It's a simple concept, really: They go up. Automatic garage doors are a convenience we (and our backs) take for granted. But being the heaviest moving objects in ours homes, they deserve a little attention to prevent unfortunate accidents. Follow these eight tips and your garage door should give you many years of reliable and safe service. 1. Test the self-reversing mechanism. All garage door openers installed since 1993 have an “electric eye” that senses if something crosses the path of the door while it goes down. If something or someone triggers the sensor, the door is supposed to stop and go back up. However, a study from the National Institutes of Health tested 50 garage door openers and found 40 percent of them did not reverse direction when a child-sized mannequin was in the door’s path. That same study showed 85 children died or suffered permanent brain damage between 1974 and 1996 as a result of accidents with automatic garage doors, meaning some incidents occurred even after the sensors were mandated.

In fact, in 2013 a three-year-old girl in Maryland was crushed to death by a garage door that had sensors but didn’t reverse direction when she ran under it. If your opener doesn’t have this self-reversing feature, consider replacing it with one that does, advises John Drengenberg, UL’s consumer safety director. And if your opener does have an electric eye, it’s a good idea to check it monthly by putting an object such a roll of paper towels under the door as it closes to make sure it self-reverses. 2. Watch the door go all the way down. Have you ever returned home to find your garage door open when you were sure you pushed the button in your car as you drove away? It’s a common occurrence, says Drengenberg. Perhaps something got in the path of the electric eye and caused the door to reverse. Even a leaf blowing into the garage can reverse the door. “It’s happened to me,” he says. “Push the button and watch the door go down. It’s important not only for the security of your home but the safety of kids.”

3. Check the working parts. Once a month, take a few moments to visually inspect the garage door. Run the door up and down a time or two. Is the door moving more slowly or making more noise than usual? Check the cables, springs, rollers, pulleys and hinges for wear, Drengenberg advises. If you see anything that needs serious attention, don’t try to make repairs yourself. The mechanisms are under a lot of tension and can be safely serviced only by a qualified person with specialized tools, Drengenberg warns. 4. Lubricate the chain or gear drive. Here’s a little maintenance you can do yourself: During your monthly visual inspection, check the chain or screw drive that operates the door. If it looks dry, squirt it with household lubricating oil, such as 3-In-One, according to Drengenberg. Related: How to Dispose of Lightbulbs and 9 Other Hazardous Items 5. Keep the door clear. Don’t store anything near the garage door that might fall against it, and never lean anything against the door.

Sure, you meant to put the ladder there for just a minute but then the phone rang, and you forgot about it. Then your spouse came home, opened the door, and that ladder almost fell on her car. kitchen cabinet doors surplusThe only way to make sure no one opening the door will get a dangerous surprise is to keep the door clear at all times.lowes garage door oil 6. Keep remotes and switches out of reach of children. oak front doors bespokeMake sure kids can’t operate your garage door by keeping remotes in a place little hands can’t access, Drengenberg says. 4 door jeep wrangler with hemi

And make sure the opener switches by the garage door are mounted too high for small children to reach. 7. Keep the remote safe from burglars. upvc doors london northDon’t leave a portable remote control in your unlocked car in the driveway. shower door repair burbankEven if you lock the car, stash the remote out of sight, Drengenberg suggests. sliding dog door home depotAnd just in case a burglar gets his hands on your remote or even the combination to the opener, be sure to lock the door (if there is one) between the garage and the house. 8. Know what the red handle does. There’s a red handle dangling from a cord on the garage door opener. Pulling that handle releases the door from the automatic opener so you can push the door up manually.

You may never have to use it until the day you need to get your car out of the garage during a power outage. And in the event that the auto-reverse fails and someone gets stuck under the door, it’s important to know you can pull that red handle to free them.The LiftMaster 3255 is a basic but very durable and efficient garage door opener that comes without a rail assembly in this particular package. As there are many different garage door openers on the market though, it’s important to look at the various different specific benefits offered by this Liftmaster 3255 specifically and how it stacks up against the competition. The Liftmaster 3255 is generally thought to be the best of the Contractor Series of chain drive garage door openers. It has a powerful ½ HP Chain Drive motor though you might want to consider an upgrade if you are using it for heavy wooden doors or the like. Also included is a garage door remote that operates with a single button. This keeps things nice and easy and like several similar garage door openers, a ‘rolling code’ which changes after every use ensures that people can’t bypass your security.

This is fairly standard on many devices but it’s a good feature to have. It’s unfortunate though that there’s only one remote. Another common safety feature is the Protector System which uses sensors to ensure no one is underneath when the garage door gets closed. A multi-functional control panel meanwhile provides easy opening and closing without the remote and also lets you control your opener lights (which are 100 watts). The device is also called a SMART garage door opener by the manufacturers thanks to the option to program security codes with the power head or on the control panel. Finally, a manual release option ensures that you can still open the door even if there’s a power failure – potentially a cheaper solution than having a backup system. The customer reviews on Amazon are good so far, though there aren’t as many as for some other similar products. There are 10 reviews at the time of writing which have a combined score of 4.5. Here is one positive review: