2026-03-21 7 min read
If you've lived in Webster for any length of time, you know what winter looks like around here. We sit just northeast of Rochester, right in the path of Lake Ontario's lake-effect snow machine. Areas east of Rochester — including Webster — can see well over 100 inches of snow in a heavy season, with temperatures that yo-yo from the teens up to the mid-40s and back again within a matter of days. That constant freeze-thaw cycle doesn't just bother your driveway and roof. It quietly destroys garage door springs.
Springs are the most mechanically stressed component of your entire garage door system. They counterbalance a door that typically weighs between 150 and 400 pounds, making it feel light enough to lift with one hand. When they start to fail — and eventually, all springs do — the warning signs show up well before a complete breakdown. Catching them early saves you money and keeps your family safe.
Here's what to watch for.
This is often the first thing homeowners notice. If you disconnect your opener and try lifting the door manually, it should rise smoothly and stay put at any height. If it feels like you're dragging dead weight, or it won't stay open on its own, the springs are losing tension. A healthy spring system does the heavy lifting — when it's failing, you feel every pound of that door.
Many Webster homeowners describe this as sounding like a gunshot or a car backfiring in the garage. If you heard a sudden, sharp noise and your door stopped working shortly after, a spring almost certainly snapped. Torsion springs store enormous mechanical energy, and when they break, they release it all at once. Don't try to operate the door. Call a professional.
Take a look at the torsion spring running horizontally above your door opening. If you see a gap of roughly two inches or more in the coil, the spring has broken and is no longer functional. Extension springs — the kind that run along the sides of the door track in older Webster homes — may not show a gap, but could appear visibly overstretched or hanging loosely away from the hardware.
If your garage door tilts to one side while opening or closing, one spring has likely failed while the other is still working. Most residential doors use two springs, and when one goes, the remaining spring carries the entire load — which means it's not long before the second one gives out too. An uneven door also puts extra stress on your opener motor, cables, and tracks, leading to a much bigger repair bill down the road.
This one is especially relevant in Webster. The salt air that drifts in off Lake Ontario during winter storms, combined with the moisture from freeze-thaw cycles, accelerates rust on metal components. Rust weakens spring coils and makes them brittle and far more prone to snapping without warning. If your springs have visible rust or discoloration, schedule an inspection before winter hits — not after. For a broader look at getting your system ready before the cold sets in, our guide on preparing your garage door for winter covers the full seasonal checklist.
Garage door openers are not designed to lift a door on their own. They're meant to work in partnership with a properly tensioned spring system. If your opener hums, strains, reverses unexpectedly, or stops before the door is fully open, it may be compensating for springs that are too weak to do their share of the work. Continued use in this condition can burn out the opener motor entirely — turning a spring replacement into a spring-plus-opener replacement.
A door that slams shut or descends faster than it should is a serious safety hazard. It means the springs are no longer providing enough resistance to control the door's descent. This is particularly dangerous for children and pets, and it will eventually damage the door panels and bottom seal from repeated impact. If your door is falling rather than lowering, stop using it immediately and contact us to schedule a repair.
Most homes built in Webster's 1960s–1980s subdivisions along Route 104 and south of the village were originally fitted with extension springs — the kind that run along the horizontal tracks on either side of the door. Newer construction and many updated older homes have been upgraded to torsion springs, which mount above the door opening on a metal shaft. Torsion springs are generally more durable and provide smoother, more balanced operation. If your home still has extension springs, it may be worth asking about upgrading when the time comes for replacement.
Webster's climate is genuinely hard on mechanical hardware. Winters are freezing, snowy, and windy — and that's before the lake-effect bands park themselves over Monroe County for days at a stretch. Cold temperatures cause metal to contract, which increases tension on already-stressed coils. Then temperatures climb back above freezing and everything expands again. That constant cycle, repeated dozens of times each winter, accelerates the wear on springs that might last a decade in a more stable climate.
Spring lifespan is measured in cycles — one cycle equals one full open and close. Most standard springs are rated for around 10,000 cycles, which translates to roughly seven to nine years for an average household. But if your family uses the garage as the primary entry point (as most Webster households do, especially during winter), you may be running four to six cycles a day. Do the math and those springs could be due for replacement sooner than you think.
This bears repeating plainly: garage door spring replacement is not a DIY job. Springs operate under hundreds of pounds of stored tension. Improper handling can result in serious injury. This is one of those repairs where calling a professional isn't just convenient — it's genuinely the safe call. You can browse our services to understand what a professional spring replacement involves, or check our FAQ page for answers to common questions about cost, timing, and what to expect.
If your door is showing any of the signs above, don't wait for a full failure. A broken spring at 7 AM on a February morning in Webster — with a foot of snow outside and nowhere to park — is not the situation you want to be in.
Q: Can I still use my garage door if I think a spring is broken? A: No. Operating a door with a broken or failing spring puts dangerous stress on your opener motor, cables, and tracks, and creates a real safety hazard. Disconnect the opener and leave the door closed until a technician can inspect it.
Q: Should I replace both springs at the same time, even if only one is broken? A: Yes, and here's why it makes sense: if one spring has broken, the other is likely at a similar point in its wear cycle. Replacing both at once means they'll wear evenly going forward, and you avoid paying for a second service call in a few months.
Q: How do I know if my home has torsion or extension springs? A: Look above the door opening. If you see a single metal bar running horizontally with a spring (or two springs) wound around it, those are torsion springs. If you see springs running along the horizontal tracks on either side of the door, those are extension springs. Either way, a quick call to Webster Garage Doors can confirm what you have and what replacement looks like.