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    Garage Door Child Safety

    Have you had a conversation with your children about the garage door? Garage doors are a typical part of life for adults, but children are often fascinated by them. Your residential garage door is loud, large, and moves without anyone getting near it – it isn’t so hard to understand why children find them interesting! This wouldn’t normally be a problem because garage doors are quite safe if they’re treated carefully, but there are cases of garage doors breaking or collapsing, or of their safety features failing. Either of these can be dangerous to inattentive children, and educating your kids about the garage door can literally save lives.

  • Garage Door Safety: Keypad

    Does your garage door have a keypad? The keypad is one of the most convenient and most common ways for homeowners to open their garage door. It saves you the trouble of having to carry a remote, it is perfect if you have children that play outside, and it can even save you some humiliation if you end up locked out of your home! What most people don’t think about, however, is that fact that a keypad introduces some new security risks into your system. Older keypads in particular can be very dangerous to use, because tech-savvy thieves will sometimes target the garage door opener as the best mechanism for gaining access to your home. Luckily, there are a couple simple steps that anyone can take to make sure that their family stays safe!

  • How to: Check your Garage Door’s Safety Features

    Do you know what would happen if you stepped underneath your garage door? Homeowners rarely think about the true power of their garage door, but consider this – not only is the garage door the largest moving appliance in the home, but it is also extremely heavy. A two-car garage door could weigh over three hundred pounds easily! Think about that every time that you or your children run underneath the door while its opening or closing, and it might give you reason to examine the safety features of your door and make sure that they are functioning properly. Luckily, the two most basic safety features of the door are easy enough to check, and we’ll explain just what you should do now!

  • 3 Top Reasons to Upgrade Your Garage Doors

    2016 is THE year to think about your residential or commercial garage doors. If you’re a homeowner, when was the last time that you gave your garage door any attention? If you own a business, when was the last time that you even really looked at your door? Like most people, you probably forget about your garage door nine our of ten times – so long as it is working! But even if your garage door is operating perfectly, now is still a great time to upgrade it with a new garage door installation. Replacing your old and grimy garage door and garage door opener will have more of an impact on your life than you know, and we’re here to tell you why.

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    Mold Monster! What’s Lurking in your Walls?

    Is there a nasty surprise lurking in your home, hidden but threatening your family’s safety? Every homeowner knows the dangers of mold, but oftentimes mold goes unseen until it has already taken a firm hold. An improperly built garage presents a perfect environment for mold to take hold, so we’ve gathered some information that every homeowner should know – why mold will grow in your home, what you can do to prevent it before it ever appears, and how to get rid of it if you do find some! Like garage doors, homeowners can do some of the simpler preventative measures and fixes, but for more serious problems it is always better to call a professional!

  • Batcave Garage Makeover!

    We’ve worked on some wonderful homes with gorgeous garages, but this custom garage added to a Melbourne estate by Molecule architectural firm is way crazier than anything we’ve ever seen. If you’ve ever wanted to live like millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne (of Batman fame), this garage may just make you envious…

  • Radio Interference and Your Garage Door Opener

    Tis the season to decorate! Many of our festive customers are decorating their homes inside and out in time for the holiday season, but what you might not have heard is that decorating your home can actually impact the function of your garage door opener! Although many homeowners won’t have any problem, certain brands and models of garage door openers can be interfered with by LED lights nearby. This might sound crazy, but the radio frequency that your garage door opener uses may be shared by some other electronics in your home, including holiday lights, and this radio wave interference can cause your opener to not operate correctly! Fortunately for you, we’ve got the scoop about what you should do to ensure that your opener is still functioning as intended.

  • Inventing the Cat Flap: Newton or Not?

    Hello readers! On this installment of Garage Greatness, we’re going to be exploring the dubious claim that Isaac Newton himself invented the cat door while in the garage! Although this claim is interesting and would certainly make for a good story, many people doubt that it is true, so we will also be discussing the other potential origins of the cat door. Having specialized doors for your pets is a very old idea, and tracking the exact origin is difficult, but we have done our best to verify the information we’re bringing you. We bring the same reliable and dependable service to our blog that we bring to our residential and commercial garage door installation and repair services.

  • Dyson’s Innovative Vacuum Solution

    Dyson is a symbol of innovation around the world, but they got their humble start in a garage, just like so many other important companies of today. James Dyson, the inventor behind the company’s rise to fame and the continuing sole owner of the company, started working on a new way to vacuum after realizing that his Hoover Junior was losing suction over time, as the bag filled with dust and the mesh became clogged. Over 5000 prototypes later, Dyson implemented centripetal cyclones similar to those used in sawmills and build the G-Force, a revolution of a vacuum cleaner that propelled Dyson into the very lucrative vacuum cleaner industry. Now, Dyson sells to over 70 countries, produces vacuum cleaners, hand dryers, fans, and heaters, but the company continues to push the entrepreneurial inventor mindset that it was founded on. All of this, from Dyson’s early prototyping efforts in the coach house attached to his home in Cotswolds, England.

  • Doggy Garage: How to Keep Your Pet Safe!

    For many homeowners, our pets are just as much a part of our family as any of the humans in our lives. Pets can always cheer up someone going through a hard time, or comfort someone who just needs to be loved. Most pet owners love and care for their animals, but unfortunately some are either uninformed or neglectful, and pets suffer because of their lack of care. One common way that dogs especially are mistreated is by being left locked up in the garage, and given our line of work this is a particularly concerning issue for all of us at A Plus. We love our pets and know that our readers do as well, so today we’re going to educate you about why you shouldn’t leave your dog in the garage if it can be avoided, and if you have to leave your dog in the garage, what you should do to protect them.

  • Harley-Davidson: American Excellence

    Garages are notoriously loud, since hobbyist mechanics and garage bands tend to use the garage specifically for making noise. With a private workshop sectioned off from the rest of the house, these backyard innovators had all the space (and muffling walls) they needed to practice their craft without disturbing their family. Of course, some garage inventors want to make noise, like the Davidson brothers and their friend William S. Harvey. These four inventors, all born before 1882, tinkered in a shed behind their friend’s property and ended up inventing a product that would revolutionize American roads and become one of the most iconic examples of any industry – The Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

  • Beautiful Brazilian Garage Doors

    These beautiful doors from São Paulo, a Brazilian city, show a high level of craftsmanship and an originality that really makes them stand out from the surroundings. The custom wood and metal work gives each door a distinctive feel to match the property, and the doors are a unique single-panel design that can be opened without an intrusive guide rail or large opener. Each door is made to a specific style, and although the holes through each door might make some consumers wary of this style, apparently the Brazilian’s don’t see any problems with it. According to one Brazilian commenter, thieves might examine a garage and see two normal cars inside, but the cultural standards of Brazilians mean that no valuable tools or equipment will be left out in plain view and thieves are usually discouraged by the heavy duty steel framing.