Quick answer
If your door will not lift and you heard a bang, a torsion spring has almost certainly snapped. Do not try to lift the door or use the opener. The springs carry the door's full weight, and a broken one can cause the door to drop. A technician replaces the pair, rebalances the door and resets the opener, usually in a single visit. Book garage door spring repair in Fort Lauderdale.
It usually happens in the morning. You press the button, the opener hums, and the door barely moves, or you heard a sharp bang from the garage the night before. In Fort Lauderdale, a broken spring is the single most common reason we are called out.
This guide covers how to tell a spring has broken, what not to do, how to get a vehicle out safely, and how to choose the right replacement for Fort Lauderdale conditions.
On this page
How to tell a spring is broken
- A gap of a few inches in the torsion spring above the door, where the coil has separated.
- A loud bang from the garage, often when nobody was using the door.
- The opener runs, but the door lifts only a few inches or not at all.
- The door feels extremely heavy when you try to lift it by hand.
- On extension-spring doors, a stretched or hanging spring along one side track.
- Cables hanging loose from the drums at the top corners.
What not to do
Do not keep pressing the opener. It is not designed to lift the full weight of the door, and repeated attempts can strip gears or bend the top section. Do not try to lift the door by hand if it is very heavy, and never put a hand near the spring, the cables or the bottom brackets.
Most importantly, do not attempt to replace or adjust a torsion spring yourself. Winding bars, set screws and stored energy are a dangerous combination, and spring injuries are serious. This is one job where professional replacement is a matter of safety, not just convenience.
Getting your car out
If the door is closed and you must leave, call us first. In many cases our dispatcher can tell you whether it is safe to lift the door with two adults using the emergency release. If it is not safe, our emergency service in Fort Lauderdale can be there the same day, and often within hours.
Why we replace springs in pairs
Most double doors in Fort Lauderdale have two torsion springs installed on the same day. They have made the same number of cycles, so when one breaks, the other is close behind. Replacing only one usually means a second call-out within months and a door that pulls unevenly in the meantime.
We weigh the door and size the springs to that weight, rather than copying the old part number. Doors are often heavier than original after added insulation, reinforcement struts or a replacement section.
Permits and HOA rules in Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale is in Broward County, which falls inside Florida's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ). Replacement garage doors here need product approval accepted for HVHZ use and a design pressure rating matched to the house. A permit and inspection are normally required, and we take care of both as part of the job.
Most of Fort Lauderdale is not governed by a single HOA, although individual subdivisions, condos and historic districts can have their own rules. If yours does, we provide the specification sheet, product approval and colour details for the application.
Choosing the right spring for Fort Lauderdale
Canals and the Intracoastal Waterway run behind thousands of Fort Lauderdale homes. The salt in that air ends up on springs, cables and track fasteners, and it corrodes them years ahead of a dry inland garage.
For busy households we recommend high-cycle springs rated for around 20,000 to 30,000 cycles. They last two to three times as long as standard springs. For coastal addresses, galvanised or oil-tempered springs with a protective coating resist corrosion much better than bare wire.
What a proper replacement includes
- Matched pair of springs sized to the door weight
- Inspection and, where worn, replacement of cables, drums and bearings
- Rollers, hinges and bottom brackets checked for wear
- Door balance tested so it holds in place halfway up
- Opener force, travel limits and safety reversal reset
- Lubrication of springs, bearings and hinges
If the opener was strained during the failure, we check it too. See opener repair in Fort Lauderdale.
Where we work in Fort Lauderdale
We work across Victoria Park, Las Olas, Coral Ridge, Rio Vista, Harbordale and Wilton Manors border, along Las Olas Boulevard, Sunrise Boulevard, US-1 and I-95, and throughout ZIP codes 33301, 33304, 33305 and 33308. Fort Lauderdale's housing is 1950s–1970s canal-front ranch homes alongside newer two-storey rebuilds and condo garages. With hundreds of miles of canals, many Fort Lauderdale garages sit within a few hundred feet of salt water.
We keep the most common spring sizes on our vans, which is why most Fort Lauderdale spring calls are finished in a single visit.
Where Summit can help
Our technicians handle this every week across South and Southwest Florida. Local pages with scheduling and county details:
- garage door repair Coconut Creek
- garage door repair Tamarac
- garage door repair Kendall
- garage door repair Miami
- garage door repair Hollywood FL
- garage door repair Boca Raton