What It Costs
We don't post a flat number for cable repair here, because a snapped cable on a 16-foot double with two torsion springs costs more in parts and labor than a single narrower door, and Carver leans toward the wider doors given how much of the housing here is newer construction built for two-car garages. What we can tell you: the price depends on whether one cable broke or both, whether the drums are scored from the break, and whether the spring that was carrying that side needs attention too, since a snapped cable often means the spring was already under load when it gave.
We quote the job after we see the door and the drums in person - over the phone we're guessing, and a guess on a wider door with heavier hardware is more likely to be wrong than right. What we won't do is quote a number that ignores the door in front of us just to sound competitive on the phone.
What the Fix Involves
On a door this age, we're not fighting rust-frozen bolts or hardware nobody makes anymore - that's more the older stock's problem. The work is straightforward: pull the broken cable off the drum, check the drum groove for wear where the cable jumped or bound, and check the second cable even if only one snapped, since both carry the same load and age at the same rate.
We measure the new cable to the door's actual drop and drum size rather than assuming a stock length, because a 16-foot double takes a longer cable than an 8-foot single and the wrong length binds on the drum. Once the new cable is set, we re-tension both sides so the door doesn't lean, then run it a few cycles under power to make sure the opener isn't fighting an uneven pull. If the spring shows wear from carrying the door on one working cable, we'll say so before closing out the job - that's a separate repair, not something we fold in to make the invoice look smaller.
