Do you guys inspect garage door opener safety sensors?

[OSU Beavers]

Yes, I lost many clipboards testing the auto reverse of automatic garage door openers back in my FHA inspecting days.

 

[Tom4value]

Yesterday, I read through the 4000.1, and did not see the words "garage door" "opener" or "safety sensors" anywhere. Only a broad "safety, security, soundness" regarding the whole house. If FHA tries to get specific with us, then we could get specific with them. The 4000.1 works both ways.

Way back in the 90’s we had a 4 page checklist we had to fill out that specified the items we had to check. They did away with the form but we are still required to check them! Garage door openers were on the list. If it has an electric door opener it must be checked. I just take a shovel or any other garden tool and drop the door. If the tool will not stop the door from closing, I condition for it. Of course, this does not apply if there is no electric opener.

Don’t be fooled by saying that the opener is too old to have electric eyes. A safety hazard is a safety hazard.

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

Will you also see if it has a functioning backup battery in case of power outage?
Some places require them.

 

[RSW]

Will you also see if it has a functioning backup battery in case of power outage?
Some places require them.

And how is that a safety issue?

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

Apparently people died from a fire because they could not pull the cord and open the garage door.
So of course, they made a law.

 

[Elliott]

I imagine the case could be made that a skylight could contribute to melanoma (a deadly medical condition), so do the head crunching revrsing garage door opener advocates also consider that a health and safety issue? Where does it end? We get directions from those in charge of lending programs and do our best.

As I remember, I was told that a young boy in Chicago had his head crushed in a non-reversing garage door opener, so that is the reason that they needed to be tested. There is an area of study in economics called called "Value of a Statistical Life" and "Mortality Risk Valuation." Its why Medicare doesn't spend anything when you've got Prostate Cancer and your 80.

FYI: Balitmore Sun 2000:
"TERRIBLE THINGS sometimes beget good. Next weekend's Simon Decker Memorial Soccer Tournament in Columbia is an example.

Just listen to Deborah Decker, mother of the soccer-loving second-grader whose memory the tournament honors. He was 8 in 1995 when a garage door at home closed too quickly, asphyxiating him."

 

[RSW]

I imagine the case could be made that a skylight could contribute to melanoma (a deadly medical condition), so do the head crunching revrsing garage door opener advocates also consider that a health and safety issue? Where does it end? We get directions from those in charge of lending programs and do our best.

As I remember, I was told that a young boy in Chicago had his head crushed in a non-reversing garage door opener, so that is the reason that they needed to be tested. There is an area of study in economics called called "Value of a Statistical Life" and "Mortality Risk Valuation." Its why Medicare doesn't spend anything when you've got Prostate Cancer and your 80.

FYI: Balitmore Sun 2000:
"TERRIBLE THINGS sometimes beget good. Next weekend's Simon Decker Memorial Soccer Tournament in Columbia is an example.

Just listen to Deborah Decker, mother of the soccer-loving second-grader whose memory the tournament honors. He was 8 in 1995 when a garage door at home closed too quickly, asphyxiating him."

What a stupid comparison. There is no comparison between the topic of discussion and what you mention. Get a grip.

 

[mike32716]

This argument(s) as to what constitutes an FHA safety issues comes up often on the forum. From the Hanbook (page 566+/-) is this paragraph which puts most everything back on the appraiser.

Regardless of the Appraiser’s suggested repairs, the Mortgagee will determine which repairs
are required.

i. Limited Required Repairs
The Appraiser must limit required repairs to those repairs necessary to:
• maintain the safety, security and soundness of the Property;
• preserve the continued marketability of the Property; and
• protect the health and safety of the occupants.

ii. As-Is Condition and Cosmetic Repairs
The Appraiser may complete an as-is appraisal for existing Properties when minor
property deficiencies, which generally result from deferred maintenance and normal wear
and tear, do not affect the health and safety of the occupants or the security and
soundness of the Property. Cosmetic or minor repairs are not required, but the Appraiser
must report and consider them in the overall condition when rating and valuing the
Property. Cosmetic repairs include missing handrails that do not pose a threat to safety,
holes in window screens, cracked window glass, defective interior paint surfaces in
housing constructed after 1978, minor plumbing leaks that do not cause damage (such as
a dripping faucet), and other inoperable or damaged components that in the Appraiser’s
professional judgment do not pose a health and safety issue to the occupants of the house.
If an element is functioning well but has not reached the end of its useful life, the
Appraiser should not recommend replacement because of age.

 

[CJ1234]

Not any longer, an overhead garage door fell on my husband while he was testing it, about 8 years ago. He wasn't hurt, but still, being 5'3" it very likely would have hurt me. It was a few months in to a new staff appraiser position. It was also a relatively newer home, with no sign that there was an issue.
We have decided we make visual inspections of things like this. If there appears to be an issue, we will note it. Otherwise, no.