Article: To test or not to test? Examining the garage door pressure test | Part 2

[Aubri Devashrayee]

Hi, TIJ Readers!

This is Aubri Devashrayee from InspectorPro Insurance. You've probably heard of Stephanie Jaynes from @InspectorPro Insurance - I'm her assistant! I look forward to interacting with you all and getting to know you better.

The following is an excerpt from Part 2 of our Garage Door Pressure Test 2-part series. In this article, we find out what inspectors have to say about testing the reverse jam function on garage doors. You can catch Stephanie's post about Part one of the series in her most recent thread post.

Enjoy!

Aubri

***

In Part 1 of the series, we examined how the two nationally recognized Standards of Practice (SoPs), written by the American Society of Home Inspectors' (ASHI) and the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors' (InterNACHI), address the reverse jam test of garage doors. Both SoPs state that home inspectors are not required to conduct the performance test. And yet, whether inspectors wish to not perform the test as both the ASHI and the InterNACHI SoPs give them the right to is a complicated question.

In this article, we aim to explore that question further. We interviewed several experienced home inspectors to see how they address the three primary pressure testing concerns explained previously:

1. For one thing, there are two primary ways to perform the reverse jam test - with a two-by-four and with your hands - and inspectors and subject matter experts vehemently disagree on which technique is superior.
2. For another, some industry professionals question whether the performance test is, in fact, an accurate predictor of safety or if it, in fact, gives clients a false sense of security.
3. Lastly, as we shared in our article Top 5 General Liability Claims Against Home Inspectors, inspectors take on increased liability when they perform the reverse jam test, as virtually every garage door-related claim we've seen results from the test.

As indicated in Part 1, home inspectors fiercely favor one of three approaches to testing the reverse jam function of garage doors:

• Testing with a two-by-four.

Testing with their hands. Not testing at all.

We explore the pros and cons of all three approaches in our article.

[READ MORE]

Edited February 3, 2020 by Aubri Devashrayee
Changed tag

[Trent Tarter]

I have tested around 3,500 garage doors/openers and have never had a problem.  

[Aubri Devashrayee]

@Trent Tarter That's great! You're right--sometimes issues don't come up at all when testing garage doors.

It isn't a guarantee that every inspector will receive a claim from testing the reverse jam function of garage doors, but we want inspectors to feel like they are informed about the liability they are or aren't taking on. It's unfortunate that most of the claims we've seen come in about garage doors have been from testing the reverse jam function. Hopefully that can clarify things a little bit better! 

Keep up the good work! And thanks for commenting!

[Marc]

41 minutes ago, Aubri Devashrayee said:

@Trent Tarter That's great! You're right--sometimes issues don't come up at all when testing garage doors.

It isn't a guarantee that every inspector will receive a claim from testing the reverse jam function of garage doors, but we want inspectors to feel like they are informed about the liability they are or aren't taking on. It's unfortunate that most of the claims we've seen come in about garage doors have been from testing the reverse jam function. Hopefully that can clarify things a little bit better! 

Keep up the good work! And thanks for commenting!

By 'reverse jam function' did you mean 'reversing feature'? https://www.dasma.com/PDF/Publications/Brochures/maintenance.pdf

[Aubri Devashrayee]

@Marc Great question! Yes, that's the feature. Some of the various names it goes by are: reverse jam function, automatic reverse system, contact reversal feature, auto-reverse function, auto-reverse safety feature, and auto-reverse system. Hopefully that answers your question.

And, thank you for contributing to the article!

[Les]

Aubri, do not encourage Marc.  Next thing you know, he will be teaching us something! 

 

This article was pretty good.

[Aubri Devashrayee]

@Les Haha! Noted. You guys are great. 

Glad you liked the article! I will pass the word along to Stephanie. And, thank you for participating in the article!