We’re dealing with a light weight, metal, panel single car garage door. The door has an automatic opener. The garage is attached to the house. The garage has another entry (side) door. The garage door has no handle. Usually around here we have a twist handle that extends bars into the track. Is a handle required on this garage door? If you lost power you would need to disconnect the door from the track and then the door would not be lockable.Thanks in advance.

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Jim, in Calvert County, MD

From a safety standpoint, if there was a power failure and you were able to pull the release for the auto opener, how would you open the door?
So yes, an emergency handle is required. Was there any type of handle on the inside?

No. No handle. I guess you lift it by the panel section edges - and watch your fingers.

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Jim, in Calvert County, MD

What I have seen (in the owner's manuals) is that many overhead door manufacturers require that a handle for manually lifting the door be in place. The manuals also usuallly require that if an automatic opener is installed, the manual locks should be disabled or removed to prevent accidental door damage in case the manual lock is engaged when the auto-opener is operated.

Eric

As Eric said, you do not want any locking device in a garage door that has an automatic opener attached to it.

No handles are required. The door can be moved upward by disconnecting the drive and pushing up on one of the sections.

If the door is difficult to move upward after it has been disconnected from the drive, the door is most likely out of balance and it needs repair. Out of balance garage doors are very common.

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Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com

The handles are about 5 bucks at the big orange box store. Shouldn't be a deal killer.

rick

Attached Images

garage door handles.jpg (16.5 KB, 9 views)

Thanks for all the feedback. I believe I did hit the button one time when the door lock was engaged. Caught it in time so no damage done. But, I shudda thunked of that. gettin old.

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Jim, in Calvert County, MD

Most have some type of handle, many, though, only have a 'L' bracket on the bottom rail which serves as a handle. Not much of a handle, but it is the one provided by the manufacturer.

I've never seen an overhead garage door without some type of handle, and it seems it would be required as the manufacturer does not know that an automatic *will* be installed, and, even if an automatic opener *is* installed, as others have said, you will *need* a means to lift the door after pulling the emergency release handle and disconnecting the automatic opener from the door.

'Is a handle required?'

Yes, would be my answer.

Rick offered up an easy handle fix, though, so, while it is a 'write it up on the report' items, it is not (should not be anyway) a 'deal killer' item. If it is a 'deal killer' item, then the seller did not really want to sell and the buyer did not really want to but ...

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

Rick offered up an easy handle fix, though, so, while it is a 'write it up on the report' items, it is not (should not be anyway) a 'deal killer' item. If it is a 'deal killer' item, then the seller did not really want to sell and the buyer did not really want to but ...[/quote]

Until the home inspector starts recommending "additional evalaution" by garage door technician.

Corey

The door should have come with a handle to attach to the bottom of the door. Many manufacturers do not recommend the typical handle which operates a latch to be used as it may accidentally be engaged when tthe operator is in use, thereby causing damage to the door.