Your garage door is the largest appliance in your house. With a properly installed garage door system, regular maintenance, and an understanding of Garage Door Safety Tips, your garage door and opener can provide years of safe, secure, and trouble-free operation.

Garage Door Safety Tips

Considering people use their garage doors at home and work daily, the assumption is that these doors are not dangerous. However, in a business setting, these doors are very heavy, significantly larger and higher up, and have different safety features than residential garage doors. You can take several important safety precautions to prevent accidents and injuries from commercial and residential garage doors.

Monthly Inspections and Tests

One of the most important actions you can take to prevent garage door-related injuries is to visually inspect the garage door for any signs of wear and tear. Examine the garage door’s springs, cables, rollers, and pulleys, and if you do notice damage, do not attempt to repair cables or springs yourself.

• If the spring is broken, you should never try to operate the door. This can cause severe damage to the top section because, with a broken spring, the opener is trying to pull up a dead weight of more than 200 pounds.
• If the garage door is off track and you try to move it by hand or with the garage door opener, you can potentially cause damage to the various parts that are necessary for the operation of the door.
• Never try to wind a garage door spring with screwdrivers. You need the correct tool and a professional to wind it as many people have gotten injured because they do not realize how much tension is in the spring.
• Never take the screws out of the bottom fixtures that have cables attached to them. These fixtures are what pick the garage door up, and they are loaded with spring tension. Save this for the professionals!
• If your garage door comes down on something such as car bumper, bicycle, ladder, garbage can, etc., you should be very careful opening it on the next cycle. There is a high possibility it may have a loose cable. Call us before more damage can be done.

In addition to following garage door safety tips, you need to take proper maintenance and inspection on your Garage Door.  Garage Door Parts are tightly wound and under high tension. If they break free and strike someone, it can cause serious injuries. Always play it safe and contact an Overhead Door Company of Kearney to inspect or repair the damaged parts.

Garage Door Inspection:

We encourage you to have your garage door system professionally inspected to ensure everything is working the way it’s supposed to. Your garage door inspection should include:

• Careful inspection of the entire counterbalance spring system, including springs, cables, and attached hardware.
• Careful inspection of all hardware attachments, including hinges, top brackets, and rollers
• Lubrication of the above appropriate parts.
• Testing of the reversing mechanism on your garage door opener.
• Careful inspection of the opener, including necessary adjustments to limit switches and lubrication of appropriate parts.
• Avoid Breakdowns & Repairs with Proper Garage Door Safety & Maintenance.

Do Not Allow Children to Play With Garage Door Remote Controls

Seeing as the garage door is often the heaviest and largest moving object in the home, it’s important to keep the garage door remote controls out of the hands of children. The best practice is to mount the garage door opener control button at least five feet from the floor. At this height, it will be inaccessible to children and adults will have a clear view of the door.

Watch Fingers Between Door Sections

If you have a garage door that opens manually, make sure to never place fingers between door sections. Consider adding pinch-resistant door panels to help prevent accidents.

Take the Garage Door Opener Out of the Car

One of the most commons ways criminals break into someone’s house is by stealing the garage door remote. You can help prevent this by taking it with you whenever you leave your vehicle.

Invest in Smart Garage Door Technology

With OHD Anywhere®, an application that allows homeowners to monitor or control their garage doors remotely via an Apple® iPhone or Android phone or device, homeowners can check if their garage door is open, closed or if someone is attempting to operate the garage door without permission.

It even offers the added security benefit of keeping a log of all uses of the garage door with dates and times. With OHD Anywhere®, garage doors will never accidentally be left open because homeowners can check the status through their smartphone app and safely close the door.