Your residential garage door gets a lot of use as you and your family go in and out of it. That means that at some point in its lifetime, you are going to have some kind of problem with it, especially the springs. The springs of your garage door make it possible for you to easily lift and close your garage door. They basically act as force multipliers, because they take the energy that you expend and increase it, lifting the door past the point where you could do it on your own. If you do have problems with your springs, you need to be able to tell the garage door repair company what kind of spring you have so that they can come out with the right kind of spring to do the repair. So, what are the different kinds of springs?

Extension Springs

These springs extend and contract in order to open your garage door. As you open your door, the spring contracts, and once the door reaches the balance point, the spring will take over and pull the door the rest of the way open. When you go to pull the door back down, you are going to extend the springs again, and once the door hits that balance point, gravity will take over and the door will come down. The easiest way to tell if you have extension springs instead of torsion springs is by looking where the springs are located. Extension springs are located on the sides of the garage door tracks, one on each side of the garage door. Extension springs tend to be less expensive than torsion springs do, but they also tend to have a shorter lifespan, so there is a trade-off that you are going to have to consider. 

Torsion Springs

Instead of contracting and expanding, torsion springs use torque to get their power. Torque is a rotating force. As the door opens, the spring coils around and around to do the work to open your door. When you close the door, those coils start to unwind. The torsion spring is going to be installed sideways over the center of your door. These tend to cost a little more, but they also will last longer when it comes to use. 

If you have a garage door, you have springs. If you have problems with your springs, it's important to make sure that you can tell the garage door repair company what kind of spring you have.