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A garage door is a convenient feature for your home, but you should know a few safety rules before using it. You should always be careful when there are children around since kids are more likely to take risks with this equipment. Follow these tips to prevent pinched fingers, falls, and serious injuries, as well as damage that would need garage door repairs.

How Can You Keep Kids Safe Around an Overhead Door?

1. Teach Them the Risks

Most of the time, when kids play with something dangerous, it's because they don't know better and they're curious. Show them how the garage door works to satisfy their curiosity, then explain how it’s dangerous. The joints between door panels can pinch fingers, and if the safety sensors are faulty, the door can close on people, toys, or pets beneath it. Also, kids like to hang onto the door as it goes up and can fall. Explain why they need to avoid all of these possibilities.

2. Keep Openers Out of Reach

The temptation of the garage doorgarage door may still be too much for your children, so avoid letting them open or close it, especially unsupervised. Make sure the control panel is installed high enough that they can't reach it. Keep any remote door controls on a top shelf or in a locked area.

3. Inspect the Safety Features

The most significant risk with an automatic garage door is that it'll close on someone. For this reason, modern doors are legally required to have small sensors near the bottom of the track to detect any obstacle underneath the door and stop or reverse the motor. Adjust these sensors to make sure they'll catch any kids standing or lying under the door, and test them regularly. If they break, don't use the garage door until you can get repairs.

 

If you need garage door repairs or a new door, choose Thornville Overhead Door in Perry County, OH. They carry a wide selection of models from Wayne Dalton, Genie, and Lenear, and also create custom doors to match your vision for your home. To get a free estimate, call (740) 246-5616, or learn more about their services online.

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