Garage Door Home Inspection Checklist for NC Sellers
North Carolina inspectors report three garage door opener safety failures. Under 11 NCAC 08 .1107, in force since June 1, 2026, a garage door home inspection flags an opener that does not reverse on resistance, a door that ignores a blocked photo-eye and an opener with no photo-eye. This guide turns those three report lines into a seller's pre-listing check, with the DASMA tests behind each.
What does a garage door home inspection cover in North Carolina?
Since June 1, 2026, North Carolina home inspectors must inspect garage door operators and report three safety failures. The failures are an operator that does not reverse on reasonable resistance, a door that does not reverse when the photo-eye is actuated, and an operator with no photoelectric safety device. Remote transmitters are not part of the inspection.
Operator does not reverse on resistance
The closing door meets an obstruction and keeps going instead of reversing.
Door does not reverse at the photo-eye
The beam is blocked and the door keeps closing.
No photoelectric device
The opener has no photo-eye pair at all.
Each of the three is an opener fault, not a door fault. Technicians who fix an opener that will not reverse work on the force setting, the travel limits and the sensor wiring, then run the reversal tests again.
What does the DASMA inspector checklist test?
DASMA’s TDS 167 is the checklist for sectional doors written for home inspectors and consumers, and it tests balance, reversal on contact, the photo-eye and the door’s labels and hardware. One-piece doors have their own checklist, TDS 198.
| Check | What a passing door does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Balance | With the opener released, the door lifted halfway by hand stays 3 to 4 ft above the floor | A door that drifts has lost spring tension |
| Contact reversal | A 1-1/2 in object laid flat at the center of the door’s path makes the closing door reverse | Proves the opener’s built-in reversal |
| Photo-eye | Breaking the beam while the door closes sends it back to fully open; the beam sits no higher than 6 in above the floor | Proves the second safeguard |
| Spring containment | Safety cables run through the springs | Contains a spring that breaks |
| Warning labels | The spring label, general label and two bottom-corner labels are present | Shows the hazards to anyone who operates the door |
| Power | A grounded or GFCI receptacle within the cord’s reach; no extension cord | Keeps the opener on safe power |
The balance test and the spring and cable checks are looks and lifts, never adjustments. Winding, cables and bottom brackets stay with a technician.
Which openers need photo-eyes under federal rules?
Openers made on or after January 1, 1993 need entrapment protection under federal rule 16 CFR 1211, which UL 325 sets out. The protection is inherent reversal on contact plus a secondary device such as photo-eyes.
DASMA’s TDS 198 states the same rule for residential openers made after 1992. An opener with no photo-eye is either older than the rule or has lost its sensors, and the inspector reports it either way. The rule exists because the CPSC counted 46 child deaths under automatic garage doors from 1982 to 1990.
What should a seller check before listing?
A seller runs the photo-eye test, the contact reversal test and a look at the sensors, then keeps a written record. These are the same checks the inspector’s three report lines cover.
Test the photo-eye
Close the door and pass an object through the beam; the door reverses to fully open.
Test contact reversal
Lay a flat 2×4 at the center of the door’s path and close the door; it reverses on contact.
Look at the sensor pair
Both eyes sit near the floor, face each other and glow steadily; the beam is no higher than 6 in.
Look for the second eye
An opener with a single sensor, or none, needs the pair fitted before the inspection.
Keep a written record
A technician’s visit produces a written service record to put in the closing file.
Remotes are outside the rule, but a seller usually hands a buyer every working remote anyway.
When to call a technician before the inspection
Call a technician when either reversal test fails or the sensor pair is missing, damaged or dark. You hear the price before any work starts; the technician inspects the door first, and the work waits for your yes.
Price approval can happen by phone, a technician can photograph the door before the visit, and visits to a vacant house are routine. No trip fee is added to the bill, and calls booked by 12 pm, Monday to Saturday, get a same-day inspection visit. Call (833) 752-1196 to book.
Doors that pass both tests but have dry hardware or worn rollers belong in a pre-listing garage door tune-up. An opener with no sensor terminals is replaced by an opener that meets the 1993 entrapment rule, installed with a matched pair.