A person’s home
is their castle, and a castle now has a garage door. Modern homes generally
aren't complete without an attached garage. This means that the lock on the
front door is only a distraction to the bigger, garage door. The barefoot
bandit might have been caught, but before that he stole dozens of cars, boats
and even planes. Security of mobile assets should be just as much a priority as
security of the home.
An older garage
door opener could be less secure. Have a garage door service person come out
and perform an inspection and verify how secure the door is. They should check
the whole system. Consider any outside door from the garage. Those often have
glass panels, a broken window there would never be heard from the main house.
That door should be kept locked at all times with a key controlled lock, and
don't keep a key in or near it. The price of convenience is security.
If smaller
children who might misplace a key have to come home by themselves after school
consider using a remote key pad and their birth date. If a homeowner has to
give this code out for some reason, change the code. The service person might
be reputable, but the number was likely written down on an invoice or bill with
an address and is therefore no longer secure.
If a vacation is
planned consider using a physical clamp on the garage door. Just make sure to
take a key along on the trip. It wouldn't do to secure the garage door only for
a spouse to leave the keys behind assuming they could use the cars opener to
get back in at the end of the trip.
Remind any
children who leave for school or a friends house through the garage to watch
the garage completely close. It would not do to run off to catch the bus only
for the rake to fall at the last minutes and trigger the automatic retraction
mechanism. The door could be left open
all day by way of a simple accident. If there is a door to the house consider
having it automatically lock when closed and keep a spare key hidden out of the
way. There is often a way to turn this off for days when the homeowner is going
in and out. Don't forget to turn it back on at the end of the day. A safety
feature is only good if it is in force.
This leads to a final
point. Check the safety of a garage door. Keep the openers secure. This means
lock the car door with an opener built in that is left out. Last but not least
check the back door. All the safety on the front door and garage door is wasted
when the back door is left open or unlocked after letting the dog out late at
night.