Federal Opener Safety Rules and Rockford's Older Housing
The national rule that matters most in a city with this much pre-war stock.
Since 1993, every residential garage door opener sold in the United States has been required to have an external entrapment protection system - in practice, photo-eyes across the opening. In Haight Village, Midtown, the North End and the older west side we still find working openers that predate that rule and have no eyes at all. Those units should be replaced rather than repaired, whether or not they still run. No local code obliges an upgrade, but a unit that old is at the end of its service life anyway, and the reason the requirement exists has not changed.
The authority
City of Rockford Building Department · 779-348-7433
425 East State Street, Rockford, IL 61104
Free estimate — no charge for the visit
Tell us what the door is doing and we will tell you what it normally means in Rockford. Every job is quoted in person and in writing before any work starts.