Your Westland garage door system can provide wonderful conveniences for homeowners when they don't need repair. When winter comes around, you don’t have to worry about digging your vehicle out of snow. Also, when you have heavy cargo to bring inside, you can escape having to carry it across the lawn or across the street. But this convenience doesn’t come without challenges, and garage door safety concerns are some of them.
Considering your garage door is the biggest, heaviest moving part of your house, there’re very high chance of accidents and injuries occurring during your daily operation. In this article, we will share some essential safety tips that homeowners can follow to avoid injuries, accidents, and damages.
1.Visually inspect your garage door every month for repair warning signs
Look at cables, springs, pulleys, and rollers for signs of wear. If you notice anything like a broken garage door spring or a malfunctioning opener, don’t attempt to repair, adjust or remove these parts or anything attached to them. Consider hiring professional garage door repair service to have them fixed.
2.Keep the garage door opener remote out of kid’s reach.
Kids are curious little creatures and when they come across something they don’t understand, they will touch, explore and play with it. When it comes to something as heavy and dangerous as a garage door, you know that’s a disaster in waiting. You should keep your door opener’s remote away from kids at all times to avoid getting injuries.
3.Watch Your Fingers Between Door Sections
Never place your fingers between door sections – pinching between door sections is more common especially with manual garage doors. Make your kids aware of this hazard too. Your best bet is to always use the door handle when closing or opening the garage door. You can also get a garage door type which has panels that don’t pinch, or simply install an automatic garage door openers.
4.Keep passwords secret.
If your garage door doesn’t have a rolling-code technology, be sure to change the standard access codes provided by the manufacturer on the remote control and the opener. You can also consider investing in modern garage door openers that have security and safety features.
5.Open your garage door before you start your car
Vehicles release exhaust gas made up of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other harmful compounds. You don’t want to breathe these fumes while still locked in your garage. Additionally, since gases rise, you will be putting everyone on the second story at risk. So never start your car before you open your garage door.
6.Test the auto-reverse.
All modern doors designed after 1991 are required to have an automatic reversing mechanism which triggers the door to reverse when it encounters an obstacle on its path. This prevents the door from crashing you or your vehicle in case of any delays trying to go through the door. To test your door’s auto-reverse, place a roll of paper towels on the sides of the door, about 3 feet off the ground and push the “close” button. When the door touches the paper towel, it should reverse. If not, you need to call in the garage door repair service.
7.Hire a professional Westland garage door repair company
While simple garage door repair and maintenance issues like lubrication and painting can be safely performed by homeowners, advanced tasks like broken garage door spring replacement and garage door opener repair should be left to trained garage door experts.
Bottom line
We hope the above garage door safety tips will help you and your family stay safer and avoid damage to your property. As always, if you notice any damage, malfunction or maintenance issue with your door, consult professional garage door repair service providers for a proper fix.