How to Teach Kids About Garage Door Safety

by | Sep 10, 2018 | Garage Doors

Garage doors Coquitlam

Your garage door safety may not be on top of your mind but on a daily basis that is one part of your home that is used the most. It is the biggest and most visible entry point. The door rolls up and down several times a day. It is important to take precautions to prevent accidents involving the kids. You may find it easier to share a code for your garage door than use the keys. But if you don’t watch out, sharing the code can make it more dangerous to operate it carefully. It is always better to be safe than sorry. See how a few little tips can make the area around your garage door safer.

Demonstrate How It Works

  • If the kids stand around watching the door, take them to a safe spot and show them how it works.
  • Let they observe, operate it, ask questions, and figure out the process. The more they are aware, the more they can avoid accidents.
  • Let they see the safety mechanism such as auto reversal and the springs system and why they are installed. The spring system is what makes it easy to open and close the door without effort.
  • Teach them to be careful around this area and avoid running around.
  • They need to understand how heavy a garage door can be. It can weigh anything between 60 to 180 kilos, hence stay away from it.
  • It is important for your garage door to be well balanced. It should not weigh more than 3.5 to 4.5 kilos when opened manually

Show Them The Dangers

The spring is what keeps the garage door safe at all costs. The two common types of spring systems are coiled springs called torsion that are located above the door and the extension that is located over the horizontal tracks.

  • Make sure the kids know that they should not be touched or tampered with.
  • If they see any missing or broken parts, they must let you know at once so that you can have it fixed instantly.
  • The lifting cables similarly should not be touched by anyone who is not a garage door professional. They are located on either side of the door at the bottom.
  • The photo-eye reversal system is what stops the garage door from rolling down over any object that moves in front of the light beam.
  • The two small units emit a beam of infrared light that needs to be in perfect working condition or it could hit your kids if they run around under a rolling door. Once the system detects an object, it rolls back to avoid an accident.
  • Make sure your kids know that they need to wait till the garage door pulls up completely to let them pass.
  • They must never try to race ahead of a descending door, however, slow it may be.
  • Do not encourage small children to operate the door either with a remote or a keypad.
  • They must never try to climb a garage door and must keep hands away from the section joints or hinges.
  • Try to keep the access code a secret. Tell older kids not to share the code with their friends.

If you need to contact a professional to mend your garage door or update it with a safer new one, give Sam’s Garage Door a call. We are located at Port Coquitlam, BC.