In the Upper Peninsula, a garage isn’t a luxury. It’s practically essential. Whether it protects your truck from a Marquette County blizzard, doubles as a woodshop, or serves as the unofficial neighborhood hangout spot, a garage up here gets used hard.
But garages are also one of the most overlooked parts of a home inspection. And that’s a mistake — especially if the garage is attached to the house.
June is National Home Safety Month. A thorough garage safety inspection looks at fire risk, electrical wiring, ventilation, structural condition, and the garage door itself. Here’s what we check at U.P. Home Inspection, and what you should know about garage safety as a buyer.
Quick Answer A garage safety inspection covers fire-rated walls and doors, electrical wiring, combustion appliances, ventilation, the garage door opener and sensors, and structural condition. In attached garages, inspectors pay close attention to anything that could allow fire or carbon monoxide to spread into the living area.
Does a Home Inspection Include the Garage?
Yes. A standard home inspection includes both attached and detached garages. Here’s what we evaluate in every garage (following InterNACHI’s Home Inspection Standards of Practice):
- Roof system, gutters, and downspouts
- Siding and exterior
- Garage floor, foundation, and structure
- Interior walls and ceiling
- Garage door, opener, and safety sensors
- Exterior man-door (condition, weatherstripping, and operation)
- The door between the garage and living area (condition, seals, and self-closing function)
- Attic access
- HVAC and plumbing systems, including combustion appliances
- Electrical system
- Exterior grading and drainage
If something on that list is in poor condition, it shows up in the inspection report with a clear explanation of what we found, why it matters, and what to do about it.
Why Is Garage Fire Safety So Important for Attached Garages?
Attached garages are convenient, espeically in the U.P. No trudging through snow to get to your car, no loading groceries in a blizzard. But they do come with real fire risk, and that risk is higher than in a detached garage.
Why? Because an attached garage shares at least one wall with your living space. If a fire starts in the garage, that wall — and the door connecting the two spaces — is the only barrier between the fire and your family.
Garages are also where we store and use the most flammable materials in the home: gasoline, motor oil, paint, paint thinner, brake fluid, and propane. Add a water heater with a pilot light, a project car leaking fluids onto the floor, or a space heater without proper ventilation, and the conditions for a fire are easy to create without realizing it.
The U.S. Fire Administration has identified electrical malfunctions as the leading cause of garage fires. From a home inspector’s point of view this makes sense. If we had a dollar for every home we’ve inspected where they updated the house electrical but forgot about the garage, we’d be taking a vacation right now. Garages also tend to burn longer before anyone notices, because they’re often unoccupied and detached from smoke detectors inside the home.
That’s a lot of risk sitting right next to your kitchen.
What We Look for in a Garage Safety Inspection
Are the Walls and Ceiling Fire-Rated?
In an attached garage, the walls and ceiling that face the living area should be finished with fire-rated drywall — typically 5/8″ Type X gypsum. This slows the spread of fire from the garage into the house.
From the outside, you can’t always tell whether drywall is fire-rated. A trained inspector can. In older homes across Alger and Marquette counties, we often find that garage walls were finished with standard drywall, covered with flammable material like wood paneling, or not finished at all. None of these meet current fire separation standards.
Is the Door Between the Garage and the House Up to Standard?
The door connecting an attached garage to the living area is a critical fire barrier. It should be:
- Solid wood or solid/honeycomb steel, at least 1-3/8 inches thick (or a rated fire door)
- Self-closing — so it latches automatically every time it’s used
- Tightly sealed around the frame, with no gaps that could let carbon monoxide or fumes into the house
One thing we always flag: pet doors cut into the garage-to-house door. They’re a fire hazard and should not be there. A pet door opening directly into the garage eliminates the fire separation that the door is supposed to provide.
Is the Electrical Wiring in Good Shape?
Faulty wiring is the top cause of garage fires. Here is where so many of the older homes here in the Upper Peninsula give us plenty to look at.
In Marquette County homes built before 1980, we regularly find ungrounded outlets, outlets that aren’t GFCI protected, wiring that’s the wrong gauge for the panel, and garage sub-panels that are seriously undersized for modern use (many still sporting fuses instead of breakers). Garages also collect extension cords, power strips, and tangled wiring that can create hazards over time.
Please understand that we’re not telling you this to scare you. These are common findings that are worth knowing about before you buy, and they are fixable. We look at the whole picture: the panel, the outlets, the wiring visible in the space, and whether everything is grounded and properly sized to keep you safe.
How Is the Ventilation?
Garages need ventilation — especially if you use them as a workshop, run engines inside, or have a fuel-burning heater.
Carbon monoxide from vehicles and combustion appliances can build up fast in an enclosed space. A space heater without proper airflow makes that worse. We look at how the space is ventilated and flag any combustion appliances that could be putting fumes into the air.
This matters even more in attached garages, where CO can migrate into the living area through gaps around the door, through the attic, or through any other unsealed opening.
What About the Garage Door Itself?
The garage door is one of the heaviest moving parts in a home, and a failing one can cause serious injury.
Here’s what a garage door safety inspection covers:
- Opener safety sensors. The photo-eye sensors at the base of the door opening should sit 6–8 inches off the ground on either side of the vehicle door. If they’re higher, a child or pet could slip under a closing door. If they’re not working properly or aren’t installed, the door won’t reverse when it should.
- Auto-reverse function. If the door comes down and contacts an object, it should reverse automatically. We test this during every inspection.
- Balance and operation. A garage door that’s out of balance puts extra strain on the opener motor and can drop unexpectedly. We check that the door opens, closes, and stays in position correctly.
- Hardware condition. Springs, cables, and hinges take a lot of stress. We note visible wear or damage, and we flag anything that looks like it’s approaching the end of its safe service life.
What About Garage Stairs?
Not every garage has stairs, but many do — whether it’s a small landing at the interior door or a full flight down to the basement. When stairs are present, we inspect them carefully.
Common issues we find in U.P. garages include:
Poorly constructed or deteriorating wood stairs. Older garage stairs are often built with minimal materials and no permit. Over time, treads and stringers can crack, rot, or pull away from the wall.
Broken or degraded treads. A weak tread can give way underfoot without warning. We check each one.
Inconsistent riser heights. This is a more subtle hazard — when risers vary in height from step to step, your foot expects one thing and gets another. That’s how people fall.
Missing or inadequate guardrails and handrails. A handrail is required on any stairway with four or more risers. Guards are required where there’s an open side. In older homes, these are frequently loose, absent, inconsistent with modern safety standards, or not properly secured to the wall.
What Happens If We Find Problems?
Most garage issues are fixable. We’ll note what we found, what it means, and who you’d want to call — whether that’s an electrician, a garage door technician, or a general contractor.
Some findings, like missing fire-rated drywall in an attached garage, may be negotiable with the seller. Others, like a non-functioning garage door safety sensor, are low-cost repairs. Either way, you’ll have the information you need to make a smart decision.
That’s the whole point of a home inspection.
Garage Safety Inspection FAQ
Does a home inspection cover the detached garage? Yes. We inspect both attached and detached garages as part of a standard buyer’s inspection in the Upper Peninsula.
What’s the biggest garage safety issue inspectors find? Electrical problems are the most common serious finding — ungrounded outlets, undersized wiring, and overloaded sub-panels. In attached garages, missing or inadequate fire-rated drywall is also a frequent issue.
Can a garage fail a home inspection? Home inspections don’t result in pass/fail grades. We report what we found and let you decide what to do with that information. A garage with significant electrical or fire safety issues will be clearly documented, but it doesn’t automatically kill a deal.
Should I worry about carbon monoxide in a garage? If the garage is attached to the house and has a combustion appliance (like a water heater or furnace), or if vehicles are run inside, CO is worth taking seriously. We look at ventilation and flagged appliances as part of every inspection.
Do garage door sensors need to be a specific height? Yes. Photo-eye sensors should be mounted 6–8 inches off the ground. Higher than that is outside the standard and should be corrected.
Ready to Schedule a Home Inspection in the U.P.?
If you’re buying a home in Marquette, Alger, Delta, Schoolcraft, Dickinson, or Menominee County — we’ve got you covered. U.P. Home Inspection serves all 15 Upper Peninsula counties, and every inspection includes a full review of the garage, inside and out.
Book online at uphomeinspection.com/schedule or call us at (906) 360-3879.
Looking for more home safety content? Check out our guides on GFCI outlets and electrical safety, landscape safety risks for homebuyers, and electrical panel inspection.
Rich Beasley leads U.P. Home Inspection, LLC as a Certified Master Inspector® with deep roots in Upper Peninsula construction needs. In 2025, Rich earned the prestigious CMI® designation from the Master Inspector Certification Board, reflecting our team’s dedication to experience, education, and the highest industry standards.