You may be thinking that garage door springs are inconsequential parts, but this is a gross misassumption. The springs are dedicated to facilitating the raising and lowering of the doors. Furthermore, they are tasked with supporting the weight of your garage doors. If the springs are defective, it means they cannot support this pressure any more, and there is a high risk of the doors slamming back down if the springs will snap. Considering that worn springs can be dangerous, it is critical for all homeowners to recognise the signs of potential damage. Below is a short list of warning signs that you should not ignore indicating broken garage door springs.
Your garage doors feel heavier than usual
Opting to raise or lower your garage doors manually should not be an arduous task. Since the torsions springs are supporting the immense weight of the doors, operating them manually should be simple. The moment you start having trouble with manual operation, then you should be concerned about damaged torsion springs. You should also note that if the doors are difficult to raise but slam down shut, it is a clear indication of torsion spring trouble, and you should stop using the garage door until a professional has serviced it.
Your garage door's cables are loose
If you look at your garage doors and the cables appear to be slack or are coming loose, you may be thinking that the trouble lies with the cables themselves. The cables, granted, can become damaged over time. Nonetheless, in typical cases, when the springs are damaged then the cables will become adversely affected too. When your garage door springs are tight, the force the torsion springs create keeps the garage door cables taut too. Hence, the moment the torsion springs have lost their tension, the cables become loose and shift out of place. If you are concerned about torsion spring damage, you can visually inspect the cables and subsequently enlist the services of garage door technicians.
Your garage door springs have gaps
Detecting gaps in the garage door springs will require you to know the anatomy of the torsion springs first. Torsions springs are rigidly wound and can be found at the top of the garage doors. For the torsion springs to work at optimal levels, they need to remain tightly wound or they will not be strong emough to provide the support that the doors need. If you look at the top of the doors and can see visible gaps in between the torsion springs, it is a clear sign of inevitable malfunction since the springs are becoming unwound. You need to enlist immediate garage door repairs to prevent the possibility of harm.