What a garage door spring replacement costs in Houston

Torsion or extension: which do you have?

Look above the door. If there is a thick spring wound around a steel shaft just above the opening, you have a torsion system. If the springs run along the horizontal tracks on each side of the door, with pulleys and cables, you have extension springs.

Torsion systems are more common on newer and heavier doors because they balance the door more evenly. Extension springs are common on older and lighter doors. The torsion and extension pages explain each job in detail.

The published price ranges

This Old House's 2026 guide puts spring replacement between $120 and $350 for most doors. Within that, extension springs run $120 to $200 and torsion springs $140 to $350. Double doors that use two torsion springs or four extension springs sit higher, at $300 to $600.

Those numbers are national averages for planning, not a quote. The same guide is clear that the spring type and the door decide the price, and so does the condition of everything connected to the spring.

Why springs are replaced in pairs

On a two-spring door, both springs have opened and closed the door the same number of times. When one breaks, the other is close behind. Replacing only the broken one usually means paying for a second visit within months, and running a door with one new and one tired spring can leave it unbalanced.

That is why most technicians, us included, quote both springs on a two-spring door. It costs more on the day and less over the next year.

What pushes a quote up or down

The door's weight is the first factor. Insulated, wood and oversized doors need heavier springs. The second is what else wore out with the spring: cables that frayed when it snapped, drums with grooves, a center bearing that has seized. This Old House notes cable work adds $86 to $192 in labor on its own.

High-cycle springs cost more than standard ones but last more cycles, which suits a door that is the main way in and out of the house. After-hours calls can be priced differently from daytime ones, which is worth asking about when you call.

Why Houston doors go through springs

Springs fail by cycles, so the biggest factor is how often the door is used. Houston adds rust: relative humidity above 90 percent most mornings means bare spring steel spends a lot of time damp, and rust pits the wire where cracks start. Oiling the coils during a yearly tune-up slows that down.

Springs also break more noticeably after outages, when people lift doors by hand or run the opener against a spring that was already weak.

What to do when a spring breaks

Leave the door where it is, unplug the opener and do not keep pressing the button, because the opener will strip its gear trying to lift dead weight. Keep people and cars clear of the door.

Do not try to replace the spring yourself. Torsion springs are wound under enough tension to cause serious injury. Call, describe the bang and where the gap in the spring is, and we can usually tell what you need before we arrive. If a car is trapped, the emergency repair page covers what happens next.

Keep reading