A home intrusion is everyone’s worst nightmare. Beyond the possibility of theft, the detrimental effect it has on your family’s sense of security can be scarring. We all lock our doors and would never leave our homes unsecured, but when it comes to our garage door, we often overlook basic security measures. There has been a substantial increase in home robberies committed by burglars entering through a residential garage door. If extra layers of security are not implemented, a garage door can be the most vulnerable entrance to a home. Thieves using simple materials with no special skills can easily bypass the garage door and often gain access to the entire residence. Below are some tips, tricks and best practices to help secure your garage door. In addition, at One Clear Choice, we offer numerous security features that permanently and effectively fortify your garage door.
The first defense against home intrusion is preventing crimes of opportunity. This means closing the garage door, whenever the garage is unattended, and it is essential! This small human error is responsible for the majority of break-ins. To develop good garage door habits is easy as long as the importance of the situation is considered. The same goes for locking your front door when you leave and becomes second nature. Closing the garage door can become an ingrained practice as well.
Never leave your garage door opener in an unattended car. Even if you are just running into the house to quickly grab something, always make sure you have the garage door opener with you. These are keys to your home, and should be treated as such. You would never leave your house keys in an unsecured location and you should treat your garage door opener the same way.
Always make sure there is a locked door between your garage and the rest of your residence. This way, even during the worse case scenario where your garage is breached, the thief cannot easily proceed to the main part of the house. Maintaining this extra layer of security is a simple step that goes a long way in terms of preventing intrusions.
We always recommend our clients to install overhead, motion activated lighting surrounding their garage doors. This inexpensive feature is a great way to prevent robberies. A bright light can be startling to an intruder and “blow their cover” easily.
Choosing frosted glass garage door windows will also prevent thieves from window shopping. When a thief has a clear view of your garage and its mechanisms, it makes their job much easier. By covering clear windows with paper or cardboard, you will complicate a thief’s mission immensely.
Finally, there are new technologies specifically designed to thwart the most ambitious thieves. At One Clear Choice, we offer SecureShield. This device is designed to prevent overhead garage door break-ins. Addressing one of the easiest exploits of a common garage door, this patent pending design mounts around the emergency release lever and protects it from outside access. Our expert mechanics can quickly install this feature on your pre-existing garage door, giving you a peace of mind.
Enduring busy schedules and hectic lives, the garage door isn’t always on the top of homeowner’s minds. To help keep homeowners aware of their garage doors, we offer the LiftMaster Garage Door Monitor. Instead of having to go downstairs or outside to see if you accidentally left the garage door open, you can check and close the garage door from any room in the house. The patented MyQ technology enables you to monitor and control up to four garage doors from any room in the house. LEDs indicate whether the garage door is open or closed, while audible alarms alert you if the garage door is being opened. This can easily be installed with LiftMaster® Security+2.0 garage door openers.
Protecting the garage door can be an easy and effective way to protect your home and family. A quick call to our experts at One Clear Choice and you can be set up with state of the art security features. We take care of the installation and will help you every step of the way. So contact One Clear Choice today to meet our dedicated team that puts customer service and quality above all.
