Thoughts-garage door repair every two years...

[Nemom]

The spring broke in our garage door over the weekend.  We have been in this house for 16 sixteen years.  In the last 10 years, we have replaced the spring every 2.5 years (roughly).  This is the fourth time it has been replaced.  I think this is ridiculous.  My husband thinks I'm crazy.  I have never seen any of my neighbors replace their garage door springs in the last 16 years, and I'm home all day long so I would likely notice the van in front of their houses.

Thoughts...am I being ridiculous or is shelling out $250 every two years to repair this ridiculous?  How often do you need to replace your garage door spring?

(We have owned two other homes for a total of 12 years combined and never replaced the spring in either of those doors)

[Tenaj]

We've lived in our house 21 years and had to replace the spring on ours once.  I think I'd assume that something was out of alignment on the door and is putting more than normal pressure on the spring if it was going out that often.  

Have you had it repaired by the same company each time?  If so, I think I'd be suspicious of poor quality work or shoddy materials.

[Bambam]

We've been in this house for 7 years now and it was 5-6 years old (I think) when we moved in. Never had a problem with the springs in either of two garage doors.

We were in the last house 5 years (brand new). No problems with two garage doors.

We were in the previous house 8 years (brand new). No problems with three garage doors.

I think something else is wrong here. Those springs should last longer than that!

 

Update - I should not have posted. JUST this evening, the spring broke on our garage door! I guess we will see how long the new one lasts!

Edited September 21, 2018 by Bambam

[gardenmom5]

I think there is a problem with how your door/spring was installed, and that's why it's breaking. it shouldn't be happening.

I've been ticked because I had to replace the garage door opener for my door after 17 years.  (I don't think the chain/track was installed correctly, and it's been problematic for over a year before it finally stopped working)

(dh's works just fine . . . . . )

Edited September 17, 2018 by gardenmom5

[cjzimmer1]

We built our house in 1998 and the spring broke in 2016 so I guess that's 18 years.  I would agree with others that I think something is misaligned for it to break that often.

[mommyoffive]

We have lived here for 12 years and never had to repair our garage door.    I didn't even know there was a spring in it.  

[happi duck]

You're not crazy.  I don't think garage doors normally require the equivalent of $100 yearly upkeep.

[Annie G]

It sounds like something is causing the spring to die a premature death. Maybe this time your repair guy can identify the issue and solve it instead of just replacing the spring. But you might have to be very clear that you want it investigated instead of just replacing the broken part. (says the woman who had about six different trades in last month and had to advocate for myself every time even though they are the ones with the knowledge)

But no, that’s not normal. 

[HomeAgain]

Our house was 12 years old before we replaced the spring, so no, not normal.  Thankfully, too, the guy who repaired it showed us some other possible issues and how to fix/prevent/what to watch for.  Thanks to him, we knew our motor was wearing down, too, and was able to look for a different motor before it died.

[lynn]

Once in 18 years.  Dh replaced it for $50. Are you sure they are using the proper size spring?  If call the owner of the company and question why it keeps breaking in under 3 years.  Make a big stink with the owner maybe they'll replace for free.  Good luck.

Edited September 17, 2018 by lynn

[EKS]

The only house I have lived in where I was cognizant of the state of the garage door springs we lived in for seven years and had to replace the springs once.  The house at that point was 14 years old, and I suspect it was the first time they were replaced.

 

[cintinative]

Agreeing with the others. We have only replaced ours once and we have lived here 10 years.

[TechWife]

We’ve been in our house 17 years and have only done one repair - a minor adjustment to the motor. We’ve never had any other issues - springn or otherwise.

[zimom]

We just had to repair our garage door after ten years.   I MAY have run into it  ??.

[Nemom]

2 hours ago, JanOH said:

We've lived in our house 21 years and had to replace the spring on ours once.  I think I'd assume that something was out of alignment on the door and is putting more than normal pressure on the spring if it was going out that often.  

Have you had it repaired by the same company each time?  If so, I think I'd be suspicious of poor quality work or shoddy materials.

Yes.  I think we need to try a different company.  My husband is stubborn though and won't change.  Plus the company claims replacing it every 2-3 years is normal and he believes them over me because "it's their job". ?  So...we are left to argue you about it every couple of years.  

I'm going to share your responses with him, and I may call around myself and ask a few questions.  Happy to know I'm not crazy (at least about this...).  ?

 

[MysteryJen]

Is your garage floor settling? In our old house, we did have to replace the springs twice in 12 years because the floor had (very subtlely) dropped.

[prairiewindmomma]

Most torsion springs have a 10,000 cycle life span—7-10years depending on how often you open your door. A high cycle spring will be double that.

There is something seriously wrong with you being told two years is normal. Point your dh to some research.

[Tree Frog]

Our house is 6 years old. This summer we had to replace the spring. When the repairman come out, he said the spring the builders put on our door was too small, so he put a bigger spring on and did some other stuff that corresponded with changing the spring size. The repairman told me the new one should last about 10 years. I think I'd be calling several different companies, even if it was just to ask how long a spring should last.

[TravelingChris]

We have lived in a number of houses and have never replaced the spring.  We have been in this house the longest, and that is seven years.  Now we do not use the garage doors everyday since we use the garage not for cars but for a wood working workshop (one of the two stalls) and general storage of everything else from camping stuff, to bikes, to lawnmowers and trimmers, etc, to my deep freezer.  But we do use it at least several times a week and no problems with springs at all.

[Tap]

First house 7 years, no problems.

This house, 16 years. We had ours repaired one time after about 14 to 15 years. of what I would consider heavy use.  We only have one garage door (double car size) and use the garage door as our front door (main front door is always double-bolted).  It goes up and down at least 10 times per day and I wouldn't be surprised if it is often 20-30 times per day.