Securing your garage... what are your ideas?

[tirwin]

Yesterday morning I left the house to meet some friends for breakfast early in the morning. I keep my truck parked in the driveway and I went out quietly through the front door instead of the garage so I wouldn't wake the family. I pressed the unlock button on the key fob remote without even thinking about it.

When I got into the truck all of the storage compartments were open -- it looked like someone had gone through everything. Maybe I didn't remember to lock it and someone just tried to see if it was open. We've had some escalating issues with some neighborhood teenagers lately. Later in the day I noticed that the remote no longer unlocks the driver side door. The rest of the doors unlock fine but not the driver side. If someone tried to jimmy the lock I'm not sure how they wouldn't set off the alarm.

There was nothing in the truck of any value for them to take so other than the fact that someone was in my vehicle, I'm not too worried.

What I AM now worried about is the fact that, had they wanted to, they could've pressed a button once inside the truck and been in the garage. I've got tools and car parts and of course the 911 itself in the garage that are valuable.

I'm just wondering what ideas you have to secure your garage?

As a temporary measure I am going to wipe the remote codes from the truck. I have an app on my smartphone that I can use to control the garage doors. It will be more of an inconvenience but security and convenience rarely go hand-in-hand.

I'm also going to start looking into IP surveillance cameras with night vision, but that isn't a deterrent.

What measures have you taken to protect your stuff?

[Oh Haha]

Tim--my DD sits outside but we use the garage door for house entry. I sometimes keep the garage remote in my truck. No more.

check out this thread from the Turbo forum as one fellow has had a real problem with thieves.

Why do people keep trying to steal my 930??

[fred cook]

I bought a Chamberlain garage door opener that offers a cell phone app to let you know when the garage door opens. It works very quickly with the cell phone being notified within 15-20 seconds of the opening. I can also open or close the door from my cell phone. Another thing that I do is to remove garage door openers from any vehicles parked outside if I am going to be away for the day or longer. My "good stuff" is parked away in my separate steel shop where the overhead door is locked on both sides and I use the down side of the opening chain to help lock the door. The "people" door is steel with a steel frame and locked. I hate having to lock everything up, but I guess that is just the way things are these days!

[NYNick]

One garage is separate from the house, but on the same house alarm system. I have a motion detector inside the garage, tied into the alarm system. Most alarm systems have an 'at home' system, that cuts out the motion detectors and just activates the exterior door and window sensors when you're home. I'm sure me or my alarm guy could hook up the motion detector inside the garage to be active when the alarm was set to 'at home'.

In another garage where I store an expensive car, I dead bolt the garage door and padlock it, from the inside.

You should also have motion activated flood lights above your driveway. They have some really bright LED ones these days. I've got them too.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

Tim--my DD sits outside but we use the garage door for house entry. I sometimes keep the garage remote in my truck. No more.

check out this thread from the Turbo forum as one fellow has had a real problem with thieves.

Why do people keep trying to steal my 930??

Guns. Check. (Personal preference is Mossberg 500 tactical.)

Dogs. Check.

Neither of those help when we're not at home so I need other options. And I was home but wasn't aware.

[billybek]

Some simple things.
Lock the doors. Handset lock and deadbolt.
I have entry bars over the windows.
Power off the opener when not in use.
Throw some 3/8 bolts through the track so garage door can't be lifted if someone reaches in and pulls the release cable. If the door is used daily, tie off the emergency release mechanism with a tie wrap or wire.
I have the garage wired for an alarm but it is only a local alarm.
Cover any thing that thieves may see looking through the window.
IEDs (this should be in green)

[RyanG]

Tim - Do those homelink type programmable buttons in your truck work with the ignition off? They wouldn't work in my X5 that I used to have unless the key was in and I think the vehicle had to be running too.

If you are that concerned about security, make sure that if you have a nav system that your address isn't programmed in as something like "home." If the vehicle ever gets stolen, then the thieves will have easy directions to your house and an easy way in to the garage if the homelink is still programmed. Of course many of us keep the vehicle registration in the glovebox which has our home address anyways.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by fred cook

I bought a Chamberlain garage door opener that offers a cell phone app to let you know when the garage door opens. It works very quickly with the cell phone being notified within 15-20 seconds of the opening. I can also open or close the door from my cell phone. Another thing that I do is to remove garage door openers from any vehicles parked outside if I am going to be away for the day or longer. My "good stuff" is parked away in my separate steel shop where the overhead door is locked on both sides and I use the down side of the opening chain to help lock the door. The "people" door is steel with a steel frame and locked. I hate having to lock everything up, but I guess that is just the way things are these days!

Fred,

Good thinking.

I have the same or very similar. I have a LiftMaster which seems to be the same as the Chamberlain under a different brand. My home office is right over the garage. I bought the LM partly because of noise (the other reason being I wanted to go to high rise doors so I could get a lift one day ).

When I had the old openers anyone I was talking on the phone for work could hear the garage doors in the background when the family was coming and going. It got to be annoying so I changed doors/openers.

These jack shaft style openers are very quiet. They are so quiet I can be sitting in the family room right by the garage and not know anyone is home until they walk through the door to the house. So if they opened during the middle of the night, I would likely never know it. Dogs and guns won't do any good in that situation.

One nice feature that comes with the jack shaft openers is there is an electric deadbolt. When the doors close the deadbolts are engaged so you can't pry the door up from the outside.

The installers showed me how trivial it is to open any standard garage door. Before he took out the old doors he went to his truck and produced a long, thin rod with a small hook on the end. He walked right up to the door and pushed right at the top in the middle. It flexed enough to slide the rod in. Then he hooked it on the manual release cable and pulled back slightly until it was tight. He gave it one hard tug and the door was open in less than 30 seconds!

With the jack shaft style openers, the motor is mounted on the wall and directly drives the door spring shaft so you can't get to the manual release cable that way.

These openers also have the smartphone app so you they can be opened/closed from anywhere.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by RyanG

Tim - Do those homelink type programmable buttons in your truck work with the ignition off? They wouldn't work in my X5 that I used to have unless the key was in and I think the vehicle had to be running too.

Unfortunately, yes. That's why I'm going to wipe the codes and just use the app.

One reason I don't already use the app now is that when you use it to shut the doors it has a safety feature that is a bit annoying. Since, in theory, you could close the door from anywhere in the world and not know if someone was standing under the door, it blinks the overhead lights and makes a wake-the-dead beeping noise for 10 seconds before it shuts. Since I sometimes leave early in the morning I don't use this so I don't wake up everyone in the house. Like I said, security and convenience rarely go together...

Originally Posted by RyanG

If you are that concerned about security, make sure that if you have a nav system that your address isn't programmed in as something like "home." If the vehicle ever gets stolen, then the thieves will have easy directions to your house and an easy way in to the garage if the homelink is still programmed. Of course many of us keep the vehicle registration in the glovebox which has our home address anyways.

No nav in my truck. Good thought though.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by billybek

Some simple things.
Lock the doors. Handset lock and deadbolt.
I have entry bars over the windows.
Power off the opener when not in use.
Throw some 3/8 bolts through the track so garage door can't be lifted if someone reaches in and pulls the release cable. If the door is used daily, tie off the emergency release mechanism with a tie wrap or wire.
I have the garage wired for an alarm but it is only a local alarm.
Cover any thing that thieves may see looking through the window.
IEDs (this should be in green)

All good ideas and I have most of them covered. My one regret is getting windows in the garage doors. I might look into getting some applied film to "frost" the glass -- the stuff that is similar to window tint. The man door and window have blinds on them already.

I also like NYNick's ideas of externally visible surveillance cameras and motion activated bright LED flood lights. I'm thinking alarm system with instant motion detection inside the garage and maybe glass break sensors.

It's just sad that we have to do these things to protect our stuff...

[Cairo94507]

Unfortunately, there are criminals all over the place and we just have to deal with them. The jack-shaft garage door openers are the best as noted above. A good quality digital/computer based security system and cameras is fairly inexpensive these days and for the OP, who may have teenagers in the neighborhood who are just learning how to be burglars, this video footage would be what the police need to further their education with a free stay at juvenile hall. Sucks, but in today's society, it is our fault for not giving those without more. Fortunately Obama has been working to correct that........

[tirwin]

Well this thread could head towards PARF really quickly once firearms and economic issues get brought into the equation so let's try to keep it on point.

Our neighborhood HoA has joined a social media app called NextDoor and we've managed to get close to 100% participation. Most of the surrounding neighborhoods are using it too and the county police are using it to communicate with citizens.

That is how I know about the trouble with the teens. It seems everyone knows who the kids are and judging by what I've read the parents seem to either be unwilling or unable to do anything about it. It started with vandalizing mailboxes and has escalated into more significant vandalism. There have also been incidents of going into open garages and stealing beer/alcohol.

I'm not going to get into a discussion here about socio-economic causes or bad parenting, although I certainly have my own opinions. My primary concern is that a growing pattern of boldness seems to be emerging.

Little misdemeanor theft and vandalism is one thing. I just don't want my 911 to be the car that gets picked for a joy ride or my expensive stuff used as the mechanism for getting high.

So back on topic... sounds like surveillance cameras and security system is in my future. Any other ideas? I mean ones that won't get ME locked up?

[fintstone]

Easiest/cheapest way to fix the problem of a vehicle parked outside with a remote is to make the power to the openers be on a switch. Simply leave it switched off at night or when you are away or get a remote switch you can control from your phone. Some openers come with this feature built into the control panel you mount by your door into the house.

[tdw28210]

Wife's DD sits outside with no remote and no programmed homelink set up (BMW). She has so far agreed to use the external pad with 4-dit code. : ).

[heimtun]

+1 to powering off the door openers - I do that when I travel.
Big problem is what a locksmith one told me "locks are meant to keep your friends out"
Good luck.

[tirwin]

Fintstone,

Great idea!

I have used a couple of these Belin WeMo switches around the house with great success. It would be trivial to use another couple of them for the same purpose.



Couple of thoughts though:

- for anyone considering a jack shaft style opener, be aware that some models come with a battery backup so if you wanted to incorporate this idea that wouldn't work unless you disconnected the battery. Point is, don't pay for something you won't use. The battery is usually an option that can be added later.

- it's kinda a wash for me to use one app versus the other but for someone that doesn't already have such an app it would be a great idea.

- I wonder if there is any issue if the power is left off for a long time? Let's say you turned off the power to the switch and went away on vacation and back on when you got home. Would the opener have to be reprogrammed? I'm guessing it would be fine but just something to think about.

[Cairo94507]

The only other thought is to communicate your concerns to the local police and identify the miscreants you suspect so the beat cops can keep their eyes on them. Unfortunately, when you have parents who turn a blind eye to their juvenile delinquent children, the community suffers. I like the digital color security cameras so if/when something happens the cops will be able to identify the suspects. Makes sure you check the resolution of the cameras- it makes no sense to place cameras that lack the detail to make an ID.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by tdw28210

Wife's DD sits outside with no remote and no programmed homelink set up (BMW). She has so far agreed to use the external pad with 4-dit code. : ).

Like the general idea but I'd prefer more than 4 digits.

Here's why:

- a 4-digit passcode that doesn't allow repeating digits only has 4! (factorial) combinations, or 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 24. Think of some push-button padlocks. No likely for a garage door opener but just something to think about.

- a 4-digit passcode that allows for repetition and 0-9 are valid digits has 10^4=10,000 combinations.

- even though 10,000 sounds like a lot you have to factor in the general laziness of human beings. A rather substantial percentage of the population will pick numbers that repeat or form a pattern on the keypad. 1212, 5454, 5687. For the last one, think about a right-handed person typing an unlock code on their smartphone with their thumb and you will see what I mean. So 10,000 quickly diminishes to a substantially smaller problem space that is relatively trivial. You don't need a lot of time either, just some patience.

[Oh Haha]

Originally Posted by fintstone

Easiest/cheapest way to fix the problem of a vehicle parked outside with a remote is to make the power to the openers be on a switch. Simply leave it switched off at night or when you are away or get a remote switch you can control from your phone. Some openers come with this feature built into the control panel you mount by your door into the house.

Simple solution! Thanks! I am going to look into doing this. We have 2 garage doors but only use the side that my wife for daily use. We have a front door but it's easier to come in through the garage.

[Nick Triesch]

Now that my 3.2 is worth almost as much as a fully loaded Honda Civic, I also have dogs, keep garage locked and use a steering wheel lock. Also I keep my front trunk locked to make it hard to get to the disconnected battery.