Garage Door Security: Burglars Passport to Your Home Explained By Garage Door Rescue
Your home has the latest burglar alarm system, state-of-the-art doors and windows with high-security locks and deadbolts and yet your home is still vulnerable to burglars – how secure is your garage door? Garage doors, unless in good working order, can be a burglar’s passport to your home.
Your garage may house your car or may be full of tools, a second fridge or freezer or be full to the brim with boxes – if you take a minute to think about the items in your garage, it may add up to a significant value – and only protected by your garage door. If you have an integral garage the issue is even more pressing as access to your garage is only an internal door away from access to your house.
Older garage doors have one latch, usually at the top and centre of the door. This latch is quite small and fairly easy to force. The latch is connected to the door system with a series of wire cables, which stretch and expand over time, making it easy for your garage door to be opened from the outside.
A customer who had a modern alarm and camera system, yet an older garage door, told us the story of her break-in:
Jane is a single Mum and she got the security system to feel safe.
“I wasn’t even going to get the camera feature,” she said. “I was like, ‘no, I don’t need it, but now I’m glad that it’s there.”
She wants people to know how easily the burglars broke in, from what she saw on the CCTV footage.
The suspects bent the top of the garage. “In the middle of your garage, that’s obviously the most vulnerable,” she said.
Then they stuck something through the opening to pull the release cord.
“It disengages it and you can open it from the bottom,” she said. “They broke the internal door to enter the house.”
Modern Garage Door Security
If the frame around the garage door is old, loose or poorly fitted this too aids the thief further to gain entry.
Modern garage doors, although not impossible to break-in through, make it much more difficult to gain entry. Most thieves are looking for a quick and easy break-in and a modern garage door, compared to your neighbours’ older garage door can be the difference between your house being chosen, or not.
Modern garage doors, even more economical “up & over” garage doors have 2 locking points and use a system of solid rods that is far less likely to bend.
Better “up & over” garage doors will have 4 locking points and a Euro profile cylinder lock that even if drilled out, will not give access to the garage.
If your garage has old sagging wires or an old lock is possible to improve the security of your garage door, without breaking the bank.
If your garage door is over 10-years old or you are aware of a spate of burglaries in your area it is likely a very good time to upgrade your garage door, the workings of it and the security.
Are sectional garage doors and roller shutter doors are more secure?
Sectional garage doors offer greater security, as well as better insulation for the contents of your garage. This type of garage door usually features individual panels with 4 encapsulated rollers either side offering incredible lateral strength which is difficult to penetrate with hand tools, such as a crowbar.
Depending on the type of roller shutter door you choose will offer different levels of security. An economical single-skin roller shutter door is built for ease of use and cost to buy and install. Whereas a double skinned aluminium roller shutter door with good quality side guides and bottom slat will offer excellent security against the common points of forcing entry through the garage door.
If you think the security of your garage door needs upgrading or you require a new “up & over”, sectional or roller shutter door then please telephone Garage Door Rescue on 01793 393503
Garage Door Rescue offers security upgrades, new fittings and systems and new garage doors in Swindon, Bath, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Oxford and throughout all of Wiltshire.