4 Garage Door Tips To Keep Everyone Safe

Garages can add a great amount of curb appeal to your property; however, the garage door causes thousands of injuries every year. To ensure that everyone in your family is safe from harm, there are a few things that you need to do as a homeowner.

1. Perform Monthly Inspections

One of the most important steps that you can take as a homeowner to prevent injuries is to make certain that you are performing inspections of your garage door and its components on a monthly basis. Open and close the door several times and watch how everything moves. Make sure that everything is working as it should, including all gears and cables.

This also includes testing the safety sensors, which are located roughly six inches above the ground on each side of the door. These sensors should cause the door to reverse its direction (if it's closing) if an animal or person walks under it while closing. To test it, you can use a broom to place underneath the door as it is closing. It should stop closing immediately and reverse. If it doesn't, call a professional immediately for an inspection and necessary repairs.

2. Keep the Remote Out of Reach of Children

Kids enjoy playing with things that they don't know about, which could likely include the garage door remote – and this is not a good idea. Make sure that the remote is not within reach of your children. However, at the same time, it is important to make this a teaching lesson. Sit down and explain to them that the remote is not a toy, should not be played with and could potentially hurt someone if it is played with.

3. Never Leave the Garage Door Open

IT is very important that you never, ever leave your garage door open, or even open half-way. Not only does this allow cold air or heat to escape and your utility bills to increase, but it also makes your home an easy target for burglars. It is essentially an invitation to a thieve to "come on in".

4. Watch Your Fingers

If your garage door opens manually, you will want to be very careful with your fingers and make sure that your children are as well. If your fingers were to get caught in between the garage door sections, you could get seriously injured. Take the time to teach your children about this. Ideally, the best thing to do is to utilize the door handle when you need to open the door and avoid placing your hands on the door when you open or close it. You could also opt to purchase a garage door without pinching panels.

Contact a garage door installation company for more help.

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