Garage Door

Overhead garage doors--because they usually span a distance of eight to 16 feet--sometimes sag, especially when they are regularly left open for long periods of time. Most modern garage doors have two special parallel metal bracing rods that are mounted at the top and bottom of the door on the inside. They reduce sagging, but don't always entirely prevent it. Each brace consists of three mounting brackets and a steel rod that's threaded at both ends.

A family of five found dead from carbon-monoxide poisoning in their garage appears to be a murder-suicide involving a custody dispute, police in Toledo, Ohio, said Tuesday. Firefighters had to use a sledgehammer to break through the garage door to get to the family - - 54-year-old grandmother Sandy Ford; her son, Andy Ford, 32; and Sandy's grandchildren, Paige Hayes, 10; Logan Hayes, 6; and Madalyn Hayes, 5 - - who were sitting in a running Honda Civic. Two hoses stretched from the car's exhaust into the vehicle, where all five sat with two family dogs and a cat, police told The Times.

Garage door remote not working? The Pentagon may be to blame. Not because of any grand conspiracy theory, but rather the mundane use of a radio frequency the military hadn't used much before. Homeowners in coastal Orange County are among the latest to discover this quirk. There, signals from Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach have been interfering with garage door openers as far as half a mile away since March. That's when testing began on a new radio system that will allow the base to network with local fire and police agencies during emergencies.

It has been more than three decades since Michael Lubahn Clark's high school sweetheart vanished from their Torrance home. Last week, the 59-year-old gray-haired painter told jurors that the night his wife disappeared, they had quarreled over selling the house. He said he awoke early the next morning to find Carol Lubahn gone, her red Audi missing and the garage door open. "I closed the garage door and went to bed," he testified. "I thought she was coming back. " She never did. The prosecution has argued she didn't because Clark killed her, angry over her desire to sell the house and the prospect that she was preparing for a divorce.

The garage door at the Salt Lake City home where 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted at gunpoint was open the day before the kidnapping, the girl's father said. But Edward Smart told reporters at a daily news briefing that he closed the garage door--which could have given an intruder entry into the family's upscale house--before going to bed. "It's one thing we need to look at," Salt Lake City police spokesman Capt. Scott Atkinson said at the briefing.

Question: What is the best way to seal a garage door? Answer: We assume you are referring to a sectional garage door rather than the tilt type. Generally speaking, a high-quality sectional garage door that has been properly installed is reasonably weatherproof. But even the best doors can begin to leak after long use. A simple fix is to apply a 1-inch-wide strip of rubber to the inside surface of the door at each horizontal section joint, from one side of the door to the other.

When I did my March 13, 1983, column on the Porvene roll-up garage door, the product was new to the West Coast market and was decidedly unusual. The situation has changed since then, but these steel garage doors that roll up like gigantic window shades are still relatively rare in residential applications. "Last year was the first year that California really started demanding Porvene doors," said Ed Lang, president of Porvene Roll-A-Door, Santa Fe Springs.

A 7-year-old Lancaster boy was killed Sunday when an automatic garage door shut on him as he tried to run outside, authorities said. The boy, whose name and address were not released, apparently hit the button for the door to shut and then tried to run outside, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Paul Kaser said. The door frame pinned the child and broke his neck. The accident occurred about 7 p.m. in the western part of the city, Kaser said.

If your garage door has an automatic opener, you probably zip in and out every day without a worry or a care. But don't overlook the obvious: A 300-to 400-pound door moves over your head on wheels, springs and metal track. If your automatic opener fails to reverse when the door strikes a person or a pet, the result could be tragic. All openers will, if operating properly, reverse if the door hits an obstruction.

Your garage door is warped, cracked or dented beyond repair. As you shop for a replacement, be prepared to make decisions about such issues as materials, insulation and budget. Almost all of today's better doors are called sectionals because they're built in panels or sections (usually four) that roll straight up and back into your garage. One-piece doors, on the other hand, swing straight out and back, which means that you and your car had better not be too close when the opener is activated.

Want to watch a car take flight? You are in luck. Terrafugia, makers of Transition -- the world's first flying car -- has released video of a production-type prototype flying over Plattsburgh, N.Y. today. The flight was the first successful test of the two-seat personal aircraft that you can park in your garage, drive on the road and fill up at a gas station. "This is a very exciting time for Terrafugia," said Carl Dietrich, the company's CEO and CTO. "We are on our way up -- literally and figuratively!"

An armed intruder who shot a man to death as his wife and three children huddled in a bedroom at their Arcadia-area home is being sought by authorities, who believe he may have waited outside the residence for the family to return home. The 35-year-old father was killed Monday night after handing cash to the gunman — money that was to be used to pay rent, detectives said. The name of the victim will not be released until his parents in Mexico can be notified, Los Angeles County coroner's officials said.

At first glance, there's little about this modern Mount Washington house to indicate its extreme sustainability. Beyond the small frontyard xeriscaped with succulents, the short driveway leads to a yellow, three-story house with a windowed garage door. To see the radical conservation mandate, you have to look more closely. Beneath the desert landscaping lies a cistern that can store 1,500 gallons of rainwater. Behind the garage door are controls for a solar water heater, photovoltaic panels and gray-water system — the first to receive a permit from the city of Los Angeles after California updated its gray water regulations in August 2009.

Enough was enough. The Sparks sang the blues far too many times last year, losing to the Phoenix Mercury four times, twice by one point. Instead of morosely swaying to the tune of "One Is the Loneliest Number," the Sparks were all smiles, winning by a comfortable margin, 98-84, over the Mercury on Friday at Staples Center. The Sparks remained in control throughout the second half, their lead never falling below nine, in a team effort that left them two three-pointers shy of tying their franchise record of 15. "When we share the ball, it's going to be hard to lose," Sparks Coach Jennifer Gillom said.

Garage door remote not working? The Pentagon may be to blame. Not because of any grand conspiracy theory, but rather the mundane use of a radio frequency the military hadn't used much before. Homeowners in coastal Orange County are among the latest to discover this quirk. There, signals from Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach have been interfering with garage door openers as far as half a mile away since March. That's when testing began on a new radio system that will allow the base to network with local fire and police agencies during emergencies.

She is scrunched up in her bedroom comforter, the little girl with the college banner on the wall. In five more days, she is headed back to the Midwest for sophomore year. Like I care. Like I care that so much life and laughter are headed out the door. Like I care that her room will sit empty for almost four months. No Skype. No midnight taco runs. No Weezer. Hey, no problem. I mean, who needs that kind of noise? Her time home this summer has been a thunderstorm of slamming doors and thumpy footsteps across oak floors.

In the March 31, 1985 column I discussed a deadbolt device that makes one-piece garage doors more resistant to burglars. These doors--common in the Southland--are especially vulnerable to any miscreant with a crowbar. Considine Products Inc., 61 S. Lake Ave., Suite 102, Pasadena, has taken a different approach with its Shur-Latch, a relatively low-cost bracket that uses the strength of the garage header to keep burglars and vandals from prying open a garage door equipped with an electric opener.

A 6-year-old boy was killed by an automatic garage door that pinned him to the ground while he and a friend were trying to race under it before it closed, authorities said today. Christopher Ablin died when the door closed on his neck Tuesday afternoon. An autopsy was ordered but police called the death an accident.

Five-year-old Bennie woke up at the sound of his mother's voice. "Hurry and get up. We've got work to do. After breakfast we're going to straighten out your room. Your father will be home in a few days and I want your room to look nice and neat. " Bennie's father is in the Army and has been in a place called Iraq for almost a year. The Army gave him a medal and now they are sending him home. "I'll be glad when Daddy gets home," Bennie's mother said. "Me too," Bennie said.

AS I walk slowly down 64th Avenue, south of what used to be East 14th Street, I pass the garage door that was once a part of Lefty Lyon's dream. I stop for a while and concentrate on that portion of memory that has stored the muffled sound of a tennis ball being thrown against the door. Thump, thump, thump ... If I concentrate hard enough, I can see Lefty tossing the ball and catching it in his fielder's glove, over and over again.