Garage Safety: 7 Tips You Need to Know

Keeping your garage safe is an important task. Clutter, chemicals, tools, and leaving your garage open/unlocked are sure to make your garage an unsafe environment. Though it may seem overwhelming, here are 7 simple tips to make your garage safer:

Keep it Clean: It is common practice to store everything in the garage that doesn’t fit in the house. As a result, garages often suffer from large amounts of clutter and disorganization. Ceiling storage units, for seasonal items, can help to eliminate clutter. On the other hand, hooks and nets are useful to keep everyday items in reach and off the floor.

Chemical Clutter: Garages often accumulate large hazardous chemical collections including pesticides, antifreeze, paint thinner, and automotive fluids. For safety purposes, put child-resistant caps on all hazardous chemicals. Also, chemicals should be clearly labeled and placed out of reach of children in a locked cabinet.

Workshop 101: You can utilize the wall space in your garage to store tools securely. This prevents accidents from tools tipping or falling over. Also, don’t forget to store ladders sideways as opposed to upright! Upright ladders tempt kids to climb them and also may tip over on vehicles or children.

Securing the Largest Door to the Home: The garage serves as an entryway into your home. Therefore, never leave the garage door open! As an added safety measure, install a deadbolt lock on the door between your house and the garage. The Chamberlain GarageTrends Survey found that 32 percent of homeowners never lock the door between the garage and home! In that case, it becomes increasingly important to treat your garage door opener like a key. Hide it out of sight or an intruder can just walk right in!

A Baby Monitor for the Garage Door: Make sure your garage door is always closed and have piece of mind with tools like the Garage Door Monitor from LiftMaster. The monitor flashes a red light when the garage door is open. The in-home monitor can be placed anywhere in your house.

Unlocking the Future: New products allow you to open your garage door with secure fingerprint technology. This eliminates the need for keys, remembering entry codes, or the possibility of your garage door opener remote control falling into the wrong hands. Keyless entries are wireless, waterproof, and are the most secure access control technology.

Seeing is Believing: Safety reverse systems are crucial to keeping your family safe in the garage. Test your safety reverse system monthly by placing a piece of wood under the center of the garage door. If it is operating properly, the door will reverse and go back up. If the door does not reverse and go back up get your safety reverse system checked out immediately!

We would like to thank LiftMaster® for this great article!

We invite you to view more garage safety tips here. Share these tips to make your garage safe using the social bookmarking tools below and leave your safety suggestions in the comment box below!