Our Top Ten Garage Door Safety Tips

Your garage is no doubt a part of your home that you rely on for various different reasons. It likely protects your car(s) from the elements (and those folks up to no good), it probably acts as a storage space for lots of stuff, and it may even double up as a workshop or gym space too. Garages undoubtedly bring a lot to the party, but they are also a safety risk if people are not careful what they’re doing. Garage doors are responsible for more than 30,000 accidents every single year across America, many of which involve children.

As a garage door installation and repair company, we feel strongly about educating others about garage door safety in the hope that some of these accidents can be avoided. And that’s why we wanted to share these tips.

Safety Tips When Using Your Garage Door

If you observe the advice we share below, you’ll reduce the chances of you being involved in an accident with a garage door significantly.

A Garage Door in Motion Should Be Avoided

When garage doors are stationary, that’s when it’s safe to pass through the door. But a lot of people have the very bad habit of passing under the door when it’s already moving.

You may have come into the garage to quickly collect something. As you leave, you activate your garage door opener, so the door starts to close. You quickly duck your head and run out under it. This scenario is all too common, and most of the time it will never end in pain. But you are taking a chance by doing this.

Should there be some sort of spillage on the floor, maybe some oil, or an obstruction, and you fall over, you are in for a head-on collision with the door. And you will always come off second best in that head to head!

This sets a very bad example for your kids, who will most likely copy you. And remember, a large percentage of the 30,000 annual accidents involve kids.

Don’t Enter the Garage Until the Door is Fully Open

This really follows on from the first point. When you arrive home and open the garage, you should never enter the garage – either in your car or on foot – before the door is fully open. This is due to the sensors on your garage door opener.

“Why?” you might be thinking. If you pass through the garage door opening before the garage door opener has done its thing, it’s possible that you may confuse the sensors and this may cause the garage door to get stuck, in which case you could bang your head or scrape your car.

Don’t Ignore Regular Garage Door Maintenance

You should have your garage door looked at by a garage door repair and maintenance specialist once per year. Some people feel like this is a waste of money, but I can assure you that it’s not. It ensures that all of the vital components are kept in good condition. This is important, as if one of these components were to fail suddenly, such as a torsion spring or a hinge, it can put you and your family in serious danger, causing the door to fall down suddenly.

We’d also advise you to have the garage door company you work with also show you how to check the condition of key components yourself. That way, you can have a quick check of these parts yourself each month, and if anything looks wrong, you can call a garage door repair technician right away, before there’s a chance for anything to go wrong.

In particular, the following parts of your garage door should be checked:

• Springs – Extension or torsion springs for a garage door are extremely important and must be kept in good condition. They keep the door balanced and support its weight. But they can break, and if you’re using the door when this happens, it can come crashing down and cause injury.
• General Condition – Have a look all over the garage door itself and examine its condition. You’re on the lookout for signs of rust or rough edges here. These can do some serious harm if you happen to brush against them while moving past the door.
• Cables + Runners – In the same way that the springs are important, the cables and runners that help to raise and lower the door should be checked, as if these give way suddenly, it could cause the door to come crashing down.

Is the Reversing Safety Feature Working?

If you have a garage door opener, it does come with the reverse safety feature. This works by using sensors to detect whether there’s an obstruction blocking the door’s path. If an obstruction is detected, the door will be raised up again to the open position. You can use anything to do this, such as an empty box.

If the door doesn’t detect this obstruction, you will want to have a garage door repair tech have a look at the system. You want to be sure that if it were you lying on the floor, the door would be raised.

A Garage Door Repair Team You Can Count On

A big part of garage door safety is undoubtedly making sure your garage door remains in good condition, and that’s where we can help. We’ve been taking care of garage door repair and maintenance in Parker and Broomfield for well over 20 years. If you’d like to book an annual “check-up” or you need us to fix a specific problem, call us at (303) 920-2267.