How to childproof the garage: keep the child out, and make the room survivable for the times they get in

1. The door from the house

Every other job on this page is for the failure case. The house-to-garage door gets the same treatment as the door to a pool: a knob cover or lever lock at child height, per best door locks and knob covers, a deadbolt or chain at adult height that is actually used, and a door alarm that sounds when the door opens without an adult pressing the bypass. Poolguard's DAPT-2 is UL 2017 listed and gives seven seconds before an 85 dB horn; the button mounts high. The step down into most garages is also a fall for a toddler, which is a second reason the door stays shut.

2. The garage door and its opener

Openers made since January 1, 1993 must meet the CPSC's standard at 16 CFR part 1211, which requires a closing door to reverse within 2 seconds of hitting a 1-inch obstruction on the floor, and newer openers add photoelectric sensors a few inches above the floor. Test both: lay a 2x4 flat under the door and close it (it should reverse on contact), then wave a broom through the sensor beam while it closes (it should reverse without contact). If either fails, the opener is not for a house with a child in it until it is fixed. The wall button goes high, the remotes stay out of the car's door pocket, and the emergency-release cord gets tied up out of reach. Never let a child play under a moving door, and never let one ride it.

3. Chemicals, tools and the workbench

Antifreeze, windshield fluid, gasoline, pesticides, pool chemicals, paint thinner, fertilizer, and the rat bait. All of it above 5 feet in a cabinet with a lock, in original containers, per the AAP's rule for poisons: out of reach, out of sight, locked. Antifreeze and windshield fluid are the two to worry about most: bright, sweet-smelling, and stored at floor height in most garages. A strap lock across a metal cabinet works where a magnetic lock does not, per best cabinet locks for babyproofing. Power tools unplugged with the batteries out; hand tools on a pegboard at adult height; the ladder on wall hooks, not leaning; nails and screws in closed bins above the bench. Poison Control's number, 1-800-222-1222, goes on the fridge and in every phone.

4. The car

A parked car is a trunk that latches, windows that pinch, and in summer an oven. Keep it locked in the garage, keys hung high and out of sight, and teach the older child that the car is not a playhouse. Never run the car in the garage for any reason, even with the door open; that is the carbon monoxide section below. A toddler who gets to the garage while you load the car is the common case, so load with the child buckled in first, or on the other side of the house door.

5. The chest freezer, buckets and the fridge

A chest freezer is a box a child can climb into and cannot climb out of; a strap lock across the lid handles it, and an old one with a latching lid gets the latch removed before it is stored. Buckets, mop pails, coolers and the shop vac drum empty and upside down; a toddler can drown in a few inches of water. The second fridge gets a strap for the same reasons as the kitchen one, plus whatever is in the door (beer, medication, bait). Cords for the freezer and fridge route behind them, per how to babyproof cords; garage outlets should be GFCI already, and get an in-use cover if a plug lives in them.

6. Carbon monoxide

The CPSC counts more than 200 deaths a year from non-fire CO poisoning tied to consumer products, over 100 of them from portable generators, and its rule is absolute: never run a generator inside a home or garage, even with the doors open; outside only, 20 feet from the house, exhaust pointed away. The same goes for the car, the pressure washer and the grill. The CPSC's placement advice is a battery or battery-backup CO alarm on every level of the home and outside the sleeping areas, which for a garage means the alarm goes on the house side of the connecting door, not in the garage where exhaust and temperature set it off. Weather-strip the house door; an attached garage shares air with the house. The whole home, room by room, is the babyproofing checklist.

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