault technicians mean when they say never attempt it yourself. Torsion and extension springs are wound under enough tension to cause serious injury if they release suddenly while someone without the right bars and clamps is working on them, whether the spring has already broken or is simply being adjusted. There is no safe shortcut version of this repair for a homeowner — it goes to a trained technician every time.
What a technician actually checks
Once you've called someone, a technician will typically work through the opener's force and travel settings, check the cables for fraying, inspect the rollers, hinges and tracks for wear or misalignment, and test the door's balance — often by disconnecting the opener and seeing whether the door holds its position partway rather than dropping or shooting upward, which is one of the more reliable signs of whether the springs are still doing their job properly.
What spring replacement commonly costs
Since a failed spring is one of the more common reasons a technician gets called out, it's worth knowing roughly what that job costs. Replacing a single spring on a single-car door commonly costs around $350, and replacing both springs on a double-car door commonly costs around $440, while a standard sectional door spring replacement commonly runs somewhere between $400 and $600. Rebalancing and lubricating the door once the new springs are fitted commonly adds a further $100 or so. Cyclone-rated hardware, required in far-north Queensland and the Northern Territory and covered in more detail in our wind ratings article, commonly adds a further 10 to 20 percent to the job, and made-to-order parts in Western Australia or South Australia can commonly add roughly $250 to $400 more again where a non-standard size or specification is needed. More broadly across the industry, spring replacement for a straightforward standard job commonly falls somewhere between $150 and $350, averaging around $250.
None of the figures above is a quote for your specific door, and the safe checks listed here are not a substitute for a proper inspection. If your door is showing any of the warning signs above, the sensible next step is a licensed technician rather than a guess — our directory lists Australian garage door specialists by area if you need one.
Frequently asked questions
No. Torsion and extension springs are wound under very high tension to counterbalance the weight of the door, and that tension can cause serious injury if the spring releases suddenly while someone without proper bars and clamps is working on it. This is a job for a trained technician every time.
Torsion springs commonly last around 15,000 to 20,000 open-and-close cycles, roughly 14 to 20 years in typical household use, while extension springs commonly last around 10,000 cycles, roughly 7 to 12 years, depending on how often the door is used.
General industry ranges commonly sit between $150 and $350, averaging around $250. More specifically, a single-car door's one spring commonly costs around $350, a double-car door's two springs commonly around $440, and a standard sectional door commonly $400 to $600, plus roughly $100 for rebalancing afterwards.
A door that suddenly feels much heavier than normal, drops partway instead of closing smoothly, or is accompanied by a loud bang from the garage are all classic signs of a spring failure, and warrant calling a technician rather than attempting to open or close the door repeatedly.