Garage Door Safety Tips

A garage is more than just an empty space. It welcomes your car, yourself and your family. It stores snowmobiles, soccer balls, and power tools. It’s basically part of your family. But if you go in and out of it every day, you may forget your garage door is even there — or that it’s still a powerful machine that needs to be taken care of to ensure that your family is kept safe.

Avoid severe mishaps by following these garage door safety tips:

1. Perform Self-Checks

It’s important to continually check the safety sensors in your garage door.

The sensors, located on the rails of the door, reverse the direction of a closing door if a person or animal crosses underneath it. To test the sensors, begin closing the garage door as usual and stick an object such as a broom under the door. If the door doesn’t immediately reverse, call a professional to inspect and repair the sensors.

2. Keep Children and Animals Away From Doors and Door Openers

Children are naturally curious. But the garage door is never something that should be played with. When opening and closing the garage door, make sure children and animals don’t come near the door until it is all the way up or down.

Also, make sure that children know never to put their hands in the joints between the panels of the door while it’s opening or closing. NEISS reports over 7,500 injuries from fingers getting stuck in garage doors every year.

3. Keep Your Remote With You at All Times

Likewise, keeping your garage door entry remote with you at all times ensures that children will not accidentally get access to the remote and hurt themselves or others. Remind children that the remote is not a toy. Explain the dangers that can occur with the improper use of the garage door.

Not only will you be protecting your children and yourself from harm by keeping your remote with you, but you can also prevent break-ins by never leaving your remote in your car. Leaving a garage door remote out in the open creates an easy target for burglars. Your garage door is a key to your home. Treat it like one by keeping it with you like you would a house key.

4. Keep Your Garage Door Closed When Not in Use (And Avoid Giving Out Passwords)

Another way to protect your home from theft is by keeping the garage door closed when not in use. Only give out your passcode to people you trust — never to repair or delivery people.

If you need to let someone in temporarily, many newer entry systems allow you to enter a temporary PIN that you can set to be used a certain number of times. Making use of this feature ensures that only those you trust have continuous access to your garage.

5. Get Regular Garage Door Maintenance

Getting your garage door regularly tuned up allows you to have peace of mind that your door is working as it should.

Trust Upper Canada To Ensure Garage Door Safety

At Upper Canada Garage Doors, we are proud to offer quality repair jobs — never rushed jobs — to Oakville and the surrounding areas. Contact us today to schedule your garage door service and repair. We look forward to becoming your trusted garage door provider.