You keep a lot of important and expensive items in your garage. Your car is in there, perhaps more than one, your power tools, your Christmas decorations, your children’s old baby clothes. These items are worth protecting, and since an entire wall of this room can lift up to allow easy access for your car, it may worry you that thieves have a much easier access to this space than other locations in your house that are protected by deadbolts and window rods. So how safe is your garage? Let’s look at the major fail points of a garage and see if some general safety and security tips are what you need to give you peace of mind that the items you choose to store in your garage are safe.
Obscure your Emergency Disconnect Cord
If your garage door is connected to an electrical opening mechanism, it will not open unless triggered by one of its buttons. Even if the power goes out, the emergency disconnect cord needs to be pulled to allow the door to move freely by hand. That means your garage door’s emergency disconnect cord is a popular way for intruders to try and enter. They can fashion a wire to grab this cord from the outside and pull it, releasing the door from the mechanism and allowing them to open it easily from the outside. You can zip tie or otherwise tie up this cord to keep an intruder from having access to it. Just make sure not to make it impossible for you to reach from inside the garage. That cord is the only way you will be able to manually open the door if the power goes out, so you don’t want to render it completely inaccessible, just much harder to get a hold of from the outside.
Cover Windows
If you have any windows in your garage, you should seriously think about frosting them to keep people with bad intentions from peering in. This will keep a thief from knowing what you have that they may want, and also makes it much harder for them to use tools to grab your emergency release cord.
Check the Material
Garage door material is another thing you should think about if you are worried about the safety of the belongings you keep in your garage. If your door is beginning to fall apart, or has serious gaps that allow people to see in, it’s that much easier for a thief to break the door rather than attempting to open it by disconnecting the power. Make sure your door is made out of a solid material that has been well maintained. Steel, aluminum, and wood are all fine options as long as they’ve been taken care of.
Add a Modern Security System
If you are still concerned about the safety of your garage, you should think about investing in a security system, especially a motion sensing light, as a way to further dissuade potential thieves. There are a host of good options out there, just make sure the camera is pointed in the direction of most concern, and has the sensors it needs to operate in low-light conditions. A blatant security system is a great way to keep thieves away, and if they decide to break in anyway, you have their picture taken, and can use it to hopefully get your things back. Modern security tools have smartphone apps that allow you to check any locations without even having to get out of bed. If you think someone is breaking into your garage, you can make sure you have the full story before you have to investigate the problem personally. Odd bumps in the night are now recorded. The boogeyman won’t be getting into your garage now.
Hopefully these fixes will give you more peace of mind that the things you choose to store in your garage are safe from intruders. If you are still worried about the safety of your garage, give Performance Building Products a call. They can install a new garage door, check the security off the room and fix any issues with the electrical mechanism that have developed.
Don’t worry keep you from enjoying your home. Trust Performance Building Partners to keep your home and garage safe.
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