In this article we will talk about 10 tips to make your garage safer for children. Your garage is probably the most functional space in your house. And since it’s such an active space – especially if you have a big family – it also requires effort and diligence in order to keep it as safe as possible.
You park your car inside it, you regularly move your tools and toys around in it, and you probably even work out of it. Homeowners in Laguna Niguel use their garages for countless activities which makes it important to consider the role of garage safety practices.
How your garage is designed and organized is something you need to think about if you want to make that area safer for you and your family. In this post, our Garage Excell experts have compiled a list of recommendations you can use to see how safe your garage in San Diego is.
1. Store Your Power Tools Safely
The thing with children is they are curious creatures. If you have little ones and you leave them unsupervised, they just might feel the urge to fiddle with that interesting-looking, noisy power tool they see you occasionally using in the garage.
So make sure you keep the power tools and other heavy equipment properly stored where your kids can’t get to them. Again, locked garage cabinets are the perfect solution here. They will also keep your expensive tools more secure from thieves.
If you have larger power tools that can’t fit inside a cabinet, like a portable table saw or a stationary band saw, Garage Excell can design and build custom garage cabinets for you.
2. Lock Up Hazardous Materials
Many people keep cleaning products, gasoline, pesticides, fertilizers, paints, etc. in their house that they usually store in the garage. If you want to keep these items out of the reach of your pets and kids, locked garage storage cabinets are the best solution. Simply keeping them on higher shelves is not enough; that can quickly become a fall hazard.
3. Keep Sharp Gardening Tools Safely Stored
After a long day of yard work, it’s tempting to just stash your hand tools in a corner or lean them against the garage wall. But pruners, shovels, rakes, and other yard tools with sharp edges pose a major hazard if left lying around all willy-nilly.
Consider investing in a custom garage storage system in San Diego that will allow all of your different-sized yard tools to be stored in an organized manner. We love a Slat Wall storage system for this purpose. No matter how tired you are, it will only take a few seconds to hang your tools up on a slat wall panel. It will also keep your garage floor clutter-free.
4. Regularly Inspect Your Garage Door And Opener
At the end of the day, your garage door is a giant mechanical structure that needs to be tuned up every now and then. This includes:
- Getting your entire garage door system inspected by a professional every 6-12 months
- Testing the auto-reverse safety feature on your garage door and opener every month
- Checking the photo eye sensors to ensure they are not dirty or misaligned
- Knowing where the emergency release handle is located and how to use it
- Keeping the opener remotes away from children
5. Maintain A Safer Workspace
If you have a workshop in your garage, you need to be even more careful as to how safe your garage area is. While adding locked storage cabinets for garage is a good idea, you should also make sure to clean up the work area once you’re finished for the day.
Always (ALWAYS!) sweep up any debris, sawdust, or spills on your garage floor to prevent anyone from slipping and getting seriously injured. Dispose of any oil rags that you may have used during your work. Use the appropriate protective gear like a face mask, safety goggles, and hand gloves when working.
We also recommend keeping a first-aid kit in your garage because, well, you never know.
6. Clean Out the Clutter
Clutter can be frustrating, whether it’s inside your kitchen drawer or the garage. If your garage is filled with junk –sorry, “stuff” – it doesn’t only make it difficult to find items but can also prevent you from parking your car inside.
And yes, with big piles of junk comes bigger safety hazards. First, there’s always the risk of clutter that’s stacked too highly falling over someone and injuring them. Even the best quality cardboard box will deteriorate over time and become unstable.
Secondly, too many boxes, magazine bundles, books, newspapers, and inflammable materials also create a fire hazard. Leaving objects on your garage floor is what tripping tragedies are made of. So get rid of the clutter and organize the rest of your stuff in a proper garage storage system like storage racks, Slat Wall panels, or garage cabinets.
7. Use Well-Anchored Storage Systems
Best garage storage cabinets are those that make it effortless to stay organized. If you are thinking about investing in garage cabinetry, you might as well go for high-quality custom garage cabinets because they will be well-anchored.
At Garage Excell, whether we are building ceiling-mounted or wall-mounted garage cabinets, we adhere to the strictest safety standards to ensure they will easily bear heavyweight items and will stand the test of time.
8. Get Rid of Old Paints and Chemicals
If you like to do your own vehicle maintenance, we bet there are a few vehicle parts, old car batteries, and tires lying around your garage in Torrey Pines. And if you’ve lived in the same house for a while, you probably have a collection of half-used or empty paint cans, cleaners, solvents, and other items that you can’t just throw out.
By taking a couple of days to deal with years’ worth of accumulated potentially dangerous materials, will free up valuable space and make it safer for your family. We recommend taking any old, hazardous materials to your local disposal or recycling depot to eliminate the risk of fire hazards and poisoning accidents from your garage.
9. Take Proper Fire Safety Measures
Hopefully, by now you have an idea as to how to get rid of and properly organize things that pose a fire hazard in your garage. But that’s not enough – taking additional fire safety measures is always a good idea. A smoke alarm or a heat detector alarm should be installed in your garage. Also, always keep a fire extinguisher in one of the garage cabinets.
10. Install Fire- And Slip-Resistant Garage Flooring
Most people don’t think about their garage floor when it comes to upgrading the security features in the rest of the house. If your existing concrete garage floor is full of cracks, it not only looks ugly but also presents a tripping hazard.
To make your garage floor accident-proof, consider installing a polyaspartic epoxy coating that is resistant to spills, chemicals, dirt, fire, and skidding. It will give your floor incredible traction, so even if the floor gets wet, the odds of someone slipping will be drastically reduced.
Contact Us To Make Your Garage Safer & More Functional
We hope these safety tips helped shed some light on steps you need to take for a safer garage.
If you need further guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out to our experts at Garage Excell. We have developed Ultimate Cabinets, a line of premium custom-built garage cabinets that come with a 10-year warranty. Helping busy homeowners in San Diego solve their storage and organization problems is our passion, and our skilled craftsmen take great pride in building cabinets that are perfect for YOU.
For ultimate makeover ideas that make your garage look incredible, safer, and more functional, book a free design consultation with Garage Excell today. Call us at 877-573-6637 or complete this online contact form to get started.