7 Essential Garage Door Repair Safety Tips

When you're doing your garage door repair, you've got to be sure you're safe. First off, that door's extremely heavy. You've got springs and cables everywhere, and a whole electrical system humming along. Before you start any kind of garage door repair, here are some essential safety considerations to keep in mind.

- If you're doing your own garage door repair, dig out the old instruction manual and read up on it beforehand. There's a reason they wrote all that stuff and gave it to you when you first bought the thing. It will help you a lot with your repairs and also tell you how to do each specific thing safely. If you're installing your doors yourself, follow the manual perfectly.

- Visually inspect all the springs, cables, pulleys and rollers before doing any work. Actually, you should do this routinely as part of your overall maintenance. What you're looking for are signs of wear, and you don't need to be a professional repairman to know what it looks like. If you see any signs of damage to these parts, don't try to fix them yourself. They are under high tension and require the services of a garage door repair professional.

- Keep the kids away and occupied with something else while you're working in there. There are lots of moving parts that can cause serious injury. Be careful especially to keep them away from all electronics and don't let them mess with the opener. It's best if they're in another part of the house while you're doing anything with your doors.

- When doing any kind of electrical repairs, be sure to disconnect everything before you start working. The black box is running on lots of voltage and it's easy to forget to turn it off before you start tinkering with it.

- When opening or closing your door, there are some safety rules you should follow. For one thing, make sure it's in sight until it's opened or closed all the way. Never walk under a moving door and, if possible, stand away from it while it's opening or closing. Be especially careful to keep your hands away from hinges, door sections and other moving parts. These are things you can start doing as habits, and if you have kids you should teach them the rules as well.

- It's been mentioned already, but just once more to drive it home: never try to fix the mechanism's springs and cables by yourself. If one of them snaps, you'll be lucky if you're only injured. This part of the door can cause serious injury or death. If you have any problems with springs or cables, call the pros and let them deal with it.

- If there's anything at all that you're unsure of, call the garage door repair specialists. This is one of the most dangerous parts of the house and you risk serious injury by doing it yourself. If your manual doesn't explain or you're in over your head, it just takes one little phone call to get the help you need.