How to secure a garage door, habits first and hardware second

A garage door is rarely beaten by force. It's a handful of small openings lined up: an emergency release that can be reached, a keypad code that never changed, a remote in a car parked on the street, windows that show whether anyone's home, and an inside door left unlocked because it's inside.

On the plains there's one more: storm season. Outages mean the release gets used, and a door that was disconnected for a power cut and never reconnected is a door anyone can lift.

The list below closes those gaps. The habits are free, the hardware is a short visit, and the estimate is free.

Habits first, then the hardware we put in.

1. Lock the opener when the house is emptyMost current wall controls have a lock or vacation setting that makes the opener ignore every remote. It's worth using whenever the house sits empty, and the technician shows you where it is on any visit.
2. New keypad code after a move or a stormAfter moving in, and again after roofers, siding crews or a tenant have used it. The code is reset during any visit, and it shouldn't be the house number, a birthday or an easy run of digits.
3. Remotes out of parked carsA remote clipped to the visor of a car in the driveway or on the street is a key to the house. Bring it inside, or have the car's built-in buttons set up so no loose remote is needed.
4. Deadbolt the door into the houseThe door from the garage into the house should be an exterior-grade door with a deadbolt that actually gets used. Many were built with a plain knob lock because they're inside.
5. Shield the releaseCovered above. A short job, and the cord still works from inside.
6. Cover or change the windowsGlass in the top section shows whether the car is gone. Frosted film is the quick answer; a solid replacement section is the permanent one.
7. Add alertsA Wi-Fi opener or an add-on module pings your phone whenever the door opens or shuts, and you can close it from a parking lot across town. That message is worth more than any remote.
8. Bring the walk-in door up to standardThe side entrance to the garage is often a hollow-core slab with a knob lock and a flimsy strike. A solid slab, a deadbolt and a heavy-duty strike plate put it on par with your front door.
9. A track lock for long tripsA slide bolt mounted in the track physically pins the door down, whatever signal reaches the opener. Doors that came without one get one, and the opener is set so it won't grind against the bolt.

The pre-trip routine: lock mode on, track bolt in, remotes brought inside, the kitchen door deadbolted, phone notifications on, and someone next door who knows the dates. A few minutes, and most easy ways in are closed.

Once you're home, pull the bolt first; an opener that fights a pinned door can chew up its gears.

Release shields, track bolts, a deadbolted house door, windowless sections, phone-connected openers or add-on modules, and a rolling-code opener where a fixed-code one still hangs. All routine, and usually one trip.

For acreage homes with a pole barn or a detached shop, the same list applies to every overhead door on the place, and the shop door is often the weakest one on the property.

You won't find break-in methods described here; the protections above are what count.

"Closed means secure." Only if the cord is out of reach, the remote isn't sitting in the car and the kitchen door is locked.

"Smart openers invite trouble." The opposite, with a strong password: your phone tells you the second the door moves.

"The side door is an afterthought." To a burglar it's often the first choice, precisely because nobody reinforced it.

Eastborough to Haysville, a single call puts you in a two-hour slot, and the technician phones before setting off. Nobody sizes up a door by phone.

Free estimate. Throughout Sedgwick County, including Riverside, College Hill, Delano, Derby, Andover, Haysville, Maize, Goddard, Park City.