5 Ways to Keep Your Garage Secured from Intruders

It’s easy to forget how many valuables you actually store in your garage. Think about it: Your car, tractor or lawn mower, power tools, bikes — the list goes on. In fact, if you think about it, out of your entire house, there’s a good chance your garage holds a majority of your most-valuable items.

So, just as you lock passports, jewelry and other valuables in a safe in your closet, it’s important to secure your garage with that same amount of diligence. Thankfully there are some very easy and practical steps you can follow to make sure everything in your garage is secured.

Some of these suggestions might seem a bit overboard, but you’ll thank me in the case when an intruder tries to make his way inside and steal or damage your property.

Automatic Garage Door Opener

It’s becoming more rare today to find a garage door that isn’t automatic, but they do still exist. And if you don’t have one, it’s time to invest in one.

Manual garage doors are significantly easier to pry open than an automatic garage door. Why is that? Manual garage doors are designed to be easily lifted. An automatic garage door tends to be much heavier, making it more difficult for intruders to make their way in.

Remote

Most automatic garage doors come with a remote that you keep inside your car. They’re quick and convenient to use when you get home every day, but what happens if someone steals your car? They not only have your car, but also easy access to your garage.

Go out and buy a keychain remote garage door opener. They’re a little pricier, but you’ll be able to carry it with you at all times.

Keep it Locked

This might sound like an obvious tip, but you’d be surprised how many garages don’t have some kind of padlock system built in. This is because most people have automatic garage door openers and don’t want to worry about locking and unlocking their garage every time they leave their home.

I’m not recommending that you do that, but when you go to bed every night, it doesn’t hurt to slide a padlock on the inside of your garage to prevent anyone from lifting the garage up and sneaking inside. When you drive in for the night, it only takes a quick second to lock things up and unlock them in the morning.

Why Do People Leave Their Garage Door Open?

As a girl who works in the garage industry and has heard his fair share of security-related garage issues, it still baffles me that people leave their garage door open when they leave the house — or even when they’re inside the house!

This is the easiest tip on the list: You don’t leave the safe open in your house, so don’t leave your garage door open for the world to see. If you do, you’re just creating a sneak preview for any potential thieves in the area.

Maintenance

Garage doors can last for at least a quarter of a century if you treat them properly and perform basic maintenance on them.

But what does maintenance have to do with security? Well, if you’re garage is broken, there’s a chance that you might have to keep it open for an extended period of time — potentially even over night — until you can get a repair man to check it out.

Additionally, a broken garage door is much easier to break into than one that’s properly installed and operating.

Some basic tips include cleaning the track and oiling it every couple months and making sure all your seals are in good condition.

Bio: Sarah Bolt writes for Steel-line.com.au, where she shares her knowledge on garage security and maintenance.