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San Diego · Broken-spring specialists · Same-day

Broken Garage Door Spring Repair in San Diego

A snapped garage door spring is the most common repair we run in San Diego, and the most dangerous one to touch. We replace broken torsion and extension springs same-day, matched to the right size and grade for your door, and we warranty the work. Call our San Diego line at (833) 537-1818 or request a visit and we'll get your door moving again.

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If your door just broke

If a spring has snapped, leave the door closed and stop using the opener until a technician has checked it.
If the door is stuck open, do not pull the red release cord. Without a working spring the door can drop.
Never try to adjust or replace a spring yourself. Springs hold the weight of the door under high tension.

Why Garage Door Springs Break, And Why San Diego Is Hard On Them

Here's the part most people don't realize: your springs are what actually lift the door. The opener just guides it along. The springs do the heavy work, counterbalancing a door that can weigh anywhere from 150 to 400 pounds. Most springs are built for about 10,000 open-and-close cycles, which for a normal household is somewhere between 7 and 10 years. The more times a day your door goes up and down, the faster you get there.

In San Diego there's an extra factor most people never think about: the ocean air. If you live anywhere near the coast, from La Jolla and Pacific Beach to Coronado, Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside, the salt in that marine layer settles on everything metal in your garage. Over time it corrodes spring steel, cables, and hardware from the outside in, and a corroded spring fails sooner than its cycle rating would suggest. Even a few miles inland, the morning fog carries enough moisture to start the same rust. It's one of the reasons we see springs and cables give up a little sooner here than you'd expect.

When a spring lets go you usually hear it: a loud bang, like a firecracker in the garage. After that the door feels impossibly heavy, won't open at all, or opens a few inches and stops. That's your cue to stop and call. We run broken-spring calls across San Diego County every single day. It's the number-one repair we do.

The Springs We Work On, and Install

Not every door uses the same setup. Here's what we see across San Diego homes.

Torsion springs are the modern standard. They mount on a bar across the front of the door, above the opening, and work with a cable and drum on each side to raise and lower it. They're balanced, they're safer, and they simply last longer and run smoother than the older style. This is what most doors use today, and it's what I recommend.

Extension springs are the older design you still find on a lot of San Diego homes: a long spring on each side of the door, running right next to the track the rollers ride on. That's how doors were set up back in the day. We still service them, but a lot of the time I'll suggest a change.

Converting extension to torsion is something we do often. We swap the old side-mounted extension springs over to a torsion kit. It's a straightforward conversion, and the door just works better afterward: smoother, more balanced, and safer.

Specialty systems show up too. There's the Wayne Dalton TorqueMaster, where the spring is sealed inside a steel tube; EZ-Set torsion with a built-in winder; and the older one-piece or tilt-up doors you still see in San Diego. Those one-piece doors were often used on low-headroom garages, where there isn't much room above the door, because they give you more clearance. Low headroom also gets side-mount torsion setups. Whatever you've got, we've worked on it.

Custom and heavy doors are no problem. We can make a custom spring for any door at any weight. For very heavy or oversized doors we spec and order exactly what the door needs so it's balanced and safe.

Getting the Spring Size Right

A spring is not one-size-fits-all, and the wrong one does more harm than good.

The right spring is matched to your door's weight, and it's defined by its wire size, its inside diameter, and its length. In the trade we read wire size by a color code, a painted mark that tells us the gauge at a glance. These are the common residential sizes we carry on the truck:

.207Yellow

.218White

.225Red

.243Green

.250Gold

.262Blue

.273Orange

CustomHeavy / oversized

Above these sizes we move into custom-made springs for heavy and oversized doors, and we can build to whatever your door needs. Get the size wrong and the door rides unbalanced, the opener strains, and the new spring wears out early. Matching it correctly is half the job, and it's the half a lot of cut-rate outfits skip.

How Long Your New Springs Will Last

We carry a few grades of spring, and I'll tell you which one actually fits how you use your door.

Standard Grade

A solid, everyday spring for a door that gets normal use. Backed by a 1 to 3 year warranty.

Mid Grade

A step up in cycle life for busier households. Backed by a 5 to 7 year warranty.

Premium / High-Cycle

Our longest-lasting spring, built for heavy daily use. Backed by a 10-year warranty.

Custom & Heavy-Door

Spec'd to your exact door and weight, and it typically carries a 10-year warranty as well.

That 10-year figure lines up with the roughly 10,000-cycle rating, which is just normal wear and tear for a spring. I'll be straight with you about which grade makes sense. No pushing a top-shelf spring on a door you open twice a day, and no putting a bargain spring on a door the whole family runs through all afternoon.

Please Don't Try to Replace a Spring Yourself

I'll say this as plainly as I can: a garage door spring holds an enormous amount of tension, and it does not care that you watched a video. This is the one repair that sends people to the emergency room every year, and it's the reason I never let a customer talk me into letting them "just help."

I got a call once for a broken spring. I showed up, walked into the garage, and there was blood on the floor and on the ceiling, and a screwdriver stuck straight up in the ceiling. Turns out the homeowner had tried to change the spring himself with that screwdriver. The tension launched it right out of his hands and into the ceiling, and he was lucky that's where it went and not into his face or his body. While I was putting in the new spring, he stopped me and asked me to leave the screwdriver up there. He wanted it as a reminder to never touch a spring again. We still laugh about it, but honestly, he had the right idea.

Lubricating, tightening a loose bracket, swapping a remote battery: do all of that yourself, no problem. Springs and cables are where I draw the line, every single time. Let someone who does it every day handle it, and keep your hands and your family clear.

Make Your Springs Last Longer

A spring is a moving part, and like any moving part, the best thing you can do for it, and for your wallet, is basic maintenance. Once a year, get a tune-up. We check and lubricate the springs and every moving component, test the cables, and make sure the door is balanced. Sometimes something as simple as the right lubricant solves a world of problems: the door runs smoother and quieter, and it takes stress off the spring so it lasts longer.

A yearly look also catches the small stuff before it strands your car. Cables are a big one: they start to fray, and fray a little more, until they snap, and a snapped cable is one of the main ways a door comes off track. On a maintenance visit we catch that wear early and replace the cable before it fails. It's the cheapest insurance you can buy on the most-used door in your house.

Need more than a spring? See everything we handle on our San Diego garage door repair page, or call (833) 537-1818.

Spring, Cable & Off-Track Repairs We've Handled

Real garage door spring, drum, cable, and off-track jobs from around the San Diego area.

Broken garage door torsion spring found by All Access Garage Doors in San Diego

New torsion spring and winding cone installed on a San Diego garage door

Off-track garage door repaired by All Access Garage Doors in San Diego

Where we work in San Diego County

We serve homeowners across San Diego County. Not sure if we cover your street? Call (833) 537-1818 and ask.

From the coast to the inland valleys, we cover San Diego and the surrounding San Diego County communities:

San Diego La Jolla Pacific Beach Point Loma Coronado Del Mar Solana Beach Encinitas Carlsbad Oceanside Chula Vista National City Bonita La Mesa El Cajon Santee Lemon Grove Spring Valley Poway Rancho Bernardo Mira Mesa Mission Valley Clairemont Escondido San Marcos Vista

About All Access Garage Doors

All Access Garage Doors is a family-owned garage door company serving San Diego and all of San Diego County. Since 1992, we've helped local homeowners with fast, dependable garage door repair, broken springs, opener issues, off-track and stuck doors, cable and roller replacement, and new door installation, all with upfront pricing and 24/7 service.

We're proud to serve San Diego County, from the coastal communities of La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Coronado, Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside to the inland cities of El Cajon, Santee, Poway, Escondido and San Marcos. When your garage door goes down, you want someone local who can get to you quickly and do it right the first time, that's exactly what we do. Give us a call at (833) 537-1818.

Finished garage door installed by All Access Garage Doors

Our Story

A legacy built on trust since 1992

Every business has a beginning. Ours started in 1992, when a hardworking man with a deep passion for his trade set out to build something meaningful, a company founded on honesty, quality workmanship, and treating people the right way.

Years later, I had the privilege of working alongside him. What started as a job became something much more. He wasn't just my boss or my mentor, over the years, he became like a father to me. He taught me far more than the technical side of the work. He showed me what it means to stand behind what you do, take pride in it, and understand that a company's reputation is built one customer at a time.

In 2009, when he was ready to retire, he entrusted me with the business he had spent so many years building. For me, taking it over was never just about becoming an owner, it was about carrying forward something that meant a great deal to both of us. I didn't want to reinvent what he had created. I wanted to preserve it.

Today, decades after we first opened our doors, we still operate by the same principles that guided us from the start. The ownership has changed, but our commitment to our customers, our workmanship, and our integrity has not.

I'm proud to have been part of this company's journey, first as an employee, and now as its owner, and prouder still to continue the legacy of someone who had such a profound impact on my life.

Established in 1992. Proudly continuing the tradition since 2009.

Broken Spring FAQ

Straight answers about garage door springs from a team that's replaced them across San Diego since 1992.

How long do garage door springs last?

Most springs are rated for about 10,000 open-and-close cycles. For a normal household (four or five uses a day) that's roughly 7 to 10 years. If you're in and out of the garage all day, you'll land on the shorter end of that.

My spring just broke, can I still open the door?

Leave it closed and stop using the opener. The opener isn't built to lift the full weight of the door, and forcing it can burn out the motor or let the door drop. Call (833) 537-1818 and we'll walk you through it and get a tech out.

Why do garage door springs break in San Diego?

Age and cycles are the main thing, since most springs are good for about 10,000 cycles. But near the coast the salt in the ocean air speeds it up: it settles on the springs and cables and corrodes the steel over time, so a spring here can give out sooner than its cycle rating would suggest.

Does San Diego's ocean air really affect my garage door?

Yes, more than most people realize. If you're anywhere near the coast, from La Jolla and Pacific Beach to Coronado, Del Mar, Encinitas and Carlsbad, salt-laden marine air corrodes spring steel, cables, hinges and rollers from the outside in. Even a few miles inland the morning fog carries enough moisture to start the same rust. It's the single biggest reason we suggest a yearly check on coastal doors.

Torsion or extension springs, which is better?

Torsion, in my opinion. Torsion springs mount across the front of the door with a cable and drum, and they're better balanced, safer, and longer-lasting than the older extension springs that run along each side. Most modern doors use torsion, and when I can, I steer people that way.

Can you convert my old extension springs to a torsion setup?

Yes, and we do it often. We swap the old side-mounted extension springs over to a torsion kit. It's a straightforward conversion, and the door just works better afterward: smoother, more balanced, and safer.

How do you know the right spring for my door?

A spring is matched to your door's weight and defined by its wire size, inside diameter, and length. We read wire size by a color code: yellow is .207, white .218, red .225, green .243, gold .250, blue .262, orange .273, and up from there. For heavy or oversized doors we make a custom spring. Getting the size right is half the job; the wrong spring leaves the door unbalanced and wears out early.

Do you warranty your springs?

Yes. We carry a few grades, and the warranty reflects the grade: roughly 1 to 3 years, 5 to 7 years, and up to 10 years on our best springs. Custom and heavy-door springs typically carry a 10-year warranty too. That 10-year mark lines up with the 10,000-cycle rating, which is just normal wear and tear.

One spring broke, do I really need to replace both?

If your door has two springs and one snapped, I almost always recommend replacing the pair. They're the same age and wear at the same rate, so the second one usually isn't far behind. Doing both at once keeps the door balanced and saves you a second service call. If your door only has one spring, I just replace the one, no upsell.

Can I replace a garage door spring myself?

I really wouldn't. A spring holds enormous tension, and it's the one repair that sends people to the ER every year. I once walked into a garage with blood on the ceiling and a screwdriver stuck in it, where a homeowner tried it himself, and he was lucky. Lubricating and tightening, sure. Springs and cables, leave to a pro.

How fast can you replace a broken spring in San Diego?

Usually same-day. We keep technicians across San Diego County and stock the common springs right on the truck, so most spring replacements are wrapped up in about an hour once we're there.

My door is stuck open, should I pull the red cord?

No. With a broken spring or cable the door can drop the moment it's released. Keep people and cars clear of the doorway and call (833) 537-1818 so we can secure it safely.

How much does a broken spring repair cost?

It depends on the spring size, the grade you choose, and your door. A standard single-spring job isn't the same as a pair of high-cycle springs on a heavy door. I'll give you an honest, upfront price before any work starts, so there are no surprises.

Broken spring in San Diego? Let's get it fixed today.

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