Garage Door Security
Many houses today have attached garages and with the convenience of the garage door opener, the garage door has become the most common main access to the house. Security of personal property and your person can become a concern if the garage door is left open or not able to be secured due to malfunctioning.
Loss of personal property from open garages is among the highest categories of theft reported by police in most communities. Also in past years one has heard of their garage doors mysteriously opening caused by a neighbor with the same radio signal which inadvertently opened the other parties door while opening his own.
These problems can be addressed by making sure that both the garage door and opener are functioning properly at all times. If they are not, have them repaired so they are and you can enjoy peace of mind that the garage & contents are secure. Also new garage door & opener accessories have become available to help you deal with these security concerns.
New generation garage door openers come with new radio frequencies being used and they have revolving electronics code that once the remotes have been programmed for the openers the code will actually change with each opening. Some of these openers will have a billion codes available to rotate through, thus eliminating any duplicate codes with neighbors openers. In 2006 the US Government took over the radio frequencies used by garage door remotes & keypads, for homeland security reasons-they needed these channels. As a consequence garage door openers which are manufactured after 2006 operate on a new frequency. Purchasing a new garage door opener will enable you to avoid interference from local law enforcement radio signals but they may require you to also obtain a new keyless entry pad since the old ones will not work with the new frequency machines.
Another recent product is the open door monitor which reports the status of the garage door from an inside of the house monitor. This is especially useful & convenient if you can’t see the garage door from the inside of the house. A green light signals a closed door and a red light an open door. If door was left open one goes to the wall button or remote to close it & secure the garage for the night.
Often when homeowners return to their house in the darkness of night they feel insecure approaching a dark house. Now using your opener remote from your car or purse you can push a button and turn on inside lights so you can enter a well lit house rather than the uncertain dark house. This new product simply plugs into your wall outlet in the house with the lamp cord plugged into it & program your remote to turn on the house light remotely.
Door locking hardware is also available for garage doors which were installed without them. Keyed access can serve much like a keyless entry pad but requires a key to trigger the opener to open.
Motion detectors are available as part of a wall button for the garage door opener. When the sensor detects motion in the garage the light will come on. This can serve as a security feature for potential garage intruders or as a convenience to entering homeowners with arms that are full & can’t turn on the light switch or are far away from the wall switch panel.
