Essential Garage Door Security Tips

Most homes have security systems in place to detect burglary, vandalism, and deter intruders from coming through the front door, first-floor windows, or the back door. Most homeowners however, don’t really think about their garage door. A garage door that is not properly secured can leave a home and garage vulnerable to the affirmed security threats.

Installing a quality garage door doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll be keeping the bad guys out, and intruders may still find their way into your garage and home. Although a good garage door opener does provide a reasonably strong security profile for your garage and home, there are still a variety of ways that intruders can break in. Could your current garage door setup prevent potential break ins?

Push and Probe Method

A garage door opener that complies with the industry’s safety regulations comes equipped with an emergency release mechanism which disconnects the opener’s trolley from its carriage. If this feature wasn’t present, you wouldn’t be able to mechanically disengage your garage door from its opener and switch it to manual mode. While this feature allows you to open a garage door if something happened to the motor, intruders may try to place an inward pressure on your garage door by placing a wooden wedge or firm doorstop to create a gap between the door’s top section to the garage frame. Then, use a wire hook to fish around for the garage door emergency release cord.

As part of your regular garage door maintenance and safety inspections, check if the garage door’s top section can be easily pushed away from the garage frame by applying pressure from outside. If the top section can be pushed inward to create a gap, you can solve the problem by adjusting the door top fixtures or set the opener travel limits to close further away. In some cases, the tracks and flag brackets may need to be adjusted as well.

Remote Control Method

Older automatic garage door openers utilize dip switch technology to configure the opener’s receiver and the remote’s transmitter. If someone is using the same binary value on their remote, then they would be able to open your garage door. Instead of playing a guessing game, some thieves just choose to break into your vehicle to steal your garage door remote.

Modern garage door openers use rolling code technology which consists of an algorithm that transmits new code (out of 100 billion possible codes) every time you press the remote-control. If you park your car outside, consider taking the garage door remote out of the vehicle. Even with the car’s doors locked, a thief could smash open your window to steal the garage door opener remote control.

Automatic Garage Door Lock

A select models of Chamberlain and Liftmaster openers can integrate an automatic garage door deadbolt. This deadbolt will automatically be locked once the garage door has closed, and then unlocked when it opens. This can be a good solution to prevent push and probe attempts and ensure that the garage door remains locked even when the door has been disengaged from the opener.

Manual Garage Door Lock

Installing a manual garage door side lock is the most affordable way to secure a garage door. The lock will allow you to lock your garage door from the inside and will prevent anyone from opening the door, manually or automatically. The downside is that the lock will need to be manually unlocked every time, prior to the door being activated to open up.

Vacation Mode

Modern garage door openers feature a lock button on their wall console. When active, this lock feature, aka vacation mode, will prevent the operation of the garage door opener with remote controls and wireless keypads. The garage door will still work when using a hardwired wall button.

If the price of a more secure garage door opener isn’t within your budget, there are some steps you can take right now that will improve your garage security. For example, a simple zip-tie can be used to lock the garage door opener’s emergency release mechanism. Keep in mind that this option is not recommended because you’ll not be able to disengage the automatic opener from the door in case of an emergency. Use the zip-tie idea only as a temporary stop-gap security measure until you can adequately protect the security of your garage door and home without compromising your own safety. For further information, consult with a licensed garage door repair company about the security options available for your garage door make and model.