The garage is one of the easiest ways into a house. Check five things: whether the opener uses rolling-code remotes, whether the emergency-release cord can be hooked through the gap at the top of the door, whether the interior door to the house locks, whether the photo eyes work, and whether the door gets left open.
For a lot of homes the garage is the easiest way in. It holds expensive tools and bikes, and it usually connects straight to the house through a door with a weaker lock than the front door. Here are five things to check, and how to fix each one.
Openers made before the mid-1990s used a fixed code set by small switches inside the remote. Those codes can be copied or guessed. Current openers use rolling codes that change every time you press the button. If your opener has no safety sensors near the floor or a remote with little switches inside, it is old enough to replace.
The red cord that disconnects the opener can sometimes be hooked from outside by pushing the top of the door in and fishing for it with a wire. It takes seconds. Fixes include a release shield that covers the mechanism, a zip tie through the release lever that a firm pull from inside will still break, and a good weather seal along the top of the door.
A remote clipped to the visor of a car parked in the driveway is a house key left in an unlocked car. Use a keychain remote, the opener's phone app, or a keypad instead. If a remote goes missing, erase all remotes from the opener's memory and reprogram the ones you have.
This is often a hollow-core interior door with a knob lock and no deadbolt. Treat it like an exterior door:
The most common way into a garage is the door someone forgot to close. A smart opener or add-on sensor sends an alert to your phone when the door has been left open, and can close it from anywhere. Some can close it automatically after a set time.
Replace a fixed-code opener, protect the emergency release, and put a real deadbolt on the door into the house.
We install current openers with rolling codes and smart alerts, add deadbolts and keypads, and rekey locks. Call to set up a visit.
Call (855) 557-5454 for 24/7 service, or get a quote.
On many doors, yes. A thin tool pushed through the gap at the top can hook the emergency-release cord and disengage the door, which then lifts by hand. Shortening the cord, removing the plastic handle, or fitting a shield blocks it. An old fixed-code remote can also be replayed.
Yes. Use the manual slide lock or a clamp on the track, and unplug the opener so a captured or cloned remote code cannot run it. Also lock the interior door between the garage and the house, which in many homes is the weakest lock on the property.
Openers from before the mid-1990s use a fixed code that never changes, and inexpensive devices can record and replay it. Rolling-code openers issue a new code on every press, which defeats that attack. If your remote has DIP switches inside rather than a learn button, you have a fixed code.
It can be, in two ways: it shows whether a car is home, and if it sits within reach of the release cord or the interior door, breaking it gives access. Frosted film, or replacing the glass with an obscured or impact-rated panel, removes both problems at once.
Tell us what is going on and we will get a technician on site, on time.
