Garage Door Safety

Garage Door Safety in Des Moines

Your garage door is the largest and heaviest moving part on your home.

Ensure you understand your garage door’s safety features and how to maintain your product to keep it safe for years to come!

If you have any questions or concerns about the safety of your garage door, please don’t hesitate to contact Overhead Door of Des Moines™️.

Safety Tips for Garage Doors

Your garage door’s springs are one of the most important parts of your door. Unfortunately, springs wear out and can become the most dangerous part of your door and potentially resulting in serious injury. If you have an older garage door, have your springs inspected by a professional serviceman and replaced if needed. If your door has two springs, replace both—even if only one is broken. This will prevent any damage caused by the breaking of the second spring, and encourage your door to last longer.

Visually inspect the cables that attach the spring system to the bottom brackets on both sides of the door. If these cables are frayed or worn, they are in danger of breaking, which can cause injury. Due to the dangers associated with high spring tension, these cables should be replaced only by a trained technician.

Springs can squeak and be noisy. This is caused by normal use and does not necessarily indicate a problem. Before calling a professional service technician, use a spray-on lubricant (recommended especially for garage doors). If the noise persists, call a professional garage door installer for service.

Garage door installation can be dangerous. Unless you have experience working with your door, it’s not recommended. The Door & Access Systems Manufacturers Association (DASMA) recommends that only professional door systems technicians install garage doors. DIY repairs or installations can result in personal injury and damage to your door and home.

If your door doesn’t have extension springs, you should install a safety cable that runs through the spring and is secured to the wall/ceiling at each end. Extension springs are under high tension when the door is closed — which is most of the time. A spring breaking could cause injury or damage to your home, car, and door.  If you have extension springs but no safety cable, call your local Kansas City garage door dealer soon for a safety inspection.

A struggling door is a sign you need the help of a pro. This can result from a variety of issues, all of which could be serious.  Spring systems can be dangerous and should be repaired only by trained professionals.

Never place your fingers between the door’s panels, this his how thousands of homeowners injure themselves each year. Use the handles or the safe gripping points only if you have to manually close your door.

Only a trained door systems technician should adjust any part of your garage door system. Your springs are under extreme tension and can cause serious injury if they break.

Don’t try to save money by installing a new door on an old track. It’s likely your new door won’t fit exactly into this track, which could cause a derailing and a variety of other issues.

It’s recommended to schedule An annual visit from a trained garage door systems technician will keep your door operating properly for a long time.

Safety Tips for Garage Door Openers

Always wait until your door closes completely before leaving the garage. This helps to avoid potential injury to children or animals.

If you’re DIY-ing your installation, never forget your reinforcement bracket. Failure to do this can damage your door! Always double-check the installation manual for instructions.

A sluggish door isn’t the sign you need a more powerful garage door opener. Call a trained door systems technician to diagnose any problems and offer solutions.

Installed photo eyes more than six inches above the garage floor. Failure to this can cause you to run the risk of a person or pet not getting properly detected by the photo eyes.

Keep the push-button for your garage door at least five feet above the floor so it’s out of the reach of children.

Keep remote controls for your garage where children cannot play with them. Warn kids about the dangers of garage doors and ensure they know the remote if off-limits.

It’s recommended to perform routine maintenance once a month to ensure your garage door opener is functional and safe.

Additional Tests & Safety Measures

Look at the garage door springs, cables, rollers, pulleys, and other door hardware for signs of wear. Suspect problems? Have only a qualified person make repairs.

Periodically test the balance of your door. Begin with the door closed. If you have a garage door opener, use the release mechanism so you can operate the door by hand when doing this test. You should be able to lift the door smoothly with little resistance. It should also stay open around three or four feet above the floor. If it does not, that means your garage door is out of adjustment. You can have it adjusted by contacting a qualified service professional.

Make sure your opener has a reversing feature. If a reversing feature is not present, the opener should be replaced. Garage door openers manufactured after January 1, 1993, are required by federal law to have safety features that comply with the latest UL (Underwriters Laboratories) 325 standards. Contact your manufacturer or installer for additional information.

To perform a reversal test to ensure garage door safety: first, test the balance of the door. If your garage door is properly balanced, proceed. With the door completely open, place a 1-1/2″ thick piece of wood (a 2″ X 4″ laid flat) on the floor near the center of the door. Push the transmitter or wall button to close the door. The door must reverse when it strikes the obstruction. (Note that the bottom part of “one-piece doors” must be rigid so that the door will not close, but will reverse when it contacts the obstruction.) If the door does not reverse, have it repaired or replaced. Have a qualified technician adjust, repair, or replace the opener or door.

Test the force setting of your garage door by holding the bottom of the door as it closes. If the door does not readily reverse, the force setting may be excessive and need adjusting. See your owner’s manual on how to make the adjustment.

Many garage door openers are equipped with additional safety features, such as photo eyes or edge sensors, to protect against entrapment. Keep in mind that adding more safety devices will not make an old opener meet the current UL standards. Make sure the additional safety devices are properly installed and adjusted (see owner’s manual) to ensure you and your family have a safe and functional garage door for your home.

  • Springs in garage doors are under high tension. Only qualified persons should adjust them.
  • Garage door springs, brackets, cables, and other hardware attached to the springs are under very high tension and, if handled improperly, can cause injury. Only a qualified professional should adjust them, by carefully following the manufacturer’s instructions.
  • The torsion springs (the springs above the door) should only be adjusted by a professional garage door serviceman. Do not attempt to repair or adjust these springs yourself.
  • A cable or other device should be installed on the extension spring (the spring along the side of the door) as a backup if the spring breaks.
  • Never adjust, remove, or loosen the screws on the bottom brackets of the door. These brackets are under extreme tension, and connect to the springs.