Your garage door requires springs in order to work. The springs are supposed to counteract the pull of gravity on your garage door. Without any springs, the door will be too heavy for you to lift up and open. There are two common kinds of springs that might be part of your garage door. One is extension springs, and the other is torsion springs. They do the same thing, lift the garage door, but they do it in different ways. 

Extension Springs

The way that extension springs work is that when the garage door is closed, the springs are contracted. Once you start to open the garage door, the spring starts to expand. The spring, which is usually found in the horizontal part of the garage door track attached to the ceiling, acts as a counterbalance to the garage door. That means that not only does it help you open the door, but also that once the door reaches a certain point, the spring will help to keep the door open until you counteract the energy that the spring puts out. These springs usually also have a safety cable that is attached to them, because they can be under considerable force, and if the spring were to break, it could really hurt someone. The safety cable will keep the spring from flying out and hurting someone. 

Torsion Springs

A torsion spring is the most common kind of spring found on garage doors. Usually, the only time that extension springs are used is if there isn't enough headroom in the garage for a torsion spring. A torsion spring doesn't extend and contract the way that an extension spring does. Instead, it depends on torque, which is a twisting or rotating force. When you open the garage door, the torsion spring starts rotating around its shaft, creating tighter coils. A torsion spring generally lasts longer than other kinds of springs. How long the springs in your garage door are going to be depends on the size and weight of your garage door and the size of your garage. 

If your garage door doesn't open or close, the springs might be the problem. If you think that the springs in your door are the issue, then you should call a garage door repair company to work on them. Installing new springs requires special tools so that no one gets hurt while it is being done, and a garage door company will have those tools.