Free garage door health checkIs your garage door about to fail?
Ten quick questions and your ZIP. You get a score out of 100, how worn your springs are, and a straight answer on whether to call someone.
Question 1 of 11
How old is your garage door?
What your score means
Good shape
Keep it lubricated and get a tune-up every year or two.
Keep an eye on it
A few things are wearing. Nothing urgent, but a tune-up now is cheaper than a repair later.
Schedule service
At least one part needs a technician. Book an inspection before it turns into an emergency.
Call today
One of your answers points to a part that can fail without warning. Stop using the door and call us.
The score is a screening tool built from what we replace on service calls around Houston, not an inspection. It works out spring wear from the door's age, when the springs were last replaced, and how often the door runs, against the standard 10,000-cycle spring rating. Each part then gets its own status, and the worst one sets your verdict. Five answers mean stop using the door no matter what else you tell us: a gap in a spring, a frayed cable, a loud bang from the garage, a door that is crooked or off its track, and an opener that hums without moving the door.
Signs your garage door is about to fail
The door tells you before it breaks. Almost every spring we replace was making noise or moving unevenly for weeks first. Here is what to listen and look for, in the order we usually see it.
1.A new noise
Rattling is loose hardware. Grinding is dry or worn rollers. A single loud bang from the garage with nobody in it is a spring breaking.
2.Uneven or jerky travel
The door is binding on one side. Usually a roller, sometimes a bent track, sometimes one spring weaker than the other.
3.The opener strains
If the motor sounds like it works harder than it used to, the springs have lost tension and the opener is lifting weight it was never sized for. Motors and drive gears die this way.
4.The door reverses for no reason
Check the sensors first. But a door that is too heavy for the opener will also trip the force limit and back up.
5.Gaps, sag, or daylight
A door that no longer sits flat on the floor is out of balance or has a failing panel.
6.Rust
Houston humidity pits spring steel. A rusted spring does not last as long as a clean one, whatever the cycle rating says.
Two or more of these on the same door? Take the check above and see how they stack up, or read our longer piece on warning signs your garage door needs repair.
How long do garage door springs last?
A standard torsion spring is rated for about 10,000 cycles, one cycle being one open and one close. At three or four cycles a day that is roughly seven to nine years. A busy household that uses the garage as the front door can burn through the same spring in four. High-cycle springs rated for 25,000 or more cycles cost more up front and last two to three times longer, which is what we recommend for two-car doors that get used all day.
Springs do not wear out gracefully. They work at full strength until the day they snap, so age and cycle count are the only warning you get. That is why the health check weighs them so heavily. If the springs are original on a door over ten years old, you are past the rating whether the door feels fine or not. Spring replacement is a one-visit job, and our spring cost guide covers what it runs.
How long do garage door openers last?
Ten to fifteen years is typical. The parts that fail first are the drive gear, which strips when the door is out of balance, and the capacitor or logic board, which go with age and Houston heat.
An opener made before 1993 has no photo-eye safety sensors and should be replaced no matter how it runs. Anything over fifteen years is on borrowed time, and once a repair estimate reaches half the cost of a new unit, replacement is the better spend. A new opener also gets you battery backup, which matters here during hurricane season when the power is out and the door will not lift. Opener repair and installation is one visit, and the opener cost guide has numbers.
What to do with a low score
Stop using the door if the result told you to. A door with a broken spring or a frayed cable can weigh 150 to 300 pounds with nothing holding it up, and it will not wait for a convenient moment to drop. Call us at (713) 324-8950 and we will tell you over the phone whether it is safe to move.
For a middling score, book a tune-up. We check spring tension, balance, cable wear, roller condition, sensor alignment, and opener force settings, and we tell you what is fine and what is not. Most of the time the answer is a couple of small parts, not a new door.
Questions we get on the phone
Three likely causes. A torsion spring has broken and the motor cannot lift the door. The drive gear inside the opener has stripped, which happens when the motor keeps lifting a door that is too heavy for it. Or the start capacitor has failed, which is common in Houston heat and not dangerous. Look at the spring above the door first. If you see a gap in the coil, that is the break. Do not pull the red release cord and try to lift the door by hand. Call us.