Signs Your Garage Door Is Unsafe

Monthly Safety Tests

Reversal test: open the door, lay a 2x4 flat on the floor in the middle of the opening, and close the door. It should reverse as soon as it touches the board. DASMA specifies the 2x4 and warns against softer objects such as a roll of paper towels.

Photo-eye test: while the door is closing, pass something through the beam between the two sensors near the floor. The door should stop and go back up.

Balance test: with the door closed, pull the red release cord and lift the door by hand. It should move easily and stay put about 3 to 4 feet off the floor. A door that is heavy or drifts up or down needs its springs adjusted by a technician.

DASMA recommends doing these every month and after any work on the door or opener.

Warning Signs

Call a technician if the door feels heavy or takes two hands to lift, if it does not reverse when it touches something, or if it does not move freely by hand. The same goes for worn or damaged hinges, rollers, springs or panels, and for photo eyes mounted higher than 6 inches off the floor, which DASMA gives as the maximum.

If you are not sure what a symptom means, the troubleshooter on this site goes through the common ones.

The 1993 Photo-Eye Rule

A federal rule from 1991 required openers to reverse when they hit something. Since January 1, 1993, every opener made for the US has also had to include a second, separate way to detect an obstruction, usually photo eyes near the floor. An opener without photo eyes should be replaced.

When it issued the rule in December 1992, CPSC, the federal product safety agency, had reports of 54 children aged 2 to 14 who had died trapped under doors with automatic openers since 1982. DASMA reports that child entrapment deaths with properly installed openers have since dropped to nearly zero.

Parts to Leave to a Technician

DASMA says springs, cables, bottom brackets and their mounting hardware are under high tension and should be removed, repaired or adjusted only by a trained door technician with the right tools. If a spring is broken, the door should not be operated until it is replaced.

Children and Remotes

CPSC advises keeping remotes out of reach of children and teaching them that the garage door is not something to play with.

Indiana Law on Opener Testing

Indiana is one of four states, with California, Minnesota and New York, with its own law on opener reversal. Since January 1, 1994, a technician servicing a residential opener in Indiana has to test the reversal with a 2-inch block. If the opener fails, the technician tags it with an orange warning tag and notifies the homeowner in writing within 10 working days.