Garage Door Safety for Kids

Garage Door Safety for Kids; How to Install and Maintain?

Garage Door Safety for Kids; How to Install and Maintain?

When parents try to make their home child-proof, the garage is rarely on their to-do list. After all, we rarely allow infants to crawl around on the garage floor. However, the garage does contain its dangers. And the risk increases when the child is old enough to run around, whether they’re running into or out of the garage. Here are seven tips for garage door safety for kids and their parents.

7 Tips for Garage Door Safety for Kids and Parents.

1. Prevent the Garage Door from Closing on Your Child

There are two main ways to prevent a garage door from closing on a child, both of which involve sensors. Protective detection sensors send a constant beam of invisible light between the two sensors. If anything is detected between the two sensors, the garage door won’t close.

This means the garage door won’t close if your child is laying down on the ground between them. Furthermore, it means the garage door won’t close if your bumper is in the way of the garage door, either.

The sensor has a limitation

These sensors do have their limits. If the sensors aren’t correctly installed, they won’t work at all. In this case, you’ll know it because you can’t close the garage door. If the sensors are blocked by a trash can or cardboard box, you can’t close the garage door, either. If the sensors are dirty, the same problem occurs.

This is why many home owners rely on overforce sensors. Overforce sensors will close the garage door but will open again if the door senses excessive force when closing.

This means the garage door will open itself if it closes on a person of any age. While these garage door safety for kids sensors are a good first step, you need to test them periodically to make sure they work properly.

Just stick a piece of cardboard or an entire box under the door to make certain the door retracts.

What can you do if you have a manual garage door?

Always check for children before you close the door. Ensure the garage door is completely retracted and stationary in its railing before you move on to the next thing.

2. Don’t Let Kids Access the Garage Door Controls.

Kids opening and closing the garage door can cause all kinds of problems. Maybe the children open the garage and go outside when you don’t want them to do so. Maybe they open the garage door for entertainment and ignore it, though this gives criminals an easy way into your home.

The solution is to put a lockout on the controls. For example, you can put a combination lock on garage door opener or a keypad on outside of garage. Then the only people who can unlock and open the garage door from the outside are adults with the code.

And keep the garage door remote control away from children. Let your kids play with toy keys instead of real car keys.

3. Don’t Let Kids Play On or Around Key Garage Door Components

Garage doors either have torsion springs or linear extension springs. Torsion springs are more common in newer garage doors. If those springs break, the spring can shoot out like a projectile and injure someone. 

This is why only professionals should repair the garage door if it is broken. It is also why your children shouldn’t be allowed to play with the springs or hang on the garage door.

For example, they should let an adult pull down any item that gets tangled in the springs and ropes. And they should never try to climb or play with the garage door guide rails.

4. Keep Storage Containers Secure

While the massive garage door is the first hazard many parents think of, remember that there are many other dangers present in the garage. For example, the storage cabinets containing paints, solvents and glue need to be locked.

Keep tool boxes locked, too, so that your kids can’t access pliers or other blades years before they’re ready for it.

5. Control Access to the Garage

Rely on a deadbolt to lock the garage from inside the home instead of a doorknob children can open themselves. Lock the deadbolt when you’re all inside the house so that your child can’t go out into the garage by themselves.

However, you should only do so after you’ve made sure the kids aren’t in the car or playing in the garage. And teach children not to go into the garage alone.

6. Make Sure You Can Get In if the Power Is Out

A surprising number of people don’t know how to open or close the garage door if the power is out. Have a pull tab that lets you release the garage door from the opener and then open the garage door if the power is off.

This doesn’t just allow you to open the garage if a storm knocks out the power. It gives you the ability to lift the garage door if a safety trips and keeps the garage door closed, though it has closed on something.

While you’re at it, check the batteries in the garage door opener. This includes the garage door opener key fob and the motorized unit in the top of the garage.

The last thing you need is a garage door opener that won’t open after crushing someone’s foot because it ran out of power.

7. Teach Children about the Dangers Car Pose

Teach children that large cars are not big toys. Don’t let them play with the steering wheel, emergency brake and keys of your car. They could send the car rolling into the street or run over a parent.

Always know where your children are before you pull out of the garage. Teach children never to run around cars, because they are in just as much danger if they’re hit by the car as the garage door.

Teach children to go around the front of the car or wait for it to be moved rather than trying to squeeze between the car and the car door.

Summary

Parking in the garage is the last step in your journey home. However, the garage itself poses a number of risks for young children. That’s why you need to take steps to keep your kids safe in and around the garage. For getting more details, Continue your visit parents tab regularly. 

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