How To Protect Your Garage From Thieves?

The garage is often the place where we store large equipment, cars and power tools, so it is a prime target for thieves. How to protect your garage from thieves, especially if it is far from the house and you can’t keep an eye on it 24/7?

Luckily, there are a great many ways you can do this, and you don’t have to get a big guard dog in order to do so!

How To Protect Your Garage From Thieves?

Keeping your home and your garage safe and protected from intruders is very important – after all, our home is supposed to be our castle, right?

The very first thing you should do is make sure your garage is secure. I don’t just mean remembering to lock it, but ensuring that there are no holes or broken areas that thieves can take advantage of is very important.

Locking the doors and windows seems like an obvious solution, but it is one that we do have a tendency to forget about! Leave yourself a note where you will see it, so you have no excuse but to remember.

You could invest in a security system, such as CCTV or motion sensors, to help keep your garage and its contents safe.

This video will give you some comprehensive ideas on how to keep your garage safe from thieves:

How Do I Keep Thieves Out Of My Garage?

Thankfully there are a great  many ways that you can keep your garage free from thieves, and keep all your equipment safe:

  • Security lighting. This is a simple yet effective way of deterring thieves -being suddenly interrupted by floodlights will put them off their rummaging through your stuff.
  • Frost or tint your windows. If people can’t see what’s inside your garage, they will be less tempted to break in.
  • Alarms. Like a light that suddenly comes on, a loud noise that alerts you of potential robbers will likely scare those potential robbers off.
  • Always lock the door. This may seem like a simple fix (and really, it is!) but if thieves can’t ever get in then they just won’t bother trying.
  • Invest in a better door opener. Electric door openers are a great security hack, and one that can make your garage pretty much impenetrable.
  • Disable any emergency release mechanism. Thieves can break into an electric opening garage in as little as 6 seconds, using a simple coat hanger. Remove the emergency release cord, and tie a cable tie into the latch so it won’t open.
  • Improve your window security. Windows are a weak spot in a garage, so consider adding bars and window locks.
  • Don’t keep your garage door opener in your car. This is another simple trick – thieves are aware than many people store their garage openers in their cars, and it’s a few seconds of work to break in and steal it.
  • Keep an eye on your door. Making sure your garage door is strong and sturdy, with no rusted or weak spots, is a good way to keep out potential intruders. Here are some of our favourite defenders.

CCTV

CCTV is the ultimate way to protect your garage. Not only will thieves be put off by the appearance of cameras, but you can use the footage to find the culprits if they do manage to get in.

There are any number of CCTV devices you can buy from various different hardware stores and set up yourself, or you can get a professional to do it for you.

Many CCTV devices these days can be linked to your devices, meaning that you will get an alert if you have a garage security breach.

Locks

A standard, simple and pretty good way of protecting your garage, a lock is the bare minimum that you will have to use to keep your garage safe.

A rusty old padlock hanging by its hinges probably won’t cut it – this can be easily broken or simply removed.

A combination lock is one step closer to security, as they must have the right code entered in order to open.

You can probably, in these days of technology, get locks that respond to your fingerprint or retina scan – but as these will be more expensive than your stuff it may not be the best plan!

A double lock is a great idea, maybe using two different types, so that if thieves get past one there is still an added layer of defence.

Motion Sensors

Motion sensors are a great idea, because they will alert you to the presence of thieves, and also make the thieves aware that you know they are there.

Lots of motion sensors will emit sound or turn lights on, which is often enough to scare potential burglars away and keep your stuff safe.

Motion sensors can be linked to your devices, so that you can see what is going on outside without even leaving the comfort of your bed.

In some cases, you can then activate further security measures, such as setting off an alarm or even notifying the police.

You can calibrate motion sensors so that they won’t pick up every blowing leaf or passing dog, so you don’t need to be dragged out of your bed at 2am for no reason.

Are Electric Garage Doors More Secure?

For sectional garage doors, an electric door is definitely more secure than a side latch on a manual door.

However, the strength of the lock is dependent on the strength of the automated lock – and there are, unfortunately, ways that thieves can get past them.

Feeding wire through the top of the door and fishing for the automatic override release mechanism can, in some cases, get your door open.

Electric openers also rely on electricity, so your garage may become more vulnerable during a power cut, for example.

In general, electric doors are a better option than manual locks, but they still have their issues and can, in some cases, be broken into.

Final Words

Hopefully you now have some great ideas on how to keep your garage more safe and secure, and how to protect your valuables – and your peace of mind.

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