We Care About Safety
A garage door is the largest moving object in the home. These doors are often operated by electric door openers. Proper installation, operation, maintenance, and testing of the garage door and automatic opener are necessary to provide safe, trouble-free operation.
An improperly adjusted garage door or automatic opener can exert deadly force when the door closes. This could lead to serious injury or death from being hit by a closing garage door or from being trapped under the door.
A few simple precautions can protect your family and friends from potential harm. Please take a few minutes to read the provided safety tips. Refer to your garage door and opener owner’s manual for details specific to the model you own. Then check the operation of your garage door and automatic opener.
Our Top 10 Safety Tips
It’s a good idea to review these with everyone in your household from time to time – especially children.
- USE A PROFESSIONAL. Never attempt to repair a garage door’s springs or cables. These are under extreme tension and can cause severe injury or even death. Schedule a service call with one of our professionals, and save yourself from possible injury.
- WATCH THE DOOR. When opening or closing the garage door, always keep the door in view until the door is fully opened or fully closed. Make certain that no adults, children or animals try to enter or exit while the door is closing. Take a few seconds to be safe.
- NEVER RACE THE DOOR. Running under a closing door can be a deadly game. Never try to enter or exit the garage by racing under a moving garage door and teach your children to never play with opening or closing the door.
- DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR REMOTE CONTROLS ARE? Keep the remote controls for your openers where children cannot play with them. Warn children of the dangers of playing with the garage door. For security reasons, be sure to keep your remote controls locked up. If you park a car outside your garage, be sure to lock your car so that potential burglars cannot access your remote control and gain easy access to your garage and home.
- THE SIX-INCH RULE. The safety beams (photoelectric eyes) should not be installed higher than six inches above the garage floor. If the eyes are installed higher, a person or pet could get under the beam and not be detected by the photo eyes. If your opener does not have this safety feature installed (required on all openers manufactured after 1993) it’s time to get a new opener. Call us today!
- THE FIVE-FOOT RULE. The wall push button for your garage door opener should be mounted at least five feet above the floor, out of the reach of children.
- REVERSING SENSITIVITY Garage door openers are designed to reverse direction when a descending garage door meets an obstruction. If your door does not reverse readily after contacting an obstruction, the opener’s sensitivity adjustment may be set improperly. This can create a dangerous situation. See your owner’s manual for how to adjust your opener’s sensitivity or schedule a service call with one of our experienced technicians.
- WATCH YOUR FINGERS. Keep fingers and hands away from door sections when the door is opening or closing to avoid injury. If you must manually open or close the door, use the lift handles or gripping points.
- DOOR BACKED INTO? If someone has backed into the garage door (yes, it does happen – all of us are in a hurry at one time or another,) it’s a good idea to have the door inspected and/or repaired by a trained service technician. Even if the door doesn’t appear to be severely damaged, the operating system may have become misaligned causing it to wear prematurely, creating what could be a dangerous environment.
- ANNUAL MAINTENANCE. Your garage door is probably the largest, heaviest moving object in your home and is typically used every day. Over time, parts can wear out and break, creating potential hazards. Just as you have your HVAC and other systems annually serviced, a yearly visit from a trained door service technician can keep your door operating safely and smoothly for a long time.