Garage Door Locks – Additional Security

Did you know that there are locks for your Blue Springs, MO garage door? That’s right; you can use a variety of locks to secure your garage and its door whether you are home or not. Some of these locks are basic and others, advanced. Some are pricey and others so inexpensive that you’d think they were ineffective. The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot to really secure your garage door from intruders, the elements, nosy neighbors, vagrants or anyone else that has no business getting inside of it!

Once upon a time

Long before automatic garage doors became the norm, single tilt up wood doors were used. You had to manually lift and lower your garage door each time it was used. The only way to lock your garage door was to padlock it. You had to find the key and manually lock and unlock your garage door each time you decided to secure it. Obviously, times have changed! In today’s world, we like our automation and that includes our garage door openers and the locks that come with them. We can simply stay in our cars the whole entering and leaving time and do everything with the click of a button. This includes locking your garage door, as well. See for yourself. Close your garage door using your automatic opener. Now, try lifting it open manually – you can’t. This is because of the automatic built-in lock that goes into place when your garage door opener is set to close. Each opener unit (automatic) has one of these. Of course, you can supplement this lock with additional ones. Read on and see what some of your choices are.

What’s so valuable in your garage anyway?

Believe it or not, we get asked this question. Folks want to know why they should lock their garage doors. First of all, they don’t have to. If your garage is empty and you don’t mind people opening it and going inside, then don’t lock your garage. But if you are like most, you’ve got a plethora of valuable items inside of your garage, including cars, trucks, SUVs, motorcycles, ATVs, lawn mowers, bicycles, skateboards and other means of transportation and service. Then there are garden tools, work benches, hot water heaters, power drills, rakes, shovels, hoses, cans of paint, fertilizer, home gym equipment, sporting goods, clothing, pool tables, books, vintage items, antiques and so much more. The modern day garage has become the “attic” of old days and each garage usually contains a mixture of everyday items and stored pieces and everything in between.

Gateway to your home

Most homebuilders attach a one, two or three car garage to their new home builds. Buyers love the convenience of simply walking from their newly parked car, right into their homes via the attached garage door. While this affords home owners and renters extra convenience, it can pose a security risk if the garage door itself is not secured properly and if the inside garage door is not locked. If you haven’t yet, please get in the habit of locking this interior garage door; home, or not. That simple step can frustrate an intruder and buy you time to arm yourself or call for help.

Slide garage door locks

Slide locks are an easy to install and very affordable garage door lock. Simply slide them on and bolt them into place. Once bolted, they prevent the garage door rollers from moving up and down inside your track system. They must be manually added and removed so keep that in mind.

Deadbolt locks

Just like your front door likely has a deadbolt lock installed, your garage door can benefit from having one, too. Simply turn the knob on the inside and bolt your garage door shut. A key opens the lock from the outside. Having one of these deadbolt locks installed on your garage door prevents intruders from pulling the emergency latch from the outside using a coat hanger or other homemade device. Garage door deadbolts can be purchased affordably; just under $10 is the norm.

Automatic garage door opener lock

If you have an automatic garage door opener installed, you already have a lock on your garage door. See for yourself. Close your garage door via the remote or wall switch and try manually lifting your door; you can’t and neither can anyone else. The only way to open it now is to pull the emergency switch on the inside (the red cord). Some crude tools can be used to trip the cord from the outside; usually by wiggling a coat hanger through a garage door window. A garage door deadbolt or slide lock can still prevent your garage door from opening this way.

Padlocks

Remember that old padlock from high school - the one on your locker? Well, you can effectively lock your garage door with it, too! Just drill a hole in your garage door track large enough to fit your padlock through it and lock it into place! A Padlock makes a simple, affordable and very effective lock for your garage door – just don’t forget it’s there – you can burn out your opener’s motor if you persist in trying to open your locked garage door.

Keypad locks

Keypad locks are pretty common for garage doors. You can regularly see these mounted on the outsides of garage doors pretty much everywhere. You simple enter your number sequence into the keypad and you’ll be able to unlock and open your garage door from the outside. 

Fingerprint locks

Yes, garage doors can be secured by biometric locks including thumbprint and retina scanners. These can be used from the inside or outside of the garage and once the thumb, finger or eye print is authenticated, the garage door is unlocked and ready to open or close.