Tag Archives: Garage Door Safety
Time for a Garage Door Opener
If you’re tired of jumping out of the car to heave your garage door open on those cold, rainy, snowy days, then it’s time to consider purchasing an automatic garage door opener. Or if your opener dates from before the 1990’s, then you should consider replacing it to ensure that your opener meets current safety and security standards. Consider the following factors when choosing your next garage door opener.
Power
Automatic garage door openers vary in power. The amount you need depends on the type of door you have. For most residential applications the ½ hp is more than adequate and it is the most common motor you will find. Some jobs such, as custom-made wood doors can weigh several hundred lbs more than usual and could require a ¾ hp motor.
Drive Type
The automatic opener pulls your garage door using one of three different types of drives. A chain drive can be used on all types of doors, and resembles the chain drive on a bicycle. They’re the most affordable, but can be noisy if not properly adjusted, and require lubrication and service every couple of years.
Belt drives are made of sturdy rubber, so they offer the quietest operation and the [more]
Garage Door Safety Needs To Be A Priority
Many families use the garage door more than the front door. Armfuls of groceries and the kid’s bikes and toys all go in through the garage door. The potential for an accident is high with so much activity swirling around. That is why garage door safety needs to be a priority in every household.
The first question homeowners need to ask is how old is the garage door and opener? A garage door over 10 years old is due for an inspection by a qualified garage door specialist. The specialist will test the springs for any weakness, inspect the opener, and track system for any signs of wear and tear. The homeowner should never attempt to adjust the springs or tension devices. The components are under a great deal of tension, and serious injury can occur.
As a homeowner, there are tests that can be conducted to test the safety of the garage door. First off, if the garage door does not have a reversing feature it is recommended that the door be replaced. New safety regulations require all new installations have this feature. To test the feature place a block of wood under the door as it closes. The door should [more]
Garage Door Spring Tips
An important component in the mechanical make-up of garage doors is the spring system.
Without springs the doors would not rise and fall. These components should be in good, strong working condition at all times for the doors to function properly. The counterbalance springs do the actual lifting and closing.
When the doors rise the springs unwind. This provides the necessary power to do the lifting. When the door closes, the weight of the door winds the springs back up until the door is entirely shut. At this stage the springs are fully tensed again.
The springs need to be adjusted periodically.
When the typical door weighs about three hundred pounds and involves the co-ordination of pulleys, cables and springs, this is inevitable. It is not difficult to do a cursory check up. With safety glasses on one can pull on the red emergency release cord so that the doors are opened manually. By lifting it halfway and observing if it stays in place or falls, one can determine if it is out of balance. If it falls, then it is not in balance.
There are other assessment suggestions described on the site for testing the poor performance of the doors. When the doors need [more]
Garage Door Safety Measures
How often do you think about your garage door other than to push the remote button to open or close it as you come home or head out?
Automatic garage doors are designed to be as simple for you to use as pushing a single button and the door opens or shuts. With keyless entry systems, your children can come home from school to a locked house and quickly get in the house by entering the code, rather than having to worry about taking care of a key all day long. You have the convenience of pressing the button, waiting a moment while the door opens and driving your car into the garage to unload your groceries.
You may not realize that there are safety measures built into garage doors. However, if your doors are not properly adjusted, they may not work properly and could possibly cause damage or injury. If the door were to suddenly close without the button being pressed, you can imagine the problems that it could create.
Even though we often take garage doors for granted, we should teach our children to be careful around them and never let small children play with the remote opening devices. It is [more]
Why Didn’t It Close?
Everyone’s finally dressed and ready to leave. You back the car out, hit the remote, and you’re off. Until you realize the garage door hasn’t gone down. You reluctantly pull back into the driveway, brow furrowing in frustration. It happens to everyone. Many homeowners don’t even realize they left it open until they return home.
Why didn’t it close? Garage doors usually fail to close as a result of the safety sensors being blocked. They’re located on each side of the opening, no more than a foot or so off the ground. Typically, each will have a small light that stays lit when everything is going well. If either of the lights are out, simply move whatever is blocking the sensor (sometimes even cobwebs/small debris can cause safety sensors to malfunction) or adjust them so that they are pointing at each other again. You can move these around by hand if they’ve been knocked out of alignment.
If you’re still stuck at home, make sure nothing is blocking the path of the door. This can be a common cause for service calls on garage doors. Always use caution when operating your door, but be extra cautious when it’s not working correctly. It’s [more]
Remember safety this summer
Winter and spring lockdown has finally released us from the confines of cool weather. Homeowners are into the swing of summer. We wait all year for good weather summer holidays and travel.
Let’s face it, we all feel a little more relaxed during the summer months. Neighbors come out of hibernation to reacquaint themselves, barbeques are fired up and family get-togethers become common practice. We throw open windows and doors and invite the long awaited summer breeze into our homes. It’s also the time of year when we’re not as vigilant about our home security. Burglars breeze in and out of homes at record levels as well during the summer because of sloppy home security practices.
Unfortunately summer brings with it a relaxed mindset when it comes to home security. Homeowners tend to leave doors unlocked during the summer months more than any other time of year. It’s a time when unsupervised overhead garage doors are left open for extenuating periods of time. You also see more ladders and tools left outside often until summer projects are complete.
We also spend more time in our backyards relaxing in lawn chairs worshipping the sun enjoying quite breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Burglars tend to capitalize [more]
Safety Matters!
June is Garage Door Safety Month. It’s a reminder to make regular safety checks on your garage doors. Educating yourself and your children on correct use and operation as well as taking proper care of your garage door will help you avoid unnecessary accidents and loss of life.
Here are a few precautions to keep in mind:
Safe distance – Garage openers and wall control units should be at least 5 feet away from the floor, and the door opener control button should be high enough that small children cannot reach it.
It’s not a plaything – Children should not, at any time, be allowed to play with the garage remote control or any part of the door. Hitting the door with their hands or even a soft object may cause the interior mechanism to loosen and the door to malfunction when you least expect.
Familiarize yourself with the manual – Read the door’s instruction manual and understand the door’s emergency release feature so that in case of an emergency you’ll know how to operate it.
Monthly visual inspections and maintenance checks – At least once a month, inspect your door and its component parts for wear and tear. Pulleys, cables, springs, and rollers may [more]
JUNE: IT’S GARAGE DOOR SAFETY MONTH!
The International Door Association and the Door & Access Systems Manufacturers Association have designated June as Garage Door Safety Month.
The International Door Association and its affiliated dealers will be working to increase awareness of the possible hazards of garage doors and automatic opener systems, and the need for periodic inspection and maintenance to keep them safe. Give your garage door a safety check to insure it’s in proper working order by using these ten garage door safety and security tips.
1. Make sure garage door opener control button is out of the reach of small children.
2. Do not let children play with garage door remote controls.
3. Consult the owner’s manual and learn how to use the garage door’s emergency release feature.
4. Visually inspect the garage door each month. Look at springs, cables, rollers and pulleys for signs of wear. Do not attempt to remove, adjust or repair these parts or anything attached to them. A trained door repairman must make adjustments to these parts, which are under high tension.
5. Test the garage door opener’s reversing mechanism monthly by placing a 2 x 4 board or a roll of paper towels in the door’s path. If the door does not reverse after [more]
Man Injured While Self-Installing Garage Door Opener
A Washington state man suffered injuries and was taken to the hospital this week after attempting to install an electric garage door opener at his home in the town of Medical Lake.
The man, who’s a medic with the Washington Air National Guard, was about to finish the project and move the torsion springs on top of the door. As he was loosening up the bolts on the springs, one of the springs shot out and struck his arm. Bleeding, he tried to remain calm as his roommate called 911. He eventually received 20 stitches to close a 3 1/2-inch gash.
The man’s actions are indicative of a nationwide trend. According to a Harvard University study, spending on home-improvement projects will increase by 9.2 percent over the previous five years.
Don’t do jobs like this yourself. Hire a trained and licensed professional!
Learn more about garage door safety!
Safety Comes First!
Maybe you have never given very much thought to the safety functions of your garage door, or just how unsafe a defective garage door can be.
Because as frequently as your garage doors are used it is vital to take into account all of the maintenance and basic safety features, because most people use the garage door at least a couple of times every day and there are numerous moving components that might be loose or fail resulting in property damage or for someone to get hurt.
Stop and think about this, the garage door may be the heaviest working component of the house. Your garage door is actually a motor-driven device that is frequently being opened and lowered over your car or truck as well as your entire family.
Through the years there have been a number of different kinds of garage doors placed in garages but the most frequently used style is most likely the panel garage doors. These types of doors really are standard panels hinged with one another that will be installed on tacks using a spring system to assist with raising the garage door. They can be manually operated but today most of them employ a garage door [more]