Benefits Of A Side Mount Garage Door Opener
Side mount garage door openers, also known as jackshafts, come with many advantages, such as space efficiency and low maintenance. But those two features are just the beginning. If you’re looking to take your garage experience to the next level, this is the door opener for you. It’s affordable, durable, reliable and easy to take care of.
This garage door opener can also be placed out of sight, so when you pull in to your garage, you’ll be greeted by clean lines and an unobstructed ceiling.
Benefits of Side Mount Garage Door Openers
In each home, two things remain important: space and maintenance. In a perfect world, you would be able to maximize the square footage in your home and keep all appliances and fixtures down to zero maintenance. The jackshaft garage door opener fits that description. Here is a list of some of the advantages of side mount garage door openers:
- Does Not Obstruct the Ceiling: Side mount garage door openers are mounted on the side wall of the garage door, hence their name. If you have a large vehicle parked in the garage, this is an excellent option. Mounting your opener on the side will also open up more overhead storage space in your garage.
- No Need for Rails: With a side mount, you don’t need rails to hang your opener from.
- Easy to Maintain: The main benefit of lubricating a jackshaft is that it will not drip on your floor or car. You also won’t need to adjust your door due to cable stretch. Since this opener does not require rails, there’s also one less part that needs cleaning.
- Saves Space: Unlike trolley bar installations, that take up space in the headroom of a garage, jackshaft openers are mounted on the side and create more space in your garage.
It is important to mention that in order to have a jackshaft installed, your garage can’t have low headroom. A high lift ceiling is necessary for this kind of opener. Your garage also needs to have an outlet at the head of the garage near the door. Lastly, you must have space on the sides of the door to install side mount garage door openers.
Why Work With Custom Door & Gate?
We have been repairing and installing commercial and residential garage doors for over 30 years — which means we have experience installing and repairing garage doors of all models, sizes, and types. When it comes time for you to purchase a jackshaft garage door opener, we’ll be here to help ensure a smooth installation. We also offer services in gate security, access control systems, and more.
If you’re looking for a partner to deliver quality and expertise for your garage door needs, trust Custom Door & Gate. Contact us today.
How To Properly Lubricate A Garage Door
If you ever notice an awful screeching noise coming from your garage door, it’s a sign your door needs a health check-up.
Since the screws, springs, hinges, and tracks are all made of metal, they need to stay lubricated. Knowing how to lubricate a garage door will help increase its longevity and give your ears a break.
How to Lubricate a Garage Door
The proper way to lubricate your garage door starts with using the right solution. We recommend using a non-silicone lubricant such as LPS 2.
Always avoid spraying WD-40 on any part of your garage door. People often mistake this product, which contains anti-rust and degreasing properties, with a lubricant because the bottle states it helps parts move more smoothly. But WD-40 is a cleaning solvent, not a lubricant. It’s also important to avoid using grease at all costs. Grease will create a stickiness that’s hard to clean, so it can lead to a faster buildup of damaging debris.
Parts of Garage Door to Lubricate
Many parts of a garage door require frequent lubrication for smooth opening and closing operation, which should be part of your self-designed garage door preventive maintenance. Before lubricating, be sure to clean all parts with a dry cloth to remove any dust or debris. As you begin the lubrication process, use another dry cloth to clean as you go, avoiding excessive dripping on the garage floor.
Once you’re all set, you can begin to lubricate the following parts:
- Hinges: Lubricate the hinges at their pivot points. Only do this for metal hinges, though. Avoid applying anything to plastic parts. Some lubricants can cause the plastic to break down over time.
- Rollers: Metal rollers are how your garage door travels up and down. If your rollers feature nylon wheels, be sure to lubricate the rollers without getting any lubricant on the nylon material. While metal rollers require less precision, it’s a good idea to protect your floor and your car from any drips along the way.
- Springs: Locate the torsion springs that lift and lower your garage door. This is one of the most important parts of a garage door to lubricate because lubricating the springs can increase their efficiency as well as their lifespan. Apply just enough to make them move better.
It’s crucial that you do not apply any solution to the bearings or tracks of your door. You can clean them to ensure they are functioning at their best, but lubricant will not help these parts perform better.
Get in Touch With Us at Custom Door & Gate for Your Garage Door Needs
If your garage door isn’t working as it should or you have any questions about how to lubricate your garage door, contact us today. We’re here to help.
Photo Eyes And Garage Door Safety Tips
Garages are more than an entrance — we use them for storage, hobbies, crafts and even a place to work out. With those purposes comes more potential for accidents to occur. Fortunately, there are many precautions homeowners can take to prevent accidents.
Custom Door & Gate created a checklist of garage door safety tips for homeowners to help keep homes and families safe.
1. Get Familiar With Your Photo Eyes
If you’ve ever talked to a garage door professional about your door, you may have heard something about your garage door “photo eyes.” These photo eyes are the sensors on your door that are an important safety feature. Here’s what you need to know about photo eye sensors on garage doors and why they are so important.
How Do Garage Door Photo Eyes Work?
The photo eye sensors on garage doors are located about six inches above the ground, one on either side of the garage door. These sensors send out an invisible beam that connects them.
The way they function is quite simple. If anything interrupts the beam so that the two sensors are not in contact, the sensor signals the system to break the circuit so the door cannot close.
Why Are Photo Eye Sensors on Garage Doors Necessary?
In the 1990s, the government federally mandated important safety features on garage doors. The photo eyes are a response to this mandate. If a child or a careless adult wanders through the beam and breaks the connection between the sensors, the garage door will not come down.
Without the sensors, someone could press the remote to close the garage door, and it would not stop even if someone were underneath it — potentially crushing or gravely injuring the person in its path. Similarly, if someone accidentally tried to close the garage door with the car still in its way, the garage door would still come down and severely damage the car. Properly working sensors prevent either of these scenarios from happening.
How Do You Know If Your Sensors Are Not Working?
For safety reasons, if you discover your photo eye garage door sensors are not working, you need to fix them immediately. Some signs that the sensors are not working include:
- Lights on one of the sensors start blinking
- Garage door can go up but does not come back down when summoned
- Door starts to come down then goes back up
What Do You Do If Your Sensors Are Not Working?
If your sensors are not working correctly, this is usually because they cannot “see” each other to make the connection they need to. There are a number of ways you might be able to correct this problem, and here are a few of them:
- Move any stored items that might be blocking either sensor to another location. If this doesn’t work, see if one of the sensors appears out of place. If so, try manually adjusting it. This should require only a slight movement. If you need to apply force, leave the sensor alone as you might break it.
- Sometimes, depending upon the position of your garage door, direct sunlight can interfere with the sensor action. Try getting shades to block the sun from hitting them — but make sure the shades do not block the sensors from each other.
- If you still have a problem, clean both sensors with a cloth. Check to make sure no wiring has become loose as well.
If none of this works, you may have a bigger problem that requires a professional. If that’s the case, contact Custom Door & Gate. We can help you get your garage door back in working order.
2. Test Your Auto Reverse
More modern garage door openers have an auto-reverse function, which forces the door to change direction when it senses contact. Ensure yours is working correctly with a simple test. Place an object, such as a brick or overturned bucket, in the doorway and close the door. If the door doesn’t reverse direction when it touches the object, it’s time for a professional inspection by a garage door expert.
3. Keep Passwords Confidential
Newer garage door operators generate unique rolling codes that help secure your home and possessions. Many also have the technology for managing access from anywhere with your mobile device. You can permit one-time entry without disclosing keypad codes.
If your garage door opener is an older model, consider upgrading to enhance your security. Custom Door & Gate has a variety of residential openers with the benefits of rolling and one-time codes. Plus, many have features such as corner-to-corner LED lighting and battery backups to improve safety further.
4. Take Precautions With Children
Changes in safety technology make it easier to watch out for children. Still, it’s best to explain clearly that the garage door isn’t a toy. Encourage them not to play in the doorway or operate the door without supervision. Teach them to keep their hands clear of the panel joints as the door closes and prevent them from trying to ride the door as it raises.
Other basic precautions include keeping children away from the opening controls and everyday dangerous items in the garage.
Keep the Opener Controls Out of Reach
Children may find it tempting to press the button and watch the door respond. Allowing them to do so puts them at risk, and needlessly operating the door causes wear that can lead to costly repairs. Prevent accidents by not letting them play with the remote, keypad or operator. You should mount wall controls a minimum of 5 feet high and secure transmitters from little hands.
Store Dangerous Items Safely
Garages are valuable storage space, which means they’re often full of items like weed killer, lawn and garden tools, and flammables. Invest in shelving or a lockable cabinet that keeps chemicals, sharp instruments and power tools inaccessible to younger family members.
Improve Your Garage Door Safety and Security With Custom Door & Gate
Custom Door & Gate is North Carolina’s choice for garage door installation, maintenance and repair. Our team has over 100 years of collective industry experience and a commitment to providing exceptional customer service.
Time for an upgrade? Request a free personalized quote, call us at 919-876-4555 or reach out to a team member online.
Power Outage? Here’s How to Open Your Garage Door
We all come to depend on our automatic garage door openers. They deliver wonderful convenience for our busy lives — but we often tend to take them for granted.
When something like a power outage renders your garage door useless, it suddenly becomes a huge inconvenience. How are you supposed to get your car inside the garage — or get it out? Do you need to call a company that offers garage door repairs?
Fortunately, the answer to that question is no. Opening your garage door during a power outage is simple once you know how to do it. Here’s a look at getting into your garage when your garage door opener is rendered unusable due to a power outage.
Start With the Bypass
Your garage door is most likely equipped with a function that turns off the automatic opener and allows you to use the door manually. Have you noticed a rope hanging down from your garage door opener system — probably a rope with a handle connected to the end? That’s your bypass trigger.
When you yank down on this handle, the opener disengages from the automatic system that’s become unusable by the power outage. It’s a good idea to pull down on the handle and activate your bypass only when the garage door is closed. If you choose to do so while the door is open, the weight of the door could cause it to slam shut at a violent speed — which could damage the door or be dangerous to objects, animals or people standing nearby.
Operating Your Door While Power Is Out
Pull the rope back and as close to the garage door opener motor as possible. This will keep the rope out of the way while you operate the door in manual mode. Hopefully your power is out for only a short period of time, and you’ll soon return to automatic operation of your garage door opener.
If not, don’t worry. Homeowners used garage doors manually for years before automatic openers became widely available. It’s more effort and certainly less convenient, but a power outage shouldn’t prevent you from using your garage however you like.
What To Do When Power Returns
When the power comes on, you’ll need to reattach your garage door to the automatic opener. Pull down on the handle at the end of the rope again, just as you did when you first disengaged the opener. Then pull up on the door until you hear or feel it snap back into place once more. Alternatively, you can also push the button on your automatic opener. You’ll see the spring attachment reconnect once the opener reaches a certain point — and you’ll be back in business again.
If for any reason your garage door fails to engage again with the automatic opener after a power outage, you may need to call a provider of garage door repairs. It’s always possible that the return of power has led to a power surge that’s made the automatic opener inoperable.
Keep Safety First
A power outage can certainly mean a serious inconvenience in your home, but it shouldn’t make your garage door useless or unsafe. Power or no power, garage doors are heavy items that operate under massive amounts of tension. Your garage door and its opener are designed to manage this tension safely, but be sure not to do anything that feels risky or that seems outside of normal operation.
Disengaging and reengaging your automatic garage door opener should be simple and straightforward tasks that allow you to use your door even in the case of a power outage. If they aren’t, however, a few moments or hours of inconvenience aren’t worth damage to your door or a threat to your safety.
When You Need Expert Support
At Custom Door & Gate, we offer garage door repairs, service and installation to homeowners throughout Raleigh, Greenville, Greensboro and Fayetteville, North Carolina. We’ve been in business since 1989, offering customers like you the best in garage doors and openers as well as outstanding customer service that responds with urgency to your needs.
When you need assistance getting your garage door opener going again after a power outage or similar support, we’re just a phone call away. We offer a team of experienced and knowledgeable technicians who can quickly diagnose any issues with your garage door or opener, make recommendations and then execute on the services you choose. Make sure you’re getting the best for your home and its garage door and opener when you choose Custom Door & Gate.
Contact Custom Door & Gate when you need garage door repairs or other assistance for your door or opener.
Benefits of Electric Garage Door Openers vs. Manual Garage Door Openers
Do you have an electric garage door opener? New garage door openers aren’t often on the top of people’s list of home improvement projects, but if you’ve lived with a manual garage door opener for years, you may want to consider some of the benefits electric garage door openers can bring.
If you’ve never thought about electric garage door openers before, here are a few important points to consider.
Photo Eye
One of the most important features you get with electric garage door openers that you don’t get with a manual opener is the photo eye. The photo eye is a pair of sensors on either side of the garage door that is connected with a light beam. If that beam is interrupted, the door will not close. This protects you from having the garage door slam down on something in its way, like your car, or even worse, you or a member of your family. The value of this safety feature alone is worth installing an electric garage door opener system.
Keypad Entry
The ease of remote and keypad entry is another big advantage of electric garage door opener systems. No need to get out of your car, fumble with a key and strain to lift the door all the way up. With an electric system, just press the button on the remote or type in the keycode and you’re done. No keys to lose or share.
If you have a manually locking garage door that is compromised by a break-in, you need to call a locksmith to install a whole new lock. If your keycode is compromised, you can just set a new one. Some systems even allow you to set a temporary keycode so guests can get in once without having unlimited access to your home.
Illuminated Garage
An electronic garage door opener system also will often have a light that automatically goes on when you activate it to open the door. This makes it easier to get into your home at night and may deter potential burglars.
Install Your Electric Garage Door Opener Now
For safety, convenience, and efficiency, nothing beats an electric garage door opener. If you’re in the Greensboro, Greenville, Fayetteville or Raleigh, N.C., area, you’ll want to know about Custom Door & Gate, which sells and installs top-of-the-line electric garage door openers quickly and easily. You can enjoy the benefits of your new electric garage door opener system right away.
We’ve got years of experience installing high-quality gates, garage doors and new garage door openers throughout the Raleigh area, and are ready to outfit you with a brand new, modern electric garage door opener.
How to Ready Your Garage Door for Winter
If you live in a place where winters can see cold weather and snowfall, like North Carolina, you want to make sure your garage door is ready for the winter. The time to make sure your garage door is ready is before winter strikes, not after.
Here are a few key steps to take to make sure your garage door is primed for the season.
1. Ensure the Door Is Sealed Properly
If you’re inside your garage with the light off and you can see light coming through from outside or you notice any detectable gaps, you’ve got a problem. If light can get in, heat can escape. Check your weather stripping around the garage door. Replacement of any damaged or missing seals will be necessary, and it’s also a good idea to clean the weather stripping with a reliable all-purpose cleaner.
2. Have Your Garage Door Inspected
Your garage door needs an annual inspection, and right before the approach of winter is the perfect time to do it. Have professionals inspect the door and identify any problems that might lead to a garage door or garage door opener malfunction. If you need residential garage door repair, you’ll want to take care of it now, not when it’s 15 below zero in a snowstorm and your garage door refuses to close.
3. Get an Insulated Garage Door
If you don’t have an insulated garage door and have been suffering season after season, or the insulated garage door you have is starting to break down, the impending onset of winter is the ideal time for garage door replacement. There are some great new insulated garage doors on the market today that can do a fantastic job of keeping the heat in, allowing you to stay warm and saving you on energy costs during the winter months.
In North Carolina, a quality, efficient garage door replacement company like Custom Door & Gate can have your top-of-the-line insulated garage door installed in one day, giving you the peace of mind of knowing your garage will be safe and warm throughout the winter months.
4. Lubricate All Moving Parts
This is something you should do every season anyway. Making sure all the moving parts of your garage door are properly lubricated will help ensure proper functioning and can extend the life of your garage door system.
5. Make Sure Your Winter Products Are Accessible
This is more a general garage rule, but it’s important. Make sure any machines you have to deal with inclement weather, such as snow blowers, shovels and rock salt, are stored where you have easy access. You probably buried them somewhere in the back of the garage to store then until needed. Now is the time to clear a space for them and bring them out. This way you can access them quickly if you need them, including in situations where your garage door is blocked by snow and you need something to clear it away.
If your inspection shows it’s time for garage door replacement or repair in North Carolina, Custom Door & Gate can help. Custom Door & Gate has been efficiently handling residential garage door repair and garage door replacement for more than 25 years, with offices in Raleigh, Greensboro, Greenville and Fayetteville. Get in touch now to discuss garage door replacement or schedule a repair before winter strikes.
Why You Should Call Professionals to Repair Your Garage Door
If you get your garage door installed right the first time, you shouldn’t have problems with it for a long while. However, sometimes a faulty part slips through, your garage door sustains some unexpected damage, or it’s been a long time and part of your door has passed its normal lifespan. Whatever the reason, you’re in need of residential garage door repair.
If you have an automatic garage door, repair may seem even more urgent. You may be tempted to try these repairs yourself, but you should never attempt to repair your own garage door for several reasons.
Safety
A garage door has a lot of moving parts. It’s a heavy piece of equipment, and fooling around with it when you’re not a professional can be dangerous. Sure, you can go on YouTube and find some instructional garage door repair videos, which may make it look easy. Do you think they’re going to pay your hospital bill when your hand gets mangled in a garage door mechanism or the door falls on you and breaks your leg? You can be sure they won’t. Letting a professional provide your residential garage door service means you don’t risk injury.
Prevent Additional Damage
You may be pretty handy around the house, but when it comes to automatic garage door repair, you just don’t have the experience the professionals do. There are people who are trained to avoid the mistakes that could make the problem worse. If you’ve never set about fixing something and accidentally created a worse problem, you’re a rare breed. If you make a mistake fixing your garage door, it could be an extremely costly one.
Missed Opportunity
If your garage door has broken down, it may actually be time to get it replaced. A brand-new garage door can be much more attractive and even more functional than the one you already own. If you go about fixing your old door, you may miss an opportunity to upgrade. That old garage door will need to be replaced sooner or later. This could be the perfect situation to move on to a new one.
For these reasons and more, garage door repair service is better left to the experts – such as the professionals at Custom Door & Gate, who have been repairing and replacing garage doors for more than 25 years. Our professional team knows exactly what is required to do the job right and have your garage door functioning properly again in no time. We also provide advice when it’s time for a new door and which new garage doors would be a perfect fit for your home.
If you’ve got a garage door that needs repairing or replacing, put away the tool box and contact Custom Door & Gate to schedule a repair or find out what your options are for new garage door installation. If your garage door fails unexpectedly and needs to be fixed immediately, call for Custom Door & Gate’s 24/7 emergency repair service.
How to Avoid a Garage Door Repair Scam
Are you considering a keyless garage door opener for your home garage? It can be a great idea to replace your current garage door system with a keyless entry system for several reasons. For one, they are incredibly convenient. You don’t ever have to worry about losing or misplacing your keys, because there are no keys. Just input your code into the garage door opener keypad and you’re in. For another, there’s no lock to pick, and no complicated changing of locks if someone gains access. All you have to do is change the code on your garage door keypad, which takes a few seconds, and you’ve got yourself a brand new lock.
Another added bonus of keyless garage doors is that you can assign a temporary code, so friends or family members can gain access one time without you having to distribute multiple keys or giving multiple people access to your garage and your home.
How do you know if the garage door company you get to install your keyless entry garage door is legit?
Beware of Garage Door Repair Scams
Whether you need work on your door because the lock broke and you need a new keyless garage door opener system, there’s something faulty in the mechanism preventing the door from closing and opening properly, or you’ve sustained physical damage to the door, you want a garage door repair and installation company you can trust. The problem is, you probably don’t have your garage door replaced or repaired too often and your neighbors may not have either, so you’re probably not trained to look out for the warning signs of a garage door repair scam.
We don’t want you to fall victim to unscrupulous garage door scammers, so here’s what to look for.
- No Identifying Marks: If your potential garage door repair person shows up in an unmarked van, without a uniform or any other indicators of the company he works for, this should be a big red flag. Most reputable garage door repair people are affiliated with a company that is proud to display their logo and other identifying information so you know who you’re dealing with.
- Excessively Low or High Prices: Shop around online and see what the typical prices are for the repair or installation service you’re looking for. If a price seems exorbitantly high, call the company on it, and don’t be afraid to look elsewhere. Perhaps as importantly, an extremely low price for a service can be one of the big warning signs of a garage door repair scam. If they offer you a price that’s way lower than the price others quote you elsewhere, you can bet the installation or repair is going to fail before long.
- Lifetime Guarantees: A lifetime guarantee sounds great, but it can also be one of the warning signs of a garage door repair scam. The trick here is to install a part that will fail, and then when honoring the lifetime guarantee, replace the faulty part for free but slap on a hefty service charge for the reinstallation.
Now you know what to look for in a potential garage door scam, but what about how to avoid garage door repair scams entirely? Your best bet here is to seek out a garage door company with a reputation for reliability, honesty and quality service.
Garage door repair scams are actually a lot more prevalent than you might think. If you are a victim of such a scam, it cannot only cost you money, but can also be dangerous, as a faulty garage door installation or repair can become a serious safety issue. Avoid scams by only working with reputable garage door companies for your garage door installation or repair and by staying informed, as an informed consumer is the scammer’s worst enemy.
Custom Door & Gate has more than 25 years of experience in the garage door business. Our friendly, professional staff proudly serves residential and commercial garage door needs of customers throughout North Carolina. Learn more about our available garage door products, from keyless garage door opener systems to a variety of residential and commercial doors. You can also schedule a repair of your garage door and get an estimate of the cost.
3 Reasons You Need Keyless Entry for Your Garage
One of the great joys of owning a home has to be having a garage. No hunting around the neighborhood looking for a parking space, no worries about the elements damaging your car, no concerns about criminal elements robbing, stealing or vandalizing your car as it sits on the street overnight. And the extra storage space or work space can be a great bonus.
But all of those advantages go away if your garage is not secure. Your garage provides access to your car, your storage items and even your house. If your garage is secured by a simple key and lock system, you might not be confident in your garage’s safety, and with good reason. A garage door lock makes a great target for thieves. It can be picked or broken, or a lost key could fall into the wrong hands.
A great solution is a keyless garage door opener that uses a keypad. If you haven’t considered using a garage door keypad or keyless garage door opener before, here are three reasons you need keyless entry for your garage.
1. Easy Changing of Locks
If you do lose your key or suspect someone has unauthorized access, you have to go through a long and costly process of changing the lock and getting new keys for everyone who needs one, only to go through it all over again if you lose the keys again.
If you’ve got a garage door opener keypad, you can change the “locks” in seconds. Access is provided thorough a keypad code, so if you’re afraid someone unauthorized has gotten access to your code, all you have to do is change the code. If someone gets the new code, a few seconds of reprogramming and you’re secure once more.
2. No Keys or Remotes to Lose
Without a keyless garage door opener system, you need to know where all the keys or remote garage door openers are at all times. You are probably already well aware of how easy these things are to misplace. You’ve already got your house keys, possibly multiple car keys, maybe an office key.
Do you really need one more key to worry about? With a keyless garage door opener, you can never lose your key, because there is no key. As long as you know your code, you can always get into your garage without a problem.
3. Temporary Codes
There’s another great feature of some keyless garage door opener systems that you may not be aware of. Let’s say you have a package coming and you’re not going to be home when it arrives. You have four options:
- Stay home
- Have a family member stay home
- Arrange to pick it up somewhere, like at an out-of-the-way facility
- Let them leave it on your doorstep and hope no one comes by and helps themselves before you come home
Or how about this scenario. You’ve got a friend coming in from out of town but their flight lands in the middle of the afternoon. Now you have to either take the day off from work to let them into your house or somehow arrange to get them a key, both rather inconvenient options.
The right keyless garage door opener system can present the solution. On this system, you can actually set a temporary code on your garage door keypad. This is a code that will work for the amount of time you set, and only for that time.
Got a package delivery? Give the delivery service the temporary code and they can leave the package right inside your garage. By the time you get home, your home is totally secure, with no worry that someone else may get access to that other code. By the same principle, you can give the code to your out-of-town guest so they can get in without having to worry about whether or not it will fall into the wrong hands.
Make the Convenient Choice
As you can see, a keyless garage door opener system is extremely convenient, and the right system can be much simpler and less expensive to install than you might imagine. If you’re still working with a traditional key entry system for your garage door, it’s time to move into the modern era. Provide an added level of safety and convenience for you and your family by ordering a keyless garage door opener system with garage door keypad today.
4 Tips For Garage Door Safety Month
You may not think of an automatic overhead garage door as something that could be hazardous, but anything mechanical has the potential to be dangerous under the right circumstances. You should be especially careful of any mechanical elements in your home — especially those that are on the exterior of your house and have the potential to affect more than just your family.
Garage door safety is incredibly important, which is why we here are Custom Door & Gate work diligently to bring you safe and reliable garage doors that are also visually appealing. Once your custom garage doors are installed, it’s always best to perform a garage door safety test to make sure everything is running smoothly and working exactly as it should. Make sure that, if you have young children in your home, you conduct these safety tests on a regular basis to decrease the chances of any accidental injuries being caused by your automatic garage door.
In addition to regular garage door safety tests, it’s important to make sure everyone in your family understands the dangers that come along with owning an automatic garage door. This will minimize the risk of injuries within your household. Remember that your garage door is not a toy — it’s a heavily mechanized convenience option that should be treated with care and respect.
With that in mind, here are the top four tips to teach your family about garage safety.
Don’t Race the Door
It may seem like common sense, but you should never push the button to close your garage door and then proceed to try and run underneath it before the door has a chance to close. This is extremely dangerous and could result in serious physical harm or even death. While most sober adults would never admit to attempting to race the garage door, many have actually tried this. Unfortunately, it’s much more common for children to try to beat the door, and they often do it as part of a game.
Garage door safety sensors have significantly reduced the number of injuries sustained due to people pushing the button on the garage door opener and then attempting to run under it before it has a chance to close. The safety sensors should not be relied on except in emergency situations, so it’s important to have a discussion with your children and anyone else in or around your home that may try to race the door about how unsafe and dangerous it is.
Hire a Professional for Repairs
No matter how much of a handyman or handywoman you think you are, there are some things in life that you should always hire a professional to repair. Your overhead garage door is one of these things. Although it may seem like your custom overhead door is a simple setup consisting of a door on a rail with a few electronics thrown in, it’s actually far more complicated than that. There are quite a few heavy, moving parts and electrical components involved in your garage door, which is why you should hire a professional for even the most seemingly minor repairs.
Fixing your own garage door when it’s out-of-order is a safety hazard, as the heavy door could fall onto you, or the electrical system could shock you. An amateur fix is likely to be a fairly unreliable fix, as the chances of you fixing your own broken door without proper training is slim to none. Not to mention the fact that you will have a harder time finding the proper materials to use in the repair than a professional would. Using the wrong materials could lead to permanent damage that even the most qualified professional may not be able to fix.
Keep Your Hands Away From Joints and Tracks
There are many moving parts that make up your overhead garage door, and your hands should be nowhere near them if you want to keep all of your fingers and avoid any other types of injuries. Every year, over 7,000 causes of people pinching or crushing their hands and fingers in the joints and tracks of their overhead garage doors are reported. It’s one of the most common injuries associated with automatic garage doors. Yet, the avoidance of this injury is beyond simple. All you have to do is keep your hands away from the joints and tracks.
If you think that something is wrong with the joints or tracks of your garage door, it’s always better to call in a professional for their opinion or repair help. As noted above, if you try to repair your garage door yourself, you could end up with more damage than just a pinched or crushed finger or two. Your best bet with automatic garage doors is to only touch them when they’re closed, and only then to clean them. Otherwise, there really is no other legitimate reason for putting yourself in harm’s way.
Fix Any Broken Glass Around Windows on the Garage Door
You wouldn’t let a broken window in your home go without fixing it, so why let your garage windows sit broken any longer than absolutely necessary? Not only is this unsightly, but it’s also hazardous to anyone who walks near your garage door. Even if the glass is only cracked and not broken on the ground, it may still prove to be a safety hazard. Once a window is cracked, it’s more likely to break through and leave trails of glass all over your driveway and/or the interior of your garage. This possibility increases each and every time you open and close your garage door with broken glass.
Broken glass is dangerous to you and your family, since it introduces a risk of cutting your feet if you happen to step on it. It’s also hazardous to your automobiles, and can become lodged in a car tire, causing a slow leak that may leave you stranded somewhere, a huge blowout that could cause a dangerous accident or even just a flat tire that derails your plans for the day and costs you additional money for new tires, along with a new garage door window.
We hope you’ve learned something from this brief tutorial on basic garage door safety. As you can see, it takes just a few small changes to safeguard yourself and the people you love.