How to Make Your Garage More Secure
Your home is only as safe and secure as its weakest security point. For most people that is the garage, especially in cases where the garage is attached to the home.
Thieves and burglars will find any way they can to get into your home and among the first places they will check is the garage and your sliding garage door.
Some homeowners spend thousands of dollars on high-tech, video and audio surveillance security systems, yet leave their garage door and other access points vulnerable.
Not only can the bad guys gain access to your home through the garage, but chances are you have some pretty valuable items stored in the garage, not even counting vehicles.
However, there are some common-sense preventative measures you can take to make sure your garage and your home are safe and secure.
Make Sure Your Locks & Garage Door Are Doing Their Job
The first thing you can do is make sure you lock the door leading from the garage to the house. Leaving it open may be convenient for you to get to your car or throw the garbage out, but you are just providing free access if someone were to get into the garage will ill intent.
Burglars are on a tight schedule and do not like to linger around any single house too long. Even if your house and garage give the reasonable appearance of being tight and secure, the chance increase of a prospective thief moving on to your neighbors if it looks like you’ve put in the effort to secure the property.
A malfunctioning or off-track garage door is an open invitation to burglars and should be repaired as soon as possible.
Frosting your windows and otherwise obscuring any other openings will prevent people from looking in to see what you have in your garage, as well as scout out the place to see if your cars are gone.
Additional steps can include:
- Motion sensor exterior lights
- Security cameras
- A garage door opener with smart technology capable of monitoring your property and sending alerts if the perimeter is breached.
When you leave the garage door opener on your car’s dashboard or clipped to the sun visor, it makes it that much easier for someone to break into your car and gain access to your garage.
Consider a Wireless Keypad
One of the main dangers with modern digital technology is the chances of hackers getting into your system and causing havoc.
If you are wondering if a garage door opener can be hacked, the answer is: absolutely. It is as easy to gain access to your automatic garage door opener like any other computerized system if the proper precautions and security measures have not been put into place.
Automatic garage door openers have an emergency release lever, which is handy for both when you lose power and when a criminal wants to gain unlawful entry into your home. Of course, a wire hanger in the wrong hands can do the same thing. The best way to guard against that is to disable the lever, though it can be inconvenient for you and your family.
Wireless keypads are alternatives that offer an added sense of security, as long as you can remember the entry code. Keypads are cheap, and easy to install and activate.
