GARAGE DOOR LOCKS; ADDITIONAL SECURITY

You may be surprised at how many people are completely unaware of garage door locks and how they are used.

What’s the big deal?

It’s a garage already! What’s the big deal? So someone gets in; they still don’t have a key to my car! These are excuses; plain and simple. Your garage is very important room and well worth protecting. Not only do you store your cars and other motorized vehicles there, but also other items like garden tools, water heater, benches, cabinets, water softener, bicycles, lawn mowers, ATV’s and other items of value. These are your possessions and should be secure from burglars, nosy neighbors, home invaders and anyone else that is not invited inside.

Another little known fact is that your garage is a direct doorway INTO your home itself. Think about it. If your garage is easy to access and re-close, then it hides the robber while he picks open or simply walks into your home. A crook can not only break-in and rob you, he can do it in relative privacy and comfort while being shielded by your now closed again garage door! Even if you always lock your door leading from the garage into your home, it can be picked or bumped open with no one seeing or hearing from outside the home!

The solution; garage door locks!

Sure, you can add fancy alarm systems or video surveillance to your home, but there’s a simpler and more economical option – garage door locks! These handy and easy to access locks are both affordable and easy to install. You can often do the work yourself by following the simple instructions that come with the lock when you purchase it. You can also go online and watch any number of YouTube videos on the subject. Doing this adds the advantage of seeing garage door locks in video presentation as well as being able to observe installation and application methods.

Slide locks

Garage door slide locks are sometimes called latch locks. These are the most common forms of garage door locks for home and business use. Don’t let their simplicity fool you; these locks work. They use a latch that slides directly from the garage door into a pre-cut opening in the garage door track. When you add the lock into place, it stops the garage door from rising inside the vertical track. Now, wasn’t that simple? Be warned however; if your slide lock is in place and you try to open your garage door with the remote, you can burn out your opener motor in the process. We’ve heard stories about roommates or family members that applied the lock and forgot to tell anyone; woops!

Garage door T handle-lock

You’ve seen these hundreds of times, but you may not have known what you were seeing. These locks are installed on the outside of the garage door and have a special T shape to them. Inside the garage door itself, there are two bolts and a cable apparatus that work together to secure your garage door when locked. The two bolts are secured to the garage door’s vertical track and when the T handle is turned, the door is unlocked via the cables. Like any other lock, you can only turn the T handle with once a key is used so there’s no worries about anyone outside your garage locking or unlocking your door without your permission (or key!).

The J Arm Lock

Your garage door may already have a lock on it. If you have an automatic garage door opener, it has a built-in feature called the J Arm Lock. This lock activates when the garage door is closed as the operator arm on the trolley locks into place. This is why you just can’t manually open the garage door once closed. This is what you unlock when you manually disconnect the garage door from the opener by pulling the red cord.

What else can you do to secure your garage?

Here are some additional garage door security tips that when used, go hand-in-hand with your newly installed garage door locks to enhance your overall security and protection. Start by trimming any outgrown trees, bushes or hedges near your garage door or front door. This not only makes your property more attractive, it helps reduce places where someone can observe you and your comings and goings. You can also install a motion activated security light over either one or both of these doors so that they turn on whenever someone is moving about near them.

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