# Safety Tip for Home Shops



## CalgaryPT (Nov 12, 2019)

I had intended to post this in the spring but got too busy. So here it is now...

I like to tinker a lot with Honda snowblowers and lawn mowers. Mostly snowblowers. There is a lot of maintenance to the single stage ones because I do a lot of properties. When spring comes I do a partial teardown and get them ready for next season. This past spring I was doing oil changes on my machines, replacing augers and scrapper bars, etc. To do this (like many of you) I put the machines on a hydraulic lift cart to bring them up to working height. Because I have so little working space in my garage, once I get the cart and machine in place I can no longer move past them quickly in an emergency. (Yeah yeah....for those of you who know me—my rotund figure doesn't help.)

Anyways, once raised by the lift table, the handlebar of the blower is now pretty high up in my small 9' ceiling garage (<8' with the garage door open). In fact, the blower's handlebar touches the garage release handle on my door opener. 

Sadly, my garage door was opened. 

You get what happened next....

It caught on the release handle and down came the door. Because I could not move around quickly enough to grab it, it crashed to the ground full force. Often my dog lays there with in the spring when I am working, but luckily he wasn't there when this happened. Also lucky I didn't damage the garage door. The spring latch on the release is a little off-center so I couldn't raise the door myself _and_ get it to reengage. I ended up lifting it bit by bit and blocking it until I could get close enough to the latch. Then I held the door with a C clamp so I could work the release latch.

Moral of the story is to trim that long 18" release handle on your door if you routinely swing material around in your shop, or have a lot of things that can catch on the handle. I've trimmed mine down significantly, but looking at it in the pic below now I think I will just remove the handle altogether. I'm the only one who will ever use it. 

(It's not like my wife's car will ever see the inside of the garage again.)


----------



## Chicken lights (Nov 12, 2019)

CalgaryPT said:


> I had intended to post this in the spring but got too busy. So here it is now...
> 
> I like to tinker a lot with Honda snowblowers and lawn mowers. Mostly snowblowers. There is a lot of maintenance to the single stage ones because I do a lot of properties. When spring comes I do a partial teardown and get them ready for next season. This past spring I was doing oil changes on my machines, replacing augers and scrapper bars, etc. To do this (like many of you) I put the machines on a hydraulic lift cart to bring them up to working height. Because I have so little working space in my garage, once I get the cart and machine in place I can no longer move past them quickly in an emergency. (Yeah yeah....for those of you who know me—my rotund figure doesn't help.)
> 
> ...


Good safety tip.

I think we’re all a little guilty of working by ourselves and sometimes things happen pretty quickly you weren’t expecting.

My shop had a 1/2” flexible yellow gas line looped kind of dumb and left hanging from the ceiling. Called the landlord, he came out and tied it up (gas line not for my shop, nor is it my property). Chances of me catching? With my luck probably pretty good. Now that it’s tied up pretty much zero chance 

It pays to look up


----------



## Alexander (Nov 12, 2019)

That is also a good security tip as I have herd thieves try to hook that handle from outside while there accomplice pushes the top panel of the door in. I don't really even know if that could work but the internet said take the rope off so they have nothing to grab onto from outside.


----------



## CalgaryPT (Nov 12, 2019)

Alexander said:


> That is also a good security tip as I have herd thieves try to hook that handle from outside while there accomplice pushes the top panel of the door in. I don't really even know if that could work but the internet said take the rope off so they have nothing to grab onto from outside.


Holy cow. I never heard that before.


----------



## Dabbler (Nov 12, 2019)

There's a video on it that I saw a long time ago on youtube.  It seems to work.  

I'm removing my garage door opener completely, cord and brackets.  I'm buying a chain hoist for my door, as a car will never be parked in it again, until I leave the house permanently.


----------



## Perry (Nov 13, 2019)

Never try to catch a falling garage door.   Let it drop.    Good advice from my friend with 8 fingers.


----------



## CalgaryPT (Nov 13, 2019)

Those chain hoists are the way to go. I thought I should have done that years ago, but was surprized at the longevity of my openers. I've only worn out one (so far) in 20 years, and only one torsion spring broke in all that time too (boy those springs were fun to replace by myself). Not bad considering sometimes I open and close that door ten times a day. Be nice to have a side man door in my attached shop, but then again that's space for one less machine—and that ain't happening  .


----------



## CalgaryPT (Nov 13, 2019)

Perry said:


> Never try to catch a falling garage door.   Let it drop.    Good advice from my friend with 8 fingers.


Yikes.


----------



## BMW Rider (Nov 15, 2019)

If your door falls that hard from the open position you need to tighten the springs. The door should be able to rest at any point in its travel without falling. If the springs are not doing the lifting, then your opener is and that will put a lot of strain and wear on it.


----------



## Tom O (Nov 15, 2019)

I don’t have a door opener, I have always wondered about their range and with a detached garage you’d never know about hitting the button by accident! Another thing that I don’t like is the way it locks with the pins not going deep enough into the frame.
I have also heard although not for a long time thieves using a spreader bar to pop the pins.


----------



## Chicken lights (Nov 15, 2019)

CalgaryPT said:


> Those chain hoists are the way to go. I thought I should have done that years ago, but was surprized at the longevity of my openers. I've only worn out one (so far) in 20 years, and only one torsion spring broke in all that time too (boy those springs were fun to replace by myself). Not bad considering sometimes I open and close that door ten times a day. Be nice to have a side man door in my attached shop, but then again that's space for one less machine—and that ain't happening  .


My shop door is a slider, with a man door in the middle. I often wish for a roll up garage door...but there’s no way to have a man door in a roll up, that I know of anyway 
I have the problem of keeping the first 40’ clean so I can pull my truck in to work on it, think how many machines you could fit in a 40’x12’ shop space!


----------



## CalgaryPT (Nov 15, 2019)

Chicken lights said:


> My shop door is a slider, with a man door in the middle. I often wish for a roll up garage door...but there’s no way to have a man door in a roll up, that I know of anyway
> I have the problem of keeping the first 40’ clean so I can pull my truck in to work on it, think how many machines you could fit in a 40’x12’ shop space!


Just saw this:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiUkYLq0u3lAhUMvp4KHbmzCSQQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https://doordoctor.com/en/produit/pedestrian-door/&psig=AOvVaw1rsvmr_M_mOZE8xDcXrrGP&ust=1573956392837410

https://www.google.com/search?q=gar...AUIEigB&biw=1428&bih=755#imgrc=kCKNpgnBYCF1ZM:


----------



## Perry (Nov 16, 2019)

Imagine that garage door going up........with the man door open.      lol, that would never happen........ever


----------



## CalgaryPT (Nov 17, 2019)

Perry said:


> Imagine that garage door going up........with the man door open.      lol, that would never happen........ever


I'm going to do some research into these in the spring. Would be great for my setup, but suspect there is either a lockout or they don't recommend garage door openers. Could be a safety hazard. But cool idea right???


----------



## Perry (Nov 17, 2019)

CalgaryPT said:


> I'm going to do some research into these in the spring. Would be great for my setup, but suspect there is either a lockout or they don't recommend garage door openers. Could be a safety hazard. But cool idea right???


I'm sure there is a built in lockout protection device.   Those things never fail or get disabled.


----------

