Here are a few reminders and tips for garage security:
- From the outside of the house, push on the top of the garage door. Make sure there’s no gap between the garage door and top frame of the garage. If there is, try minimizing the gape as much as possible. Or from the inside, place a piece of 2×4 wood or similar on top of the frame to block the gap.
- Secure your garage door’s emergency release carriage. On some garage door openers, you can use a plastic cable tie or a thin wire to tie the level to the carriage assembly it’s attached to. The lever always has a hole in it (to attach the release cord) and some carriage assemblies have holes you can run the cable ties or wire through. The idea is that you just need to make it virtually impossible for a flimsy coat hanger to be able to pull the lever down, while, at the same time, allowing you to cut or remove your simple lock from inside the garage. There are many ways of doing that, but make sure you don’t defeat the purpose of the EMERCENCY RELEASE.
- Don’t leave the garage door remote in your vehicle. If a thief breaks in to your car and steals the remote, then the thief has a way into your home.
- Invest in a keychain remote opener.
- Install a wireless keypad. Whether you’re locked out of the house, or you just want to get into the garage without going inside or hunting for a remote, a wireless keypad is a great addition. Inexpensive and easy to install, you just program the keypad with your code. Then, just lift the cover and enter the code for the door to open.
- Don’t leave your garage door open or unlocked.
- Install a wide-angle peephole in the door between your house and your garage – You’ll at least be able to see what’s going on if you hear a strange noise; rather than opening the door to find out.
- Install security cameras.
- Install motion sensor lights. Install a motion sensor light or two over your garage door and you will reduce the chances of a nighttime break in through the garage. Most burglars are not too keen on doing their work under a bright light.
- Frost or cover your garage windows – Don’t do thieves any favors by enabling them to see when your vehicle is gone, a better idea would be to replace the door with one that lacks windows. Windows are fragile and can be easily broken into.
- Padlock the throw latch on your garage door when you’re out of town – If you don’t have a manual lock on your garage door, you can use a c-clamp tightened down on each side of the door track to effectively “lock” down the door. It’s similar to those small window track locks you can buy for your home interior windows.
- Turn off the power. Without electricity, your garage door opener won’t work. At night, or when you are out of town, you can easily cut the power by unplugging the opener or, if your opener is wired to a wall switch, flipping the switch
- Don’t neglect maintenance on the mechanical parts of your roll-up garage door and keep an eye out for corrosion. Also, don’t forget the maintenance of the door from your garage to your house; check the frame, locks, hinges and any replaceable items
- Secure the entry door to the house. Many people don’t even have a lock on the door that leads from the garage into the house. That’s because they assume that the garage door provides all the security they need. But if someone gets into the garage, they will have trouble getting into the house if the door has a good dead-bolt lock on it.