A garage door is the biggest opening to your house…and your family. Your garage door is the first line of defense of protection, so it is important to know which garage door is best for securing your home. Let’s dive into those below and more information regarding security with your garage door.
What Type of Garage Door Should I Get?
When it comes to garage doors rated for security, there are three popular styles to choose from:
- Sectional garage doors
- Roller garage doors
- Up and over garage doors
Sectionals
Typically, sectionals are comprised of four-panel sections. In fact, if you are reading this, there is a high likelihood that you have a sectional garage door currently installed in your home, and thankfully, you can rest easy! These garage doors are popular for good reason. As long as they are well maintained, these garage doors can offer significant protection.
Roller-Ups
The only garage door style that trumps sectionals is roller-ups. These are frequently seen in self-storage units and dense urban centers due to having fewer entry points and their thick steel material. The trade-off to these doors is their higher price tag and fewer design options. Unless you seriously need to up your garage door security, these are typically considered overkill.
Up & Overs
Up and over garage doors are a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to security measures. Older up and over garage doors are easy targets for thieves. Since they are designed as a single solid piece, thieves have more leverage to work with when attempting to open your door through force. If you are using a more modern up and over garage door, there have been improvements in their security design in recent years to make them more versatile. However, their inherent design flaw still makes this a garage door style to avoid if security is a concern.
Does Material Matter?
Material plays a significant role in the security of your garage door. A few common options for garage door material are:
- Steel – The strongest material for your garage door, but also one of the pricier ones. Steel is also prone to rusting and requires more maintenance than alternative options.
- Aluminum – One of the more common materials used in garage doors. Aluminum strikes a perfect balance between strength, durability, and affordability.
- Wood – If properly cared for, wood can offer a surprising amount of protection. Wooden garage doors are often heavy and thick, making it difficult to break through. However, these still offer less protection than aluminum or steel for their cost.
- Fiberglass – An increasingly popular option due to affordability and insulation potential, yet fiberglass doors are brittle. These doors can be broken through with enough force.
Common Ways Garage Doors Are Broken Into
Beyond smashing your garage door to pieces, there are a few more discrete ways thieves will try to get past your garage door.
Coat Hangers
A simple coat hanger can completely circumnavigate your garage door by triggering the manual release mechanism. Thieves will look for a gap in your garage door, typically near the top. If one is not available, more persistent thieves may attempt to create an opening by bending your garage door depending on its material. Then, they will then use a coat hanger to reach towards your manual release lever or red rope. Once they catch the rope or lever, they can manually release the garage door from outside. Allowing easy entrance.
To prevent this, the easiest and most effective way is to use a zip tie to lock your manual release. This will be difficult for someone on the outside to break, but be easy to remove from the inside when the manual release is needed.
Using the Automatic Opener
We often leave our garage remotes in our vehicles. Well, the hard truth is if someone gets into your vehicle, they can easily snag your garage door remote and break into your home. If you’ve lost track of your remote or your garage has recently been broken into, the best option is to immediately reset your automatic opener and remotes. Waiting could cost you more trouble.
The Back Door
Even if you have bought the most up-to-date roller-up, zip-tied your manual release, and secured your garage remote to ensure the utmost protection of your belongings, a determined burglar can easily side-step your state-of-the-art system, just to break into a window or side door.
Keep in mind that there are other ways to enter your garage and home beyond your garage door. Don’t spend thousands of dollars on a secure garage door and ignore your single-pane window. Reinforce your locks, use deadbolts, and maybe even seal off windows to ensure the best security. Don’t be afraid to make use of safes to protect smaller valuables. Also, adding security alarm systems can add to the surveillance needed for extended trips away from home.
Stay Secured with Precision
At the end of the day, finding a good balance between these attributes will likely serve you better than focusing on one alone. Call us today for the perfect garage door to keep your home safe!
