Keeping Your Garage Safe

When you think about safety hazards in your home, your garage probably doesn’t come to mind. There are hundreds of injuries every year from poor safety practices in garages. Starlite Garage Doors wants to help you make your garage a safe place.
Injuries from Your Stuff
We know it might seem a little crazy, Attack of the U-Haul boxes, but dozens of injuries are reported every year from poorly stored stuff falling on homeowners. In fact, falling items in your garage is the #1 cause of garage injury. Take some time to build shelves and put up peg boards for storing all of your garden equipment and other tools.
Garage Door Accidents
Garage doors can weigh in at nearly 400 pounds. It is not surprising that we see many accidents every year that involve the garage door. Make sure your garage door system is up to date with all of the mandated safety features such as the automatic reversal system, which prevents you from getting stuck under the door.

Spend some time discussing garage door safety with your kids and make sure they can’t reach the opener. Know when to call in the professionals for your garage door repair and always make sure you have help. Lastly, don’t rely on manually opening up your door for too long, as this cancels out your safety features.
Prevent Fire Hazards
With all of the flammable stuff that is often stored in a garage combined with all of the stuff that is kept out there, the garage can pose a huge fire threat. You can prevent fires by storing stain soaked rags away from your home in a bucket of water. If a fire were to start, keep a fire extinguisher out in the garage to be able to quickly put it out before it engulfs your home.
Protect Your Home in High Winds
If you live in a highwind prone area that regularly sees hurricanes or tornadoes, make sure you have a door with the wind load seal on it. If your door is weak, it will easily collapse under the mounting pressure the high winds create. This will in turn, give mother nature access to the interior of your home, causing a total collapse of your roof and wall panels.
Protect Your Kids from Garage Injury
For some reason, kids are drawn to garage spaces. It might be the thrill of finding hidden treasure in all those boxes or having access to off limit stuff such as spray paint. Whatever the reason, make sure your garage is not a safety hazard to your children.

Make sure tools and hazardous chemicals are put up, out of their reach. Also, check that any heavy objects that are stored on the walls or ceiling are secure. Lastly, test your automatic reversal system periodically and have a few safety rules for the garage, such as don’t play with the opener.
Call Today For Garage Door Safety Questions
We want to make sure your garage is always safe. Feel free to call us with any questions you have about garage door safety. Your safety is our priority at Starlite Garage Doors.