Garage Door Safety
Have you or a member of your family ever been in an accident involving a garage door? If your answer is yes, you already know how dangerous a garage door can be, and you have learned the importance of regular testing and maintenance. If your home door and your family have been accident free, keep the good luck going by cleaning, inspecting, and testing your garage door regularly. This obedient apparatus that responds to the touch of your finger is an accident waiting to happen if you don’t treat it with respect.
While most door accidents involve minor injuries to fingers and toes, many serious accidents and deaths are on record. You need to educate your family about the potential dangers, and show them the proper way to use remotes and keypads. No one should ever walk under a moving garage door. This means YOU. Set a good example!
Treat your door remote control like a key. Don’t leave it on the car seat or anywhere someone can find it and play with it. Explain to your children that the remote is not a toy, and that it is as important as any other key in keeping the family comfortable and safe.
Make sure the push button wall control is positioned at least five feet from the floor, where small children cannot access it. Make sure that the wall control is well away from any moving parts. Educate all members of your family to watch the door to make sure it closes completely.
Regularly check that the door is properly balanced. To do this, you will need to operate the door manually. Pull the cord (usually red) at the top of the door, than raise the door about halfway, stand back, and let go. If the door is properly balanced, it will not move. If the door moves, the various parts (springs, pulleys. cables, and other hardware) will need to be repaired or replaced.
Clean the track and the safety eyes regularly. Safety eyes alert the reversing mechanism of the door so that it does not continue its downward movement when an object is in its path. Dirt covering the safety eyes may distort the beam that passes between them and fail to alert the reversing mechanism.
Test the reversing mechanism monthly. Open the door completely, then lay a block of wood (no thicker than two inches) at the bottom of the opening. Press the button to close the door. The door should reverse before it hits the wood. If the garage door does not reverse, the safety eyes need to be cleaned and/or reset.
Take care of your garage door and it will continue to take care of you.