Shreveport, LA
Torsion spring snapped or sagging on your Shreveport garage door? We explain why 1980s-90s houses here fail this way and how the repair actually goes.
Our process
A broken torsion spring isn't a DIY job - the spring is wound under enough tension to break a bone if it lets go wrong, so we start by clamping the door down and killing power to the opener before anything else happens.
We measure the door's weight and wire gauge before ordering a replacement, because a spring sized for a 16-foot double won't lift a single door correctly, and the reverse is worse - it'll slam.
On a double door we replace both springs as a pair even if only one broke, since the other one is the same age and close behind it. We check the cables, the end bearings, and the track alignment at the same time, because a spring failure often means a cable's been carrying load it shouldn't and is close to fraying too.
Once the new spring's wound to the right number of turns for the door's weight, we cycle the door a dozen times by hand before we ever hand it back to the opener, checking it holds at the halfway point on its own. A door that won't sit still when balanced correctly has a spring problem even if it looks fine.
That's the test we use, not a guess. One honest limit here: if the torsion tube, drum, or top bracket is bent from the spring letting go suddenly, spring replacement alone won't fix the door - that hardware has to come out too, and we'll tell you before we start, not after.
Local causes
Housing across the Shreveport service area went up mostly between 1981 and 1996, with the median build year landing at 1993, and that stock spans eight named areas of the city - the same era of door and torsion hardware installed at the same time. A torsion spring has a rated cycle life, and doors from that build window are now well past it, whether the house is near Sunset Acres, South Highlands, or Broadmoor.
Shreveport sits in a moderate-to-heavy heat band, and heat is hard on a wound spring in a way cold isn't. The steel expands and contracts through summer heat cycling, the factory grease inside the coil breaks down faster, and rust sets into the wire wherever that lubrication thins out. A spring rated for a certain number of cycles in a mild climate gets there sooner here.
Put those two things together - original-era hardware plus a climate that ages the coil faster - and spring failure on a 1980s or 90s Shreveport house isn't rare or random. It's close to scheduled. We see it most on doors that have never had the spring serviced or re-lubricated since the house was built.
Booking
If the door's stuck, heavy to lift by hand, or one side is sagging lower than the other, call before you force it open with the opener - that's how cables snap and tracks bend.
Tell us the door size, whether it's one panel or two doors, and how it's failing (won't open, slammed shut, won half-open) so we can bring the right spring on the first trip instead of a second one. You can find the rest of what we do, along with how to reach us, on our home page.
For this repair specifically, the fastest path is a call - we'll ask a few questions about the door's age and behavior before we quote anything, because a spring job on a 1993-era door isn't priced the same as one on a newer door with different hardware.
We don't carry every spring size on the truck for every visit; some are stock, some take an extra day to source. We'd rather tell you that up front than promise same-day and miss it.
Symptoms
The clearest sign is a door that suddenly feels twice as heavy to lift by hand, or an opener that strains, groans, and stalls partway up. Sometimes it's louder than that - a bang from the garage, like something snapped, and the door won't budge afterward. That's the spring letting go.
A slower version: the door starts sitting crooked, one side higher than the other, or it slams down the last foot instead of settling. That's usually one spring on a double-spring setup weakening while the other's still holding, which throws the whole door off balance before it fails completely.
Don't keep running the opener against a heavy door once you notice the strain - that's what snaps cables and burns out opener motors on top of the spring problem you already have. And don't try to release the tension yourself with the door still loaded; that's the injury case, not a repair shortcut.
Questions
If the opener motor runs but the door barely moves, or moves and then reverses on its own, that's almost always the spring, not the opener. Try lifting the door by hand with the opener disconnected - if it feels far heavier than it should and won't stay open on its own, the spring's gone.
On a single door with one spring, yes. On a double door with two springs, we replace both even if only one broke - they're the same age, under the same load, and the second one is close behind. Replacing only the broken one just means a second service call soon.
Torsion springs fail from cycle fatigue and heat-driven rust, both of which build slowly and then let go all at once. Houses from Shreveport's 1980s-90s building era are hitting that end-of-life point now, especially if the spring's never been serviced since the house was built.
Yes. A wound torsion spring holds enough stored energy to cause serious injury if it releases while you're working on it. We don't recommend homeowners attempt spring replacement without the right bars and clamps, and we won't walk someone through it over the phone.
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Shreveport Garage Door Pros repairs and installs garage doors, springs and openers in Shreveport, LA and the surrounding area.
