Inspection process and trade associations

[Bruce A. King]

How many of you monitor the website www.DASMA.com (trade association) and actually change your garage door/opener inspection process based on changes they submit to their website in the form of Technical Bulletins and procedures for home inspectors?


Of those that answer yes, will you also be ready to change your inspection process to meet any standards produced by other associations such as Home Builder Associations in your area?


Does anyone think that any "house component trade association's" documents should be allowed as "expert information" as to what is right and wrong if some of your inspection procedures were questioned in court?

[Bruce A. King]

15 views and no comments yet.

wow, I thought this would be a hot topic as the EW's over on INews say that you are negligent if you do the hand/arm test on a garage door because the new DASMA tech bul. has deleted the test.

[Brian E. Kelly]

Right of the DASMA page you linked Bruce. Recommended to be done monthly no less.

Force Setting Test
Test the force setting of your garage door opener by holding the bottom of the door as it closes. If the door does not reverse readily, the force setting may be excessive and need adjusting. See your owner’s manual for details on how to make the adjustment.

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[Bruce A. King]

They have a technical bulletin that is more recent that took the force setting test out.

The EW's say its our resonsibility to keep up with this....

http://www.dasma.com/pubtechdata.asp

Look for TDS 167


I say, it looks there are no such things as expert witnesses in this business when they think that a website put out by DASMA should direct what we do when many of the opener manuals have the force setting checks in them too.

DASMA can't even update their own pages in a timely fashion.

Also, there are dozens of other garage door sites that have copied what you posted above, so that info is widespread and always will be.

[Brian E. Kelly]

http://www.dasma.com/safetygdmaint.asp

Tb167 is all well and good, but I did not read anywhere where is supersedes the safety guidelines. 167 also says you do not have to do the 2 x 4 test, so which is it going to be?

[Brian E. Kelly]

Page 21 in this Manufacturers instructions recommends hands on force testing. http://www.liftmaster.com/consumerwe...s/114A3404.pdf

[Bruce A. King]

Most all inspectors agree that the SOP's and common sense allow us to opt out of anything that may cause damage but it would be nice to know that some lawyer or insurance company can not penalize us for doing a test that is in the best interest of the buyer.

Here in NC we have to check it with a reasonable force.
SC says it has to be checked to see if it functions. Safety features ARE part of the function so that could be interpreted either way.