Hahaha. No no. He didn’t say anything about that. He did say to test the garage door. I thought he was going to say it’s a limitation because the cars in the garage. Do yall test garage doors when vehicles are inside?
Yes I do. The fact that a car is in the garage makes no difference whatsoever.
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If it’s a Pinto, maybe, otherwise I don’t. My luck the door/opener would come unhinged and crash down on their $75k car or truck. If the owner is present, I have had them back the cars out of the garage if they haven’t already done so. I also request the garages be clear of cars and obstructions prior to the inspection if the house is occupied. But…to each their on way… 
Plus, many times I have come across attic access in a garage where a car is restricting it.
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Like Thomas said, it depends on the car, but 98 percent of the time no, I won’t test the garage door if a car is parked in that spot. I take a picture of the car and put it in the report with a statement that the door wasn’t tested due to a vehicle parked under its pathway.
Having a door malfunction under normal operating procedures and testing is one thing, damaging someone’s vehicle parked underneath it because of a door failure while testing it is asking for a lawsuit.
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What did he mean by test? Just push the button to make sure it goes up and down correctly? Test the photoelectric sensors? Or test for resistance?
I think that’s what insurance is for. As long as it’s a “normal” car and not some exotic or antique we’ll test the door.
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A few years ago, I was testing a garage door that was located above a Corvette. Not sure which year it was, but it was from the 60’s. When the garage door was about halfway up, the plastic gear from the chain drive sheared off and hit the Corvette. The listing/buyer’s agent was in the garage at the time talking to me. We both though it damaged the car. Luckily, the huge glob of grease on the gear cushioned the blow and it didn’t do any damage to the car. The agent cleaned the grease off the car and let the seller know that his garage door opener failed under normal use.
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Just imaging yall standing there wide eyed mouth open as the gear hits the car. What a sight to behold. Your heart must’ve stopped for a bit. Glad nothing major came from it!
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Some of the older openers have metal gears, luckily it wasn’t a metal gear landing on a 63 split window.
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The gears in both of heads were spinning trying to figure out how much this was going to cost.
Since then, I am a lot more selective on which garage doors I test.
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Like I said, you guys with the big balls can test anything, anytime you want. I’ll stick to what I’m comfortable with and add my disclaimers as to my reasoning.
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Did your trainer mention that it was missing seismic straps? Could be an issue depending on when the water heater was installed and your location!
Same assumption can be made concerning an expansion tank.
I move their car under the door opening to test the downward force sensor. Is that bad? 
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Some might even argue of if it’s a PRV or TPRV. Or has enough time passed on that one?
I have yet to see expansion tanks or seismic strapping around our area yet.
I disagree with that. If the WH is less than 6 off the floor…NO VEHICLE STRIKE PROTECTION W/2017 2020/20203 1307.3.1.
The county inspectors obviously arent enforcing that around here then… Are they in your area?
No they are not. Does that make it right? There is a laundry list of Code violations in that post/photo. Do you report them? I do.
No, but with something that obvious, the county inspectors would be calling it out. If they arent enforcing it, the builders wont either. (not saying it shouldnt be in the report)
I do new build inspections every week, and never see them installed.
When you call it out, does the builder ever correct it?