Fortifying a garage door???

[Voodoo]

All of the houses in my development have those sectional, roll-up garage doors. You know, the ones made out of thin sheet metal. Well, a house around the corner had a break-in, and though I wasn't able to get the complete story from the neighbors, I heard that the burglars gained access to the house through the garage by prying it open. This, or course, made me paranoid, and got me thinking....how can one fortify this type of garage door?

 

[Richardson]

Whatever you do to your garage door, put a good door and lock between the garage & the house. And don't leave any hammers or axes in the garage - once they're in the garage, they'll use whatever you leave there to break through the door to the house.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

You could replace the garage door with a solid wood or fiberboard one -- but you might need a new, beefier lift system.

Richardson has it right: fortify the inner door -- and lock it!

 

[41mag]

Did they actually go through the door?Or were they just able to pry it open from below.ie.Like w/a crowbar stuck under the bottom edge & pivoted up?

FWIW,I always have a keyed padlock in one of my doors' roller channels(either through an existing hole or one I drilled on purpose).I put a u-bolt(does a similar job but w/o a key) through the other side just so that neither side can be jimmied up.Oh,& no windows in it either.

 

[Voodoo]

Thanks for the responses...

Unfortunately, replacing the door is not an option.

41mag: The door was pried open from the bottom edge. I really like your idea about a lock or bolt through the roller channel. Sounds like a quick, easy, and inexpensive project.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[NMshooter]

Leave your car or similar obstacle against the door, inside or out.

 

[SLCDave]

One time, I had a broken opener, so to secure the door, I clamped a C-clamp on the track just above one of the rollers, and that made it unable to open. Quick and easy.

 

[JamisJockey]

An overlooked item is a peephole into the Garage. You should be able to take a look without opening the door.
Also, when you pull into the garage, use the opener to close the door, keeping your car locked. Wait for it to close before getting out.

 

[Firethorn]

Well, I guess this can be approached from several different angles.

1. Fortify the interior door

• Crook has a covered position to work on the hard part. He can spend the extra time getting the interior door open, free from observation.
• An attached garage is often considered 'part of the house'. You'd have to remember to not consider it as 'secure' as the rest of the house.
• Relatively cheap and easy. Max cost: New security door, lock, and maybe frame work. Likely cost: bolt lock if not already present, or maybe one with a longer throw.

2. Bolt lock for the garage door (I don't think that actually breaking through the door is a problem for most).

• Only works for manual garage doors?
• I don't see this as being expensive. My parent's garage door had one years ago. It worked like a bank one, had rods that extended to either side into slots.

3. Advanced lock system for automatic garage door

• You might need a new opener.
• This is the only site I found that has a seperate locking system that would protect against a 'lift' attack. I'm not an expert, so you'd have to check any motor systems to see if they can protect against attacks other than code type attacks.

If you're going to go through this bother, I'd also work on making windows shatter and pry resistant. Don't forget the other doors.

 

[lbmii]

It is scary how easy it is to get into a garage with an automatic door opener.

All modern garage door openers have an emergency release lever. And most have a cord tied to the release lever.

You get a long metal rod about 1/4 inch in diameter and bend the end into a hook. You slip the hook end of the rod between the weather stripping at the top center of the door. You grab the emergency release cord with the hook and rotate the rod wrapping the cord around the rod. You then pull the rod that pulls the emergency release cord releasing the door from the door opener.

It takes less than a minute and leaves no indications to outsiders that there has been a break in. Spooky.

This is how some fire departments get into locked up homes. You can buy the hooked rod in fire equipment catalogs.

My girlfriend had her garage broke into in this matter. We removed the emergency cord with the idea that it might at least slow a burglar down.

 

[cpileri]

obstacle

Leaving a car against the door on the outside may make the operation more cumbersome, but it also provides cover for his break-in attempt.

If your garage is used for cars, then you really can't block the doors by building up shelves or whatever since its unrealistic to assume you will take down and rebuild them every time you move the car.

if it, like mine is used for a gym or whatever, you can both padlock the rollers, unplug the automatic opener (some doors will open all the way if they sense something between it and the ground, unplugging it avoids this), and build your olympic squat rack or Home Depot metal cabinets full of nails and whatever else to completely occlude the portal.

Heck, I know where everything is and I dont even want to have to sneak in under my garage door! I really should post a 'falling objects' sign...

C-

 

[mpthole]

I always have a keyed padlock in one of my doors' roller channels

Ever since my garage door opener broke, I've secured the door by clamping a C-clamp on the roller track, right at a roller. This leaves almost no room for give. Cheap, easy solution.

I'll be getting that opener fixed soon though so I don't have to park outside anymore - its about to get cold!

 

[JohnBT]

Want to have some fun? Take your door opener and ride around the neighborhood clicking it at every garage. I bet it opens more than a few.

John

 

[Kharn]

If I were to break into my parents' house via the garage door and couldnt get in the interior door, I'd just grab one of the numerous power tools (chain saw, rotary saw, recip saw, or even a lowly sledge hammer) left lying around the garage and go through the wall. I bet similar access could be achieved in many other houses

Kharn

 

[foghornl]

Good point, Kharn, about other tools in the garage. My big roll-around tool cabinet is in the garge, but is it locked, too. Anything in the garage that is capable of cutting (power saws, etc) resides in the took cabinet....Other than the small one-hand-held pruning shears.

 

[Voodoo]

Excellent points, everyone!

Our vehicles (read: SUVs) are too tall to fit into our garage, so we park one of them in the driveway directly in front of the garage, but far enough back so that any it would eliminate any "cover" for a potential bad guy.

Though the interior door leading from the garage to the house is fairly robust, it's still a concern because once someone gets in the garage, they merely close the door behind them and are completely out of sight from the street. Additionally, like others have mentioned, once in the garage, they can use the various tools available to assist in breaking in.

 

[bcochran]

garage door

I disabled the automatic garage door opener. Every plane flying overhead would open it.

I then went inside the garage and put a hasp on either side of the door and padlocks. Now, it could be opened only from the inside. I took the side door to the garage and put on a deadbolt key lock. This resulted in storage that would require someone to break in by driving a vehicle through the garage door.

This wasn't done because I live in a "bad neighborhood". Most burglaries are done by truant boys from junior and senior high schools. No need to encourage them.

 

[444]

I have broken in to many houses through the garage door, because the car inside the garage was on fire.
It is not easy and not something that can be done easily without attracting a lot of attention (at least in Southern Nevada where most garages are the main feature of the front of the house). Long before I tried to pry open a garage door, I would kick in the door to the house.

Yes, you can pry the door from the bottom. I have done this. Once you get the pry bar under the door, you can break away the last section of the door.
The best way to get into a garage door is to cut a triangle in the door with a gasoline powered saw. Locks and C-Clamps won't prevent either method.
That thing about pulling the release cable from outside seems pretty challenging to me. Usually that cord is about six feet or so from the door. So, you would have to get the tool inside the door, then feel around with the tool blindly until you found the cord. Possibly, but tedius.
If we need to get into a house and have time to be careful, we check all the doors and windows to see if any are open. The majority of the time, they are: one window, the rear sliding glass door usually. If not, we try to open a window by tripping the lock from the outside using some kind of improvised tool depending on how the window is latched. Some people even carry lock picks (
But, if worse comes to worse we just break in. And, there is very little you can do to stop it. In the acedemy we spent an afternoon breaching sold steel reinforced concrete walls with a sledgehammer (while breahing air). Note that the equipment used is not some speical tool available only to certain people, anyone can get a sledge hammer and you can get into anything with a sledge hammer.

I see this garage door thing as being another one of these situations where, if someone wants to get in bad enough, they will. You can do whatever you want to the garage door and they can still break a window in the house, kick in a door, breach a wall, whatever. You are not going to keep them out easily. A standard garage door is pretty secure.

" Anything in the garage that is capable of cutting (power saws, etc) resides in the took cabinet"
I would be far more worried about things like sledge hammers and axes than power tools.

 

[Burt Blade]

This is why active measures enhance the built-in security of your passive doors and locks.

When Joe Dirtbag approaches the house, it gets much brighter where he is standing as the motion-sensing floodlights come on. "Smile for the people who see your worthless butt, Joe!"

When Joe Dirtbag pries/bypasses/bashes-in the door, the alarm switch and motion sensor activate the honkin-big whooping noisemaker. "Did you bring a spare pair of clean shorts, Joe? I SAID DID YOU..."

It is also colorful entertainment when Fluffy the big loveable mutt gets his teeth into his new Joe Dirtbag meat-flavored chew toy. "Hey Joe, do you have burglar's HMO? Wow! You sure can scream loud! That's gotta hurt.."

Friendly Neighbors (TM) can also add some measure of security as they keep an eye on the place when you are gone (as you do for them). Many of them will react to your active measures. "Hey Joe, you hold that TV set, we'll hold these shotguns. Hold real still now."

I realize that many folks feel that an alarm system is not in the budget, but you probably can at least afford to add the motion activated lights. (or at least a couple of bright manual lights you leave on at night.) Cheap timers on a couple of lamps make the place look a bit more lived in. Cultivating your neighbors can have big payoffs too.