Pop quiz: What is likely the largest, heaviest moving object in your home? Here are a few hints: it provides security and protects against the elements. If insulated and newer, it will help your home conserve energy. And it allows you and your family convenient access to and from your home.
Answer: It’s your garage door.
But do you know how to operate and maintain your garage door safely? Do your kids know the potential hazards that a garage door may present? The Garage Door Safety Quiz, found at www.garagedoorcare.com, can help.
“At only five questions long, the quiz will take you just a few minutes to complete,” says Chris Long, managing director of the International Door Association, a trade association comprised of more than 2,000 door and access system dealers and installers worldwide, which manages the website. “But knowing the answers to those five questions can help keep you and your family safe from potential garage door hazards.”
Here are a few things to think about that will help build your knowledge of garage door safety
* A moving garage door can pose a risk for injury, or even death
* Children or adults should never stand, run, or play under or near any garage door – especially when the door is open or moving
* It’s important that children realize that the garage door and its associated parts are not toys. Like elevator buttons and your television’s remote control buttons, the buttons on your remote garage door opener may be enticing for children to press. Adults should not allow children access to the remote opener, and push button wall controls should be installed at least five feet off the ground, out of the reach of children.
It’s particularly important that parents learn about children and garage door safety. A special learning tool on the website entitled “D.O.O.R. Safe” contains four brief messages to help parents teach young children the dos and don’ts of garage doors, such as:
* Doors are heavy – never stand, run or play under or near any garage door.
* Openers are for adults – never play with the button on the wall that opens and closes the garage door.
* Ouch – never touch any part of a moving garage door. Your fingers and hands can get hurt.
* Remotes are for adults – never play with the remote control in the car or on Mom and Dad’s keychain.
Installing or repairing a garage door may also be dangerous to even the most avid do-it-yourselfer. While there are many maintenance checks that you can perform yourself – like monthly tests that include visual inspections, door balance, reversing mechanism, photo eye, force setting and a semi-annual lubrication – there are some tasks that are best left to a professional. For example, door installation, annual maintenance or repair of a garage door’s springs or cables should be performed by a trained service technician.
