San Rafael, CA · Garage Door Service
Garage Door Spring Repair for Larkspur Homes
Larkspur's housing stock dates mostly to the 1970s, meaning original torsion springs on heavier double doors. San Rafael Garage Door Pros repairs them fast.
- Repairs & new doors
- Springs & openers
- Serving 5 nearby communities
Parts We Carry
Most garages in Larkspur came in with the house, and the house usually went up around 1971, the median build year on this side of town. That puts a lot of doors right at the point where torsion springs mounted on a single shaft above the opening became the standard, replacing the older side-mounted extension spring setups. We carry the wire gauges that cover the bulk of that early-1970s install: single torsion springs on single doors, dual torsion on the wider double-car openings that got common as garages grew. Some older properties nearby still run extension springs on side tracks, usually on a detached or secondary garage that predates the main build boom. We stock parts for both, but we don't carry every odd spring length a custom door might need off a shelf - if a previous owner put in a non-standard door, that spring sometimes has to be ordered, and we'll tell you that up front instead of jamming in a close-enough substitute. A mismatched spring is worse than a dead one; it either underpowers the door or tears up the opener trying to compensate.
Can You Do This Yourself
A torsion spring is wound under enough tension to break a wrist or worse if the winding bars slip, and the springs common on 1971-era Larkspur doors are no gentler than newer ones just because the house is older. The mild temperate climate here helps in one sense - springs aren't getting eaten by rust from damp winters the way they would somewhere with harder freeze-thaw cycles, so corrosion usually isn't what kills them. What kills them is plain cycle fatigue: thousands of lifts over fifty-plus years. That means when one goes, it's often close to its rated life, and an extension spring replaced without a safety cable is a real hazard if it lets go under load. We'd rather talk you through what you're looking at over the phone than have you on a ladder with a torsion bar and a sheared cable. If it's just a loose cable or a bent bottom bracket, that's a smaller job. If the spring itself has let go, that's not a weekend DIY fix on a door this old.
How We Fix It
We're based in San Rafael, three miles out, so getting to a Larkspur job doesn't mean routing around a long run first. On arrival we check the spring size against the door weight and cycle wear rather than assuming the original torsion spring was sized right in the first place - plenty of doors from the early '70s got a spring that matched the original lightweight panel, then had a heavier insulated door installed later without anyone upgrading the spring to match. We replace both springs on a double-spring torsion system even if only one has broken, since the other is usually close behind it on the same cycle count. We check the bottom brackets, the cables, and the drum alignment at the same time, because a spring job done without checking those is a callback waiting to happen. For extension spring setups we add or replace safety cables where they're missing, which is common on doors that haven't been touched since they were installed.
Where This Job Goes Sideways
The most common surprise on a Larkspur call is finding a spring that was replaced once already, decades back, with the wrong size - the door's been running underpowered or overpowered ever since and nobody noticed until it finally broke. The second is stripped bolts on the overhead track, which gives way more often on original hardware from houses built around 1971 than on anything installed in the last fifteen years, since the steel and the fasteners from that era weren't built to today's spec. We also run into panels that have shifted out of square after years of running on a tired spring, which means the track needs adjusting at the same time or the new spring just wears out the same way. None of that turns a spring job into a full door replacement by itself, but if the opener's been straining for years, the gears inside are usually close to done too, and we'll say so rather than hand back a door that's one more broken part away from another call.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my garage door spring keep breaking in Larkspur?
If your house dates to around 1971, like most of the area, the spring has likely been through well over its rated cycle count. In this mild climate it's almost never rust - it's straightforward fatigue from decades of daily use, sometimes made worse by a spring that was never matched to the door's actual weight.
Do you stock springs for older Larkspur garages?
We carry the torsion spring sizes most common on doors from the 1960s and '70s build era, along with extension spring parts for older side-track setups. Non-standard or custom door sizes sometimes need an ordered part, and we'll tell you before the job starts, not after.
How far out is San Rafael Garage Door Pros from Larkspur?
About three miles. We work out of San Rafael and cover Larkspur as part of the surrounding service area, so getting a tech to your door doesn't involve routing through a longer run elsewhere first.
Should I replace both springs or just the broken one?
On a double-spring torsion system, we replace both even if only one broke. They're under the same tension and run the same cycle count, so the second one is usually close to failing too - replacing just one means a second callout within months.
Book garage door service in San Rafael
Call now or request a quote - tell us what the door is doing and where you are.