Home Removal Services Blog

Any idea what the weak link is as regards security in a great many homes? It’s actually a door; in particular the largest door in the home and one that the average thief can usually open in less than ten seconds.

It turns out (according to the Chamberlain Garage Trends Survey) that these days this specific door is used by about two thirds of homeowners as their primary entrance and furthermore, a third of the survey sample place such trust in this door that they don’t bother to lock the internal door(s) past this one.

We’re talking of course about garage doors. These have now taken over from the traditional main entrance door as the most frequently used entrance to a house. The fact that many now enter and leave their property by car plus the advent of electronically controlled motorized door openers has of undoubtedly played a major role in this trend.

Unfortunately it turns out that garage doors are extremely straightforward to pry open. Not even those sporting mechanized opener systems and fancy electronic controls pose much of a problem to the average burglar. And of course once an intruder is effectively concealed with the garage they can start breaking into the house proper via the adjoining door (which as we discovered earlier often requires no more effort than trying the handle).

If your garage door has poor security then it renders the window bolts and deadlocks you may have fitted elsewhere more or less redundant. And even if you are the type to actually lock the internal garage to house door, the fact is that your garage provides perfect shelter for any intruder to set about breaking in to your home (quite possibly using any tools you might store in the garage to help them).

So how best to fix this? Securing your garage doors would seem to be a good place to start. A fairly straightforward and low-cost measure to consider is installing (and actually using) a garage deadbolt to at least deter opportunistic break-ins.

But for high quality security you should think about fitting secure garage doors. Some of the best examples look for all the world like conventional wooden garage doors but conceal an internal core of reinforced steel plates and rods, and are able to withstand a sustained attack from experienced burglar using a variety of tools and considerable force.

Needless to say, there are costs as well as benefits and getting the balance right on security is often a matter of personal judgement. The plus side of proper garage security includes obviously better protection for your possessions and loved ones; possibly reduced insurance costs and increased property value; and lastly more opportunities to use the space in the knowledge that it is secure.

If you found this article interesting then be sure to check out this additional article about eco wooden garage doors.