2026-04-18 7 min read
If you've ever walked out to your garage on a January morning in Rittman and found the door won't budge. motor running, opener straining, door going nowhere. there's a good chance a spring just gave out. It's one of the most common calls we get every winter, and it's not random. The way our weather works here in northeast Ohio is genuinely brutal on garage door hardware, and springs take the worst of it.
Rittman sits in Wayne County and pulls weather from both the lake effect systems off Lake Erie and the broader Ohio Valley patterns. The result is a climate that regularly swings between hard freezes and brief thaws. sometimes in the same week. Temperatures here routinely drop from the low 20s°F to single digits in mid-winter, then climb above freezing for a day or two before dropping again.
That constant expansion and contraction is what destroys springs. Torsion springs. the large horizontal springs mounted above your garage door. are under tremendous tension at all times. Every time metal gets cold, it contracts slightly and becomes more brittle. Every time it warms, it expands. Do that hundreds of times over a Rittman winter and you're essentially stress-cycling the metal over and over. Eventually, the coil develops micro-fractures and snaps.
Rittman also averages around 38 inches of snowfall per year, which adds weight to the door itself and means your opener and springs are working harder than they would in milder climates. A door caked with ice along the bottom seal or frozen to the ground puts sudden, extreme load on the springs when someone tries to force it open. that's often the moment they fail.
Older homes in Rittman. especially the ranch-style builds, Cape Cods, and colonial-era houses you'll find throughout the older parts of town. often have extension springs. These run horizontally along the sides of the door tracks. They're less expensive but also less durable and more dangerous when they break, since a snapped extension spring can fly loose with significant force.
Newer construction, including homes in the Fawn Meadows area and other subdivisions built in the 2000s and 2010s, more commonly have torsion spring systems, which are mounted above the door and are generally safer and longer-lasting. If you're not sure which type you have, look above the door when it's closed: a single large spring running horizontally means torsion. Two springs stretching along the sides of the tracks mean extension.
For homes in the Rittman area. and in nearby Wadsworth and Wooster. we almost always recommend upgrading to torsion springs if a house still has the older extension system. The difference in reliability over an Ohio winter is significant.
Springs don't always snap without warning. Watch for these signals:
- The door feels heavy when you disconnect the opener and try to lift it manually. A properly balanced door should stay put at about waist height with little effort. If it drops, your spring tension is off. - Gaps in the coil: Walk up and look at your torsion spring. If you see a visible gap. a section where the coil has separated. it's already broken or on the verge. - Uneven movement: The door rises or lowers crooked, one side higher than the other. - Loud bang from the garage: A spring failure usually makes a sound like a gunshot. If you heard that and now the door won't work, the spring is gone. - Opener is struggling: The motor runs longer than normal or strains audibly. Springs do the heavy lifting; when they fail, the opener tries to compensate.
If you notice any of these, stop using the door and reach out to schedule a service call. Forcing a door with a failed spring can damage the opener, bend the track, and in rare cases cause the door to come down suddenly.
We'll be direct here: torsion spring replacement is one of the most dangerous DIY jobs in home repair. The springs are wound under hundreds of pounds of torque. If one slips during the winding process, the release of energy can cause serious injury. This is not a liability-disclaimer warning. it's a physical reality that has put homeowners in the emergency room.
Extension springs are a bit more forgiving but still carry real risk. If you're handy and have the proper winding bars (not screwdrivers. winding bars), and you understand the process fully, some homeowners do handle extension spring replacement. But for most Rittman homeowners, the $150,$350 cost of professional spring replacement is simply the smarter call, especially in winter when a mistake means a garage you can't close.
When we replace springs, we also check cable condition, drum wear, and balance. because these components work as a system, and a bad cable can be just as dangerous as a broken spring. You can learn more about how your door's components interact in our overview of common garage door noises and what they mean.
You can't make springs immune to our winters, but you can slow the wear:
1. Lubricate twice a year. once in fall before temperatures drop, once in early spring. Use a lithium-based spray or garage door lubricant on the spring coils, hinges, and rollers. Don't use WD-40; it attracts dirt and dries out. 2. Test door balance annually. disconnect the opener, lift the door to about waist height, and let go. It should stay level and stationary. If it drops or flies up, the spring tension needs adjustment. 3. Keep the bottom seal in good shape. a damaged seal lets cold air, moisture, and ice build up at the base of the door, which adds load on the springs every time the door is forced open frozen. Our complete weatherstripping guide covers what to look for. 4. Don't ignore rust. even a light surface rust on spring coils weakens the metal over time. A light coat of lubricant in fall helps prevent this.
If your springs are more than seven or eight years old and you've had Ohio winters the whole time, it's worth having them inspected before next season. The services we offer include full system inspections, and we can give you an honest assessment of how much life your current springs realistically have left.
How long do garage door springs typically last in Ohio winters? Most springs are rated for 10,000 cycles. one cycle being one open and one close. In a typical household that uses the door four times a day, that's roughly seven years. But in climates like Rittman's, with extreme temperature swings, expect the lower end of that range. Springs on doors that freeze to the ground or get forced open while iced up often fail much sooner.
Can I open my garage door manually if the spring breaks? Technically yes, but it will be very heavy. potentially 100,200 pounds depending on door size. A broken spring means none of the counterbalancing force is working. You can use the emergency release cord to disengage the opener, then carefully lift the door manually, but you should not rely on this repeatedly. Get the spring replaced before using the door normally. Read our guide on emergency manual release procedures for the safe way to do this.
Is it worth replacing both springs even if only one broke? Almost always yes. If one spring failed, the other is likely the same age and has experienced the same stress cycles. Replacing just one means the second will probably fail within months. and you'll pay the service call cost again. Most pros will strongly recommend replacing both at the same time, and the incremental cost of the second spring is usually modest compared to the labor.