Garage Inspection
At CeS Inspections LLC, we inspect the condition of your garage structure, whether it be an attached garage or detached configuration. The scope of our garage inspection isolates each section of your garage and checks for specific structural,performance, and safety issues. The common components that our garage inspection includes:
- garage structure and foundation
- overhead garage doors
- garage door operator
- exterior garage door
- garage firewall and fire safety measures.
Garage structure
This portion of our garage inspection scans the visible components of your garage looking for signs of structural movement. The areas that generally indicate previous structural movement can be observed in the concrete flooring, garage framing members, and signs of previous repairs. To learn more about our approach to inspecting and reporting on structural movement you can read our related article: Coming Soon
Garage Doors
Another important factor in a home’s overall performance is the condition of the overhead garage door. Replacing or repairing of the overhead garage door can be quite tricky, so most home owners opt to have a professional company make the adjustments for them. If you are purchasing a new home, adding a garage door repair to your list of expenses is not something you should learn about after closing.
When inspecting your overhead garage doors, we first check for proper physical attachment. We than inspect the actual movement of the garage door and the garage door operator. common problems with this stage of the inspection include:
- Damaged door panels
- wood rot to frame or on wooden panels
- broken attachments and panel hinges
- broken or improperly aligned door rollers
- improper spring tension
Garage Door Operator
The mechanical motor that operates your overhead garage doors is an important component in the overall performance of your system. We inspect this component to ensure that the proper mounting and safety features are working as intended. Common problems associated with your garage door operator include:
- Improper attachment of angle iron supports
- Failure to auto-reverse upon premature contact (child-safety feature)
- Misaligned photo safety eyes (causing you to hold down button to override safety feature)
- Garage door manual switch installed below 5 feet (child safety)
Safety Eyes
There are a few things that one should look for when inspecting their garage door photo Eyes. It is recommended that the eyes be installed no higher than 6″ off of the garage floor. The eyes should be properly aligned and you should see a solid green led light, indicating a strong connection between the two eyes. A common problem with the safety eyes results from a lack of a solid signal between the pair of beams. If your garage door is refuses to close, this could be a reason why. If this is the case, a quick test can be conducted to isolate the problem.
- Manually close the garage door, if the door will only close when you are holding the button, you may have a beam alignment issue.
Fire Safety
Your garage, if attached to the home, represents an increased concern for fire safety because of the hazardous and flammable materials that are usually stored within the garage space. The U.S.Fire Administration statistics research study showed an average of only 5% of all fires originating in one and two family residences originate from the garage. However, because of the materials stored within the garage accompanied by the fact that garage fires take longer to recognize, much greater damage was done to the homes. Because of this, the need for increased fore protection measures is applied to your attached garages building requirements. Some common problems associated with your garages fire safety include:
- penetrations from the garage to living space
- improper routing of HVAC ducts, cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) manifolds
- poor air sealing between garage and residence
- lack of 20 minute fire rated door and in some jurisdictions self closing devices
At CE Schultz Home Inspections, it is important to us to provide accurate information. If you’d like to contact us about our article or if you have any questions feel free to Contact us.