Garage Door Safety
Your inquisitive child is in the garage just poking around as you head home from work. They have noticed the wheels in the door track and have a couple of fingers stuck through the large square hole in the track as they spin the wheel. At the same moment, you approach your home and press your remote button to open the door. With no warning, the remote operated device jumps into action. The fingers jerk back and only the end of one finger is bruised. After caring for your child, you dig out your owners manual and find two simple pieces of clear tape tucked in it’s pages. The instructions are simple. Place this tape over the large holes in the door track to prevent finger injury.
The garage door that opens as you drive up and closes after you enter your garage is the largest, heaviest, remotely operated device in your home. It has the potential to cause bodily harm and property damage. I like to ask homeowners how often they check the condition of their garage doors. More than 70% answer “Never”.
This morning’s home buyer had no experience with garage doors. I went through my inspection of their future garage door as they looked on, pointing out the operating details, maintenance recommendations and the various safety features. I then demonstrated how I test the safety reverse system on the door. My standard comment is for homeowners to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. On newer doors, the instructions are usually printed on the door labels. When the labels were not applied, they are available on line or by calling the manufacturer. In this case the original instruction manual was still rolled up and tucked into the door frame. It had been there for about five years and the door safety labels were in the package.
It concerns me that most new construction in our area is not inspected by a home inspector before purchase. With no inspection, the future homeowner has no education and training on some of the home’s important and potentially dangerous systems. One of these often overlooked dangers is your typical automatic opening garage door.
Here is a short list of what you need to know about garage doors with openers.
Who is the manufacturer of your door opener?
What is the condition of the door?
Is the door installed properly?
Has the door been properly maintained?
What are the safety features of this door system?
What you need to do to be sure the safeties are working in the future?
All of this is not very complicated, quick to check and important to your safety.
The manufacturer and model number of your opener are located on the door opener. Depending upon the make, this information may be under a snap off cover. Follow their instructions for maintenance and inspections.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission also has information on this subject. It’s called “CPSC Document #523 Non Reversing Garage Door Openers A Hazard” and as of this post was available at http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/523.html
UL has similar instructions at their website http://www.ul.com/consumers/garagedoors.html
My other suggestion is the garage door manufacturers association DASMA. Their information is currently found at http://www.dasma.com/safetygdoors.asp
Read these along with your manufacturers instructions for a more complete of garage doors.
A quick search for “garage door safety” should turn up these links and more.
Please take a few minutes and learn more about your garage door. Following these simple instructions could save a lot of grief and money!
Bill
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Together we provide the unique dual perspective of a husband and wife team. Our philosophy is simple. We treat people the way we would like to be teated and we treat every inspection like we are buying the home.
