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Torsion bar type garage door operator (C) Daniel Friedman InspectApedia.comGarage Door Safety & Repair
Install, Inspect, Repair & Maintain garage doors & door operators

This article describes safety hazards and safety inspection points for vehicle doors, automatic garage door operators, and also garage passage doors or man-doors giving access between a garage and the building interior.

Page top photo: a typical spring-operated torsion-type garage-door operator mechanism during re-construction of a New York garage. A center spring is wound as the door moves downward. The spring tension provides a lift-assist for either a manually-operated garage door or for an automatic garage door operator (in our photo the automatic operator is not yet installed).

An improperly-installed or adjusted or obsolete automatic garage door operator is unsafe because it can injure or even kill a child, while access doors between a garage and the building that it serves have their own separate set of safety requirements including fire-resistance, automatic-closing mechanisms, measures to prevent vehicle exhaust or fumes from entering the building, and proper walking surfaces to avoid fall-hazards.

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Garage Door Safety Hazards

Garage door operator assembly during construction, in a rare "from above" view (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.comOur photo above shows an automatic garage door operator and the door itself, in a view not normally available: from above, during reconstruction of a New York garage.

You can see the center spring, torsion bar, and the tracks through which wheels on the garage door segments run as the door moves up or down.

[Click to enlarge any image]

Following our list and discussion of safety hazards at manual and automatic garage vehicle doors or overhead doors, we include a list of hazards at garage passage doors between garage and building.

Garage Vehicle Door Hazards Inspection List

  1. Obsolete garage door operator:

    Automatic garage door operator that is an obsolete model that lacks an automatic reversing safety mechanism (In the U.S., older than 1982)
  2. Mis-Adjusted:

    Automatic garage door operator whose safety mechanism is not properly adjusted to reverse if it detects an obstruction: misaligned sensor lights or improperly-adjusted obstruction sensor.

    Object impact detection system:

    The garage door should reverse on striking any object within 1 1/2" of the floor surface or higher. Required on garage door operators made after 1981.

    External entrapment protection system:

    The garage door should reverse if it detects any object beneath the door path even without striking the object (typically by optical sensors that must be aligned properly). Required on garage door operators made after 1 January 1993.

    Optical sensors are usually mounted 4-6" above the garage floor.
  3. Child-access to door controls:

    Automatic garage door operator control switch mounted too low - accessible to small children (attractive nuisance)

    Also keep remote garage door operator controls out of the reach of children.
  4. Weak, loose operator motor mounts: Garage door or door operator motor or parts not securely mounted to the building structure: falling risk
  5. Automatic garage door operator spring(s) improperly-adjusted,

    door out of balance: door should remain in position if stopped during movement
  6. Automatic garage door operator improperly-adjusted

    if the door re-opens on its own after closing fully:

    homeowner thinks s/he has closed it and drives away, leaving the building open to pests or forming a building security risk
  7. Automatic garage door wheels / track out of alignment,

    can cause the door to jam, operator to fail, door to fall entirely out of its tracks, etc.
  8. Overhead garage door tracks not securely-mounted

    to the structure: entire door assembly can fall when in the open position.

    All door hardware: check for loose parts, bolts, fasteners at handles, step plates, hinges, top fixtures, locks, track brackets. Don't over-tighten as you may strip threads.

Garage Door release rope safety feature (C) Daniel Friedman at Inspectapedia.com

  1. Missing emergency release pull cord.

    Pulling this cord disengages the trolley, allowing manual lifting of a closed door.

    The primary pull cord function is to escape from the garage without assistance from the garage door operator during a power failure or other malfunction.

    Pulling the cord also permits verification that the spring(s) and other components are properly adjusted and working smoothly.

    This verification is important after repairs or adjustments and should be performed routinely, probably annually.
  2. Overhead garage door left disconnected

    from its operator mechanism: heavy garage door may fall during manual effort to open or close it
  3. Sliding or gate-type automatic garage door that lacks obstruction sensors

Garage door roller assembly lubrication points (C) Daniel Friedman InspectApedia.com

Additional garage door hazards for which automatic protection mechanisms either are not provided or can not be provided at low cost.

These are in addition to crushing injuries and fractures that occur to children and ascribed to absence or malfunction of the garage door safety hazards listed just above

  1. Garage door lubrication failures

    can cause door cables or springs or the operator chain to break, also resulting in property damage or injury.

    Typical overhead garage door maintenance, inspection & lubrication are required to maintain a safe garage door opening and closing system:

    Door tracks: keep clean of grease and debris;

    Door rollers: lightly-oil hinge points. steel roller stems, inner race assembly, locking device moving parts, torsion spring torsion tube, spring coil surfaces, using 30W or other minimum weight oil; wipe off excess;

    See the garage door installation and operation manuals given below on this page for more details about garage door operator lubrication requirements.
  2. Amputation or laceration hazards:

    fingers, hands, or other body parts may be cut or even amputated if a person's hand or un-protected foot is inserted into dangerous locations such as in the wheel track of the garage door or into the garage door lift cable assembly.

    Watch out: Photo above: the garage door lift cable, pulley surfaces, and wheels and track are all exposed in a normal overhead door installation. Keep fingers, hands, toes, clothing away from these opening!

Automatic overhead garage door lift cable pulley and door wheel exposure hazards (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

  1. Impact or other injuries:

    from pieces of broken garage door springs. Springs are more-likely to break when old (metal fatigue), rusted, or improperly-adjusted (over-stretched horizontal springs or over-wound torsion-bar springs).

    Horizontal garage door lift assist springs connected between the lift cables at each side of the door and the inner-most end of the garage door track can break suddenly, usually at the half-round connectors found at either end of the spring, allowing the garage door to fall suddenly.

    We have inspected homes that sported a hole smashed in the garage wall opposite the garage door track, caused when the door spring broke and flew through the air.

    Torsion bar garage door springs that wrap around a torsion-bar type garage door lift assist spring can break suddenly. Lubrication and inspection are key to avoiding this damage.
  2. Garage door spring hazards:

    Watch out: do not try to remove, install, repair or adjust springs or anything to which the garage door parts are fastened such as wood blocks, steel brackets, cables, etc.

    Repairs must be done by a trained garage door technician. If you are not trained to do so, attempting to remove a cable or adjust or remove a spring can cause serious injury.

    These parts are under tremendous spring tension and can snap, break apart, and cause bodily injury if you attempt to loosen, move, or adjust them.

Garage door safety label (C) Daniel Friedman InspectApedia.com

  1. Missing garage door safety labels:

    factory-supplied garage door safety labels are provided for as many as seven different garage door hazards, depending on where you live.

    These labels have required locations so that important safety warnings can be observed by the homeowner and others. Examples of garage door safety labels include

    Operator bracket warning label
    Torsion spring tag warning label (one per spring)
    Cleaning instructions label
    Residential safety warning label
    Door bottom section safety warning labels
    Door instruction manual & manual envelope
  2. OPINION: Garage door operators that do not comply with voluntary ANSI/UL Standard 325-1982 are unsafe.

 

Unsafe Torsion-bar Type Garage Door Operator

Unsafe torsion bar type automatic garage door operator (C) InspectApedia.com rw

Depending on its construction materials, a double-wide overhead garage door like the one in this photo can be particularly heavy.

Thanks to an InspectApedia reader we have these photographs of a damaged torsion-bar type garage door operator that is unsafe.

Should the gouged, damaged torsion bar break (or should the spring itself break) the garage door can come crashing down, injuring anyone who is below the door, or causing property damage.

Unsafe torsion bar type automatic garage door operator (C) InspectApedia.com rw

Watch out: this is dangerous: the end of the track bolt above the rotating garage door operator pipe or bar has so gouged into the pipe that there is risk of its eventual breakage: releasing the torsion spring and sending the door crashing down.

Unsafe torsion bar type automatic garage door operator (C) InspectApedia.com rw

Horizontal or Moving Gate Garage Vehicle Door Operators

Horizontal garage door at a Minneapolis home (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Above and below, installed in a Minneapolis MN home, we see a long garage door that moves horizontally to open or close two sides of a garage to permit vehicles to use the garage from an otherwise difficult alley-access.

Horizontal sliding garage door or gate automatic operator in a Minneapolis garage (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com ... Horizontal sliding garage door or gate automatic operator in a Minneapolis garage (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Gate type door operators also need a safety mechanism to detect an obstruction anywhere in the sliding door's passage, so that injury or property damage can be prevented.

 

Garage Passage Door of "Man Door" Safety

Basement stair with open side, no rail (C) Daniel FriedmanIn-Garage Stairs to Basement = explosion waiting to happen

Our photo illustrates an unsafe entry stair passing from a residential garage into the home's basement: a stairway originating on the garage floor passes down into the building's basement.

Watch out:  As heating equipment is most often found in the home's basement, imagine the explosion that may occur (one did, despite our emphatic warnings, in Fishkill NY) if a vehicle leaks gasoline and gasoline fumes into the garage.

Gasoline fumes, heavier than air, fall down the stairwell, into the basement (or crawl space) where, at the next spark or flame, there is risk of an explosion.

A "fire door" in the stairwell bottom is not enough security for this installation. In fact, as you can see, the (not fire-rated) door has been left ajar.

The above is excerpted

from BASEMENT WALKOUTS & COVERS

List of Garage Passage Door Hazards & Safety Inspection Points

Garage Vehicle Door Safety Notices, Standards Codes & Installation Manuals

US CPSC safety alert garage door operators can be a child hazard - at InspectApedia.com

Illustration: adapted from US CPSC Safety Alert cited just below.

Do children actually play a game of running out beneath a garage door that is in the process of closing. Absolutely. One of our clients described her small son and his friends playing a game of seeing who could wait longest to throw himself down and then roll out beneath the closing garage door!

Watch out: these inspection lists do not list all possible defects for the systems discussed, and not all home or building inspectors will examine all of the items listed here. CONTACT us to suggest corrections or additions to articles at this website.


...

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