Your garage door is likely the largest moving object around your household making garage door safety an important topic to keep in the minds of all your loved ones living with you.
Of course, proper installation, operation, maintenance and testing of the garage door and garage door opener are necessary to provide safe, worry-free operation. An improperly operating garage door can lead to serious injury or even death from being hit by a falling garage door. However, there are also things you can do on a daily basis to prevent tragedy.
As such, Garage Door Guy is here with 7 garage door safety tips to keep your household safe.
Maintenance is key to garage door safety
As we mentioned earlier, regular garage door maintenance is important to keeping your door operating in a proper, safe manner. Garage door preventative maintenance, instead of only having it checked when it has broken down, not only keeps you from a stressful time while exiting your garage but also prevents unforeseen accidents.
Practice safe behavior around garage doors
Have a conversation with your household about safe behaviors around garage doors. If you’re planning on having a new garage door installed, it’s a perfect excuse for having a discussion. Here’s a basic set of rules for behavior around garage doors:
- Never stand or walk under a garage door while it’s in operation
- Garage door openers are not toys and you shouldn’t press the button repeatedly or when out of sight of the door
- Wall controls should be installed out of reach of small children
- Wait and watch until the garage door is completely closed before leaving
- Never place your fingers under the door or in-between door sections
Ensure garage door safety by checking sensors routinely
Garage door sensors should be checked at least once per year but it’s a good idea to have them inspected anytime your garage door is serviced.
The majority of garage doors have sensors that look like black boxes at the bottom of the door’s track. Sometimes there’s a visible, small, red light.
A common sign that your sensors aren’t aligned correctly or not functioning is your door refusing to open or close.
Test your garage door’s auto reverse function
The auto reverse function is the last line of defense when it comes to garage door safety. This function will cause the door to automatically reverse if it senses something under the door while closing.
All it takes to test this operation is sticking an object in the door’s pathway, then pressing the button to close it. If your garage door closes on the object, then the auto reverse function needs repaired.
Learn how to manually operate your garage door
Knowing how to operate your door manually could save yourself time or even your life in the most dire of circumstances. Whether it be because of a power outage or malfunction, your door could be rendered useless and the only way of exiting the garage is through manual operation.
If you have your owner’s manual handy, it will have information on how to operate your specific door without power (as well as other handy bits of information).
An emergency release is vital for garage door safety
If you’re installing a new garage door, you should consider asking your garage door technician about the option of installing an emergency release. This release allows for any door to have the option of manual operation. Most garage door installation and repair businesses should consider this a basic practice but it’s better to know for sure.
Once you’re certain you have one, make sure to get familiar with the mechanism.
Learn the signs of garage door safety issues
When major components are failing on your garage door, there are common telltale signs. Signs your garage door springs are failing include popping noises or erratic operation, failing sensors will blink the red light or not allow the door to close, damaged rollers will squeak or the door will operate slowly or jerk, and damaged cables will allow the door to bang on the floor or hang unevenly.
Learn the most common signs of improper garage door operation and it could prevent injury, death, or further costly repairs.
