Why Wichita Springs Break in January

Why so many garage door springs in this metro break in a narrow window between December and March, and what that means for when you should replace one.

What a freeze-thaw cycle does to steel

Sedgwick County runs roughly 85 freeze-thaw cycles a year, days that rise above freezing and nights that fall below. Each one expands and contracts the spring steel slightly. That thermal cycling sits on top of the mechanical cycling from opening and closing the door, and it accelerates the microscopic cracking that eventually becomes a break.

Why it always seems to happen at 7am

Steel is at its most brittle at its coldest, which in an unheated garage is shortly before dawn. The spring is already fatigued; the cold is what finishes it. That is why broken-spring calls here spike on the mornings after the first hard freeze, and again after every subsequent cold snap.

The practical consequence

A spring that has done eight or nine years in this climate is not the same as a spring that has done eight or nine years in a mild one. If yours is that age and the door is getting heavier by hand, replacing it in October is a scheduled job. Waiting means it becomes an emergency in January, probably with your car behind it.

If you have two springs

Replace both. They are the same age and have done the same work, and the second typically follows the first within a year. Doing one is a false economy.

Free estimate — no charge for the visit

Tell us what the door is doing and we will tell you what it normally means in Wichita. Every job is quoted in person and in writing before any work starts.

Call (316) 749-2780 Request a callback