Buffalo Grove, IL · Same-day service
Extension Springs on Townhome and Older Doors
Look above the opening and you will not find them. Extension springs do not sit on a shaft over the door. They run horizontally along the top of the track on each side, stretched between a pulley at the front and an anchor at the back, and they get longer as the door comes down.
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You still see plenty of them across Buffalo Grove — on single-car townhome doors facing shared courts, and on the lighter seven-foot doors that came with the earlier subdivisions. They work perfectly well. They simply fail in a more dangerous way than torsion springs do, which is why one small component matters more than anything else on this page.
The Containment Cable Is Not Optional
A stretched extension spring stores its energy along its own length. When it lets go it does not stay put — it whips down the track and across the garage, and it is heavy enough to go through drywall. The fix has existed for decades: a steel safety cable threaded through the middle of the spring and anchored at both ends, so a broken spring stays captive.
On doors that have been re-sprung once or twice over the years, that cable is frequently missing altogether. It is the first thing checked on arrival and it gets fitted whether or not the spring itself is the reason for the call. It costs very little and it is the difference between a loud bang and a serious injury.
One Side Weakens and the Door Starts to Twist
Extension springs work independently. Nothing ties the two sides together the way a torsion shaft does, so when one loses tension the door begins lifting faster on the strong side. It shows up as a gap opening along the top edge at one end, or a top roller grinding in one track and not the other.
That twist puts load into hinges and end brackets never designed to take it. Springs go on as a matched pair at the same rating, and the lift cables and pulleys are replaced with them. The pulleys are usually the most worn part of the whole assembly and the part nobody thinks to look at.
Converting to Torsion, and When It Earns Its Keep
Any door on extension springs can be converted to a torsion shaft above the opening, provided the room is there. It needs roughly ten to twelve inches of clear space between the top of the door and the ceiling, plus a solid header to bolt the anchor bracket to.
Whether it is worth doing depends on the door. A light single-car door that has run without complaint for years is fine on a like-for-like replacement. A wider or heavier door, or one due for replacement soon anyway, is better on torsion: quieter, easier to balance, and less overhead hardware to go wrong. It is a recommendation, not a condition of doing the work, and you get the reasoning either way.
Other work we do in Buffalo Grove
- Torsion Springs
- Roller Repair
- Panel Replacement
- Smart Openers
- Commercial
- Custom Doors
- Maintenance
- Safety Inspection
- Lubrication
- Spring Replacement
- Opener Repair
- Installation
- Emergency Service
- Cable Repair
- Track Repair
Extension Springs in nearby towns
More on extension spring replacement, or everything we cover in Buffalo Grove.
Questions
Buffalo Grove questions about this job
How do I tell which type of spring I have?
Stand inside with the door closed and look up. A spring or pair of springs on a long metal shaft directly above the opening means torsion. Long thin springs running back along the ceiling above each side track, roughly parallel to the car, means extension.
There is no safety cable running through mine. Is that worth a call on its own?
Yes. Fitting containment cables is a short job and it is the most worthwhile safety improvement available on this type of door. It does not change how the door runs; it just means a spring that breaks stays on the cable instead of travelling across the garage.
Do extension springs last as long as torsion springs?
Generally a little less. They are working under a stretching load rather than a twisting one and they see more corrosion because they sit exposed near the track. Cycle life still depends mostly on how often the door runs, but on an equal-use door expect the extension set to tire first.
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