Garage Door Locks - Additional Security
Your garage door is an important gateway into your home. As such it should be secured when needed so that unwanted intruders are not able to access either the interior of your garage or your home’s living quarters. Secure Locksmith North Miami Beach offers helpful tips on keeping your garage safe from intruders, home invaders and thieves, whether you are home or not.
Isn’t the garage door already locked when closed?
Yes and no. If you don’t make use of an automatic garage door opener system, your garage is probably not locked when closed. Even if you do use an opener unit, a remote that is set to your opening parameters will unlock your system and open your door. If you have items of value in your North Miami Beach, FL garage, it behooves you to keep the door locked when closed and especially if you are away on a trip or for an extended stay.
What’s in your garage?
Most people park their car(s) inside their garage space. Other forms of transportation inside the garage can include motorcycles, bicycles, skateboards, ATV’s, motorized lawn mowers and of course, trucks and vans.
Many keep work benches and tools in the garage. Lawn and garden equipment can include shovels, hedgers, weed cutters, rakes, wheel barrows, and other similar items. Personal storage items can include books, clothes, toys, hobby items, and crafts. The hot water heater is almost always inside the garage as are the water softener, storage bins, ladders and miscellaneous items like cleaning supplies, luggage and items for garage sales. The bottom line; these are things of value both monetarily and personally. If you didn’t want them, you would have sold or donated them. A stranger entering your garage has no right to these things and a good garage door lock can help secure them for you.
Risky garage doors!
An unlocked garage door can be risky in another little known way. A burglar can gain access to your garage if the lock is not used or is absent. All this crook has to do is close your garage door from the inside to be able to work in peace and relative obscurity. No one driving or passing by will notice this person loading up his own vehicle or picking the lock to your inside door. What if you didn’t lock this door and he now has full access to your home’s interior? As a precaution, start locking this interior garage door when not at home, and at night. Get in the habit of doing this. Have your spouse, children, or house mates do the same. Why make it easy for burglars or home invaders to get access to you or to your belongings?
Kinds of garage door locks
You have many choices when it comes to garage door locks. Just remember; the best locks will do you no good if you don’t use them! Don’t become paranoid, but do use your best judgement about when to actually apply your garage door lock. All it takes is one incident of a break-in or home invasion and your life can be adversely affected.
Slide locks
These garage door locks are also called latch locks. You add these locks to overhead wood or steel garage doors. They work by latching on to the slot in the vertical track with a steel bolt. These locks are affordable (less than $10), sturdy and portable.
Garage door side locks
Also affordable; these locks are designed for use with an outside lock that can be key operated. They can also be used with an outside T latch handle and a key cylinder lock. These pieces are also less than $10 and can be purchase online or at most hardware or home improvement stores.
Using a combination master lock
Remember that old lock from high school? The one you used for 3 years on your locker? You can make good use of it by securing your garage door providing the lock still works and that you still know your combination! Here’s what you do. Pick a wheel in your garage door track that you want to secure using your master lock. Using a drill, make a hole in the track above the wheel. Make sure that this hole is slightly larger than the master lock metal loop that closes. Simply slip the lock through the drilled hole in your track and lock your door shut.
Bolt your garage door closed
This is literally getting down to the “nuts and bolts” as you are making a homemade lock! This is very similar to the master lock method above but instead of your old high school lock, you insert a bolt into the hole in the track that you drilled. Be sure that this bolt is long enough to protrude into the track from the outside. Secure this with a nut. Just don’t forget to remove any bolts or locks before opening your door with your remote or you can burn out your motor and even damage your door!
T handle locks
T handle locks are named this because of the T shaped handle that turns and unlocks it. There is a cable as well as two bolts located on the inside of the garage door. When this T handle is turned, the bolts secure your door and conversely it is released when the handle is turned the other way. This method does make use of a key to lock or unlock it.
J arm garage door locks
If you have an automatic garage door opener unit, you already have this lock. Have you noticed that when your garage door is in the closed position that you can’t open it from either the inside or the outside? This is because the J arm lock is automatically in place. The operator arm on the trolley locks into place when the garage door is closed. If you experience a loss of electrical power and need to open your garage door, simply pull the emergency release cord (it has a red knob at the end) located by the opener light and this will manually unlock your door.