Did you know that on average, your garage door gets opened and closed 1500 times a year?
That’s a lot of opening and closing—and it’s all made possible by your garage door springs. These relatively simple contraptions make your life so much easier and are fairly easy to maintain.
But how long can you expect your garage door springs to last? While there are some average life expectancies for different types of springs, a lot of that also depends on how well you care for them.
Here’s a basic guide to how long your springs will last—and how you can help extend their longevity.
What You Can Expect
The average garage door springs are good for about 10,000 open-and-close cycles. If we go by the metric that you will go through about 1500 of those cycles each year, then we can estimate that your springs will last around seven years.
Of course, that’s assuming that you fit into the average range.
If you’re someone who doesn’t use your car every day, or often parks in the driveway instead, then you probably fall below average, meaning you can expect your springs to last longer. Vice-versa, if you have a multi-car garage and people leaving and arriving at home at different times every day, then your springs probably won’t last as long.
Other Factors to Consider
While averages are a good starting place when estimating the longevity of your garage door springs, the truth is that several other factors can affect their lifespan.
If you live somewhere where it rains a lot, for example, then all that moisture can cause your springs to rust quickly, meaning they’ll wear out sooner.
And especially cold, freezing temperatures can cause garage door springs to break suddenly—you may have even had to experience of your springs breaking unexpectedly after a freezing night.
Take Care Of Your Garage Door Springs
There are probably things you do to take care of your body—exercising and watching what you eat, for example—because you want to stay healthy for as long as possible.
The same logic can be applied to your garage door springs. A little preventative maintenance goes a long way.
If you want to avoid rust, spray the springs with silicone spray each season. During periods of freezing temperatures, consider using a space heater to warm up your garage—or at least wait as long as possible before opening your garage, so the springs have time to warm up in the morning.
If these pieces of advice sound overwhelming for your busy schedule, you can always hire a garage door company to do the work for you!
Learn More About Home Maintenance
Taking care of your garage door springs might not be at the top of your to-do list—but the peace of mind that comes with knowing your garage will open and close seamlessly every day is pretty nice! And preventative maintenance is always easier to handle than costly repairs.
Want to learn more about home and garage maintenance? Feel free to check out the other articles on our website!