Garage door springs play a crucial role in reducing the wear and tear on your entire system. The balance and lift assistance provided by springs ensures that the lifting mechanism doesn’t wear out and that the tracks for your garage door don’t get abused by the constant up and down of your door.

Here is a test you can run to determine if it’s time for a spring replacement.

Start by moving your door into the open position. When you release the lift mechanism from the door, it should not move or only move slightly. That’s because even without the lift mechanism, the springs should be strong enough to hold the weight of your door in the open position. If your door starts to sink back into the vertical tracks, that means that your springs can no longer fully hold your door in the open position.

Next, pull the door in a halfway open position. First, if moving the door by hand is difficult or seems to be uncontrolled, that’s a sign of a problem. Second, if you do move the door into the halfway open position and it starts to sink, again that means that your springs are no longer strong enough to hold the door themselves.