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Garage Door Security Tips to Keeping You Safe

According to www.fbi.gov, burglaries accounted for over 19% of all property crimes in 2016. After statistics like this, I’m sure most people would consciously endeavor to make sure to be a little more cautious and a lot less casual about their garage door security.  When it comes to an intruder entering your private domain – material items take a back seat to your personal safety in situations like these. The objective of this article is to highlight and encourage some basic garage door security tips and easy to find security products on today’s marketplace, which are both easy to remember and also easy to buy and install.

What exactly is Garage Door Security?  

Garage door security is implementations to your garage door that make your garage more protected, not only from potential intruders and criminals but also safer from accidents, especially from dangerous and sometimes life-threatening garage door malfunctions.

Taking the proper garage security measures is akin to an insurance policy that pays off by giving you more protection, but, like insurance, it cannot be expected to stop crime in its tracks.

What garage door security does do is to help to discourage a criminal from trying to attempt to rip you off in the first place, making them move on and look for easier pray after assessing the obvious high-risk factors involved due to your security measures.

Garage Door Security Levels  

There are two main levels of garage door security in the industry. They are the Loss Prevention Standard (LPS), which ensures that the garage door has passed an industry standard level of tests that prove that your garage door has a reasonable resistance to forced entry attempts.

The other rating system is called the Warrington rating and it’s very similar to LPS system to the extent that it covers the burglary deterrent capabilities of your garage door. Garage doors can actually have both certifications and whether a door has one rating or the other is usually determined by the garage door manufacturer and also on the basis of existing laws.

Simple Security Products that Work

Garage doors normally do not come with multiple locks, alarms, or “Smart” capabilities like the front or back doors of a house do. These usually have to be added on afterward or are specifically requested to be installed when purchasing a new garage door. That’s why these low-cost common add-on garage door security products can easily help to keep your house safer.

Garage Door Shields – One of the most common ways that thieves break into your garage is through your garage door. The most prevalent way is by taking a wedge and using it to cause a gap between your door and its weather stripping in order to get a coat hanger through and activate your garage door’s emergency release.

Garage door shields are attached to the door’s emergency opening mechanism in order to totally block this security problem by blocking access to the emergency release from the outside. The security attachment is very inexpensive, easy to install, and also easily found at most hardware stores. The downside of this product is that it’s not usually compatible with older styles of garage doors like roller doors, canopy doors, or side-hinged doors.

Garage Door Timers – For those of you out there who tend to get a bit forgetful in the hustle and bustle to get to work, or are too exhausted to care about shutting the garage when you get back from work; a garage door timer can solve your door closing problems by doing it for you automatically. A sensor will measure if the garage door is open or closed and if it’s still open after a pre-set amount of time, it will trigger the motor and close the door.

Alarmed Garage Door Security Systems – For homeowners with monitored security systems such as Frontpoint, Vivint, ADT, etc.., it’s possible in most cases to add a garage door security alarm to your current system. We highly recommend this add-on if your system does not have one already. Thieves know that even in alarmed houses the garage door is usually the most vulnerable point of entry to your house and your valuable possessions.

Side Door Security – Many people forget to reinforce their side-door security as well. We always recommend lock reinforcement metal plates for standard outer side-doors along with extended high-strength screws which go deep into the studs of the door frame. The windows of garage side doors are a notoriously quick and easy way for thieves to break into. Wire reinforced or break-resistant glass is the best choice for small side-door windows. Deadbolt locks with keyed access on both sides will keep thieves from simply breaking the window and unlocking the door to gain entry.

Garage Door Windows – Garage door windows offer light and a small glimpse at the outdoors, plus an ambiance of classic beauty to your garage door. Unfortunately, clear glass windows on a garage door give prowlers a perfect way to pre-inventory all of your garagely possessions and evaluate whether it’s worth the risk to either come back better prepared – or just break in now! Frosted glass garage door windows still bring in light and also come in plain white or fun assorted colors as well, solving your unwanted prowling eyes problem.

Update Your Garage Door Opener – First generation garage door remote control openers all used to have the same basic opening codes, which of course, was a total field day for criminals. The second generation garage door openers were a little better in the random code department, but not much better. Modern remote garage door openers transmit a new random code every time you use your remote opener, generating potentially billions of code variations and making it virtually impossible for thieves to break your garage door’s code.

Due Diligence

Our main objective in this article is to make your life safer when you’re in the sanctity of your own home. These simple tips and products that we have recommended are both inexpensive and easy to find at most hardware stores or garage door specialists. We also always recommend hiring a professional to install the equipment for you if you’re not entirely sure that you can do it properly. It’s much better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the safety of you and your family. Make sure that your house doesn’t look like a potential target by taking in tools and leisure equipment like that expensive gas BBQ that you bought last summer, or those ATV’s and motorcycles and store them out of sight and out of the minds of criminals for the season. Due diligence is, of course, the best possible way to keep not only your garage safe, but also your whole property safe from crime on a year to year basis.

If you’re currently evaluating the security of your garage and need some professional help, call New York Gates today at (718) 614 – 0616 or email them at info@nygates.com with your specifics and they will swiftly contact you back in order to answer all of your questions. They cover all of New York’s City’s five boroughs and are the leading gate and garage door manufacturers, installers, plus maintenance and repair specialists in the industry. They’re also the most trusted.