Tips to Protect your Garage

From Tip Sense

See also: Tips to make a door secure,Tips to Protect your Garage,Landscaping for security

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Contents 1 Tips to Protect your Garage 2 Doors 2.1 Human sized doors 3 The Garage Door 3.1 Garage Door Opener 4 Lights 5 Tools 6 Valuables 7 Cars 8 Additional protection

Tips to Protect your Garage

• For owners of Garages.

Doors

• Garages usually have two or three doors: The garage door for the cars, a human-sized door to the outside, and, if attached to a home, a human-sized door to the house.
• cane bolts can be used to secure any door in the garage.

Human sized doors

• Tips on making doors more secure details improvements for human sized doors in detail.
• If you keep pets in the garage, examine that section of the tips on making doors more secure.
  • Human sized doors should have double-cylinder locks. Burglars may try to steal a car for their escape, or use tools in the garage to access the rest of the house.

The Garage Door

• The Garage Door should be equipped with cane bolts that can be locked from the inside, unless there is no other exit in the garage. Use these if you will not be using the garage frequently.
• Sectional roll up doors are more secure than single pannel doors, especially if you have an opener.
• Make sure there are no gaps between sections in the door.
• Windows in garage doors should be made of sturdy privacy glass.
• do not use the garage door as a pet door. If there is enough space for your pet to get through, a criminal can probably roll under it as well. Get a real pet door.

Garage Door Opener

• Automatic garage door openers are very popular, but have not had a good track record for security.
• Most garage door opener kits can be made more secure by adding on automatic solenoid locking systems, which will physically lock the door in place. With single piece doors, these are a must, as the arm extensions can easily be bent open a crack. With roll down versions, this is less of an issue, as the arm holds the door in place.
• Garage door openers have an emergency release pull cord. Pulling this makes the garage door open freely. Burglars sometimes fish through cracks to pull this. Remeber where it is, then take it off, and tape the disconnect closed.
• Ghost signals sometimes cause doors to open unexpectedly. You can reduce this risk by unlpugging them when you will not be using the door much. They can also be set on a timer, or hooked up to motion sensors facing the drive way, to cut down on problems with them going off while you are not at home. Thick tinfoil shielding around the antenna can sometimes cut down on this problem as well.
• New garage door openers have rolling code security. They are far less prone to ghost signals, as well as to means of intentional burglar attacks.
  • Older multicode openers have a series of switches on the opener and the remote. Duplicate signals from nearby users can lead to ghost signals, as can some other situations.
  • If you have multicode switches, make sure to alter the pattern of switches from the factory default. Flip a few. As long as the opener and remote have the same pattern, they will work.
  • Criminals can record multicode signals, and use them to open your garage door. it is best to change the multicode often if you have it, and to close the door with the push button, rather than the remote.
  • Rolling code openers change the code each time based on a pre-set pattern. They have fewere problems.

Lights

• Since garage door openers come with lights, you can usually install light switches for the garage inside the house itself, making it hard for burglars to find their way around in the garage.

Tools

• Some criminals get into the garage to steal tools, or use them to break into the home.
• Lock tools up when not in use.
• Locking tool boxes, locking cabinets, or chains and padlocks can be used.

Valuables

• Valuables are less secure in the garage than in the home.
• Valuables being stored in the garage long-term probably will not be used often enough to justify owning them.
• Consider selling these valuables. The money you get can be used to improve everyday life, or it can be invested for a bigger profit.

Cars

• cars have a lot of value, both financially, and because they let you commute.
• the garage is designed to protect cars from thieves and vandals. Use it.
• Storing your car in the garage makes it hard to tell if you're gone. Criminals hate guessing.
• Storing your car in the garage allows you to hook the battery up to a charger, so it will last longer. This will also give burglars one more nasty thing to trip over.
  • Unless you keep pets in the garage, a car with an alarm will be less prone to going off in the garage. Your neighbors will not have their sleep disturbed as much, and will like you more.
  • A car with an alarm will be hard for a burglar to walk around in a dark garage. If they come in from there, you'll likely be warned.

Additional protection

• Garages can be protected further by various means.
• A gravel driveway will crunch under feet or tires, notifying dogs, who can notify people.
• Good lighting can show you how the garage is doing.
• Covering windows in the garage will help keep it private, so criminals cannot plan a crime from outside.
• Ensuring that the human-sized door opens into a fenced off backyard can help protect the garage.
• The car door can be protected more by installing a fence with an automatic gate around the whole yard.
• A peep hole can be installed into the door to the garage, if you often forget whether or not the Garage door is closed.

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