Ron SmithPublished on AIP - The Home Assessment Series: Claiming Back Your Garage
Typically, our garages serve at least two purposes: housing the car and providing a convenient spot for needed temporary and long-term storage. Sometimes storage needs even preclude the housing of your car. oo much storage can result in obstacles to movement and tripping hazards.Improperly stored paint, painting supplies, cleaning products, car maintenance products, and solvents can possibly create dangerous conditions.
Periodically clean and purge your garage of outdated, flammable and unnecessary objects. Try to use shelving, overhead racks, storage systems and cabinets to organize all of your necessary gear, supplies and tools. In particular, try to secure your yard tools so that they don’t become tripping hazards if left on the floor or leaning against the walls. Take advantage of garage sales and bulk trash pickups to minimize clutter and make the garage work for you.
To assist in movement around your cars when parked in the garage, analyze how the driver doors swing relative to items stored around them. For example, place items stored along the wall in such a way to provide for a niche for the driver’s door to swing into. Consider swinging your car mirrors in to provide more passage space between cars. If you are having trouble parking your car in the right spot, consider a parking aid to mark the proper place to stop when you pull in to prevent injuries and damage. You can purchase free standing stop signs or hanging guides. Or simply mark the adjacent wall or shelf with a piece of tape to align your side view mirror with when you pull in. For really tight situations, some people apply rubber strips along the wall to protect door edges.
The biggest hazard in your garage is the garage door system. The doors are heavy. Door springs/torque bars are under a great deal of pressure. Garage doors can fall off their tracks or fail to open. Periodically have your door system and automatic garage door opener serviced by a professional garage door installer. The installer can lubricate the moving parts, check that fasteners are tight, check tensions and inspect the system for possible points of failure. Periodically replace the batteries in garage door opener remotes to prevent them from failing at the most inconvenient times.
While checking the garage door, check your non garage door opener lighting to see if your garage is properly illuminated. If you only have the light on the garage door opener, you may need to add additional lighting fixture. You should have a wall switch near your entry door into the house. That switch should be equipped with a motion sensor and/or a lighted switch.
You should also have a wall mounted fire extinguisher near the entrance door. In addition, there should be a fire heat detector (not a smoke alarm) in the garage. The heat detector should be rated for 175-250 degrees Fahrenheit. A carbon monoxide alarm should be placed inside of the home within 10 feet of the entry door from the garage. In a multistory house, any bedroom above the garage should have its own carbon monoxide alarm.
There should be a secure lock on the entry door into the house. It should be locked to prohibit entry into the house should the garage door be accidently left open or breached. The threshold strip for the entry door serves as weather seal, but it should be as flat as possible for easier entry with a wheelchair, shopping cart or stroller. The garage entry door often can serve as an alternate primary accessible entry if front door accessible entry is not possible.
A work bench or small table near the entry door can serve as a handy spot to place packages being moved in and out of the garage.
(Source: AARP HomeFit Guide at aarp.org/homefit.)
Ron Smith is a Maricopa resident and an aging-in-place advocate. He is also a member of the Age-Friendly Maricopa Advisory Committee and a member of the Maricopa Senior Coalition.
