Did you know your garage door is the largest moving item in your home?
Many of us don’t often think about our garage doors. The benefits they provide and the possibility of hazards are things we take for granted.
While garage doors offer us plenty of conveniences daily, they can also pose safety and security risks for you and your family if not handled with care.
June is garage door safety month. While safety should be practiced every month of the year, this time is an opportunity for California Overhead Door to share its safety precautions and increase awareness about the potential dangers of garage doors.
Today we will discuss our tips for keeping your family and belongings safe around your garage door.
Never Walk Beneath A Moving Door
This may seem obvious, but every year there are many accidents involving garage doors.
When you are in a hurry you may be tempted to quickly go under your moving door. After all, you have before, and it was fine!
But this is a big mistake – it only takes once for something to go wrong and for you to end up injured.
On top of that, if you have a family you will be teaching your kids through your actions that it is okay to walk under the garage door. Even if you tell them otherwise, children do what they see us do.
Children are much smaller and a garage door accident could cause a lot more damage to them.
Along with not walking underneath the door, you should be careful about other body parts such as fingers. Teach your children to stay away from the garage door whenever it’s moving.
It is best to be cautious with such a large device. Just wait for it to be fully open before walking through the garage door.
Keep Control Of The Remote
Be sure that you keep your remote somewhere safe and out of reach of children and unwanted guests.
Children love buttons and there is nothing they would love more than to play with the remote and see the door go up and down. This can cause a lot of safety concerns and is a big risk. The best thing you can do is keep it far out of reach.
You should also keep your remote in a safe and hidden place to avoid a break-in and burglaries.
Garage door entrance is a common way people break into homes. Thankfully that can be avoided when the remote is safely hidden and you use secure passwords.
Inspect Your Door Each Month
A lot of accidents and issues are caused when the garage door malfunctions or does something out of the ordinary.
That is why it is wise to do monthly visual inspections on your garage door. It doesn’t need to take a lot of time but it should be taken seriously.
Safety Features
Know your garage door safety features and check each month to ensure they are still working properly.
One example of a safety feature you can check is the safety sensors. As you are closing your door put a broomstick or another long item underneath and make sure the door closes at a safe rate.
Force
Test the force in which your garage door closes and make sure it is appropriate. When your doors close with too much force, they can cause injury to people or break items in your garage.
Reverse Mechanism
The reverse mechanism on your door won’t take long at all to check and can save you a lot of headaches later on.
“While you’re doing the monthly visual inspection, you should also do a monthly test of the reversing mechanism.
Garage doors often have safety features that automatically cause the door to open if the closing process encounters an obstruction.
One of the best ways to test this mechanism is with a paper towel roll.
Because a roll of paper towels is soft and isn’t strong enough to hold up a door, it is a great way to see if the door can detect an obstruction that doesn’t offer much resistance.
Simply lay the roll in the threshold of the door and then close it. As it touches the roll, if the machine is functioning properly, it will begin to open again. The paper towel roll should not be overly damaged by the process.”
Dents
Checking for dents is also a wise choice when doing your monthly inspection.
Dents or damage of any kind may impact the way your garage door functions. If you find that a dent is becoming an issue be sure to have it fixed by a professional promptly.
