Did you take a moment to think about what you’re keeping inside your garage? Do you have some tools, sports or lawn equipment, your car, or other valuable belongings stored there? Garages are often where most homeowners like to store their valuable belongings.
Unfortunately, not all homeowners value the importance of keeping their garage secure. They tend to focus on other parts of their home. When taking some steps in ensuring the security of your overall property secure, it’s essential that you also consider your garage, too.
Below are several ways on how to secure your garage.
1. Keep Your Garage Doors Shut At All Times
This is the first, simplest, and most important step: keep your garage doors shut at all times! A lot of homeowners often leave their garage doors open at night or after departing.
This is especially true if you’re going out of town for several days and you’re storing some valuable belongings in your garage. By ensuring that you keep your garage door shut at all times, you’ll have peace of mind, knowing that you’ve done your part in keeping your garage safe and secure.
Leaving your garage door open is like inviting criminals to break into your property. It also provides an opportunity for criminals to ‘case’ your garage for your prized possessions.
2. Think Like A Burglar
As odd as it may be, but putting yourself in the thief’s or burglar’s perspective will help you find out how to secure your garage more efficiently. This will help you identify the weaknesses of your current garage security and come up with strategies or ways to overcome them.
To do this, you need to run a thorough assessment of your garage, or, in other words, ‘case’ it. After that, try to break into your garage yourself. If you’re able to break into your garage, it’s highly likely that a thief or a burglar can do it, too, but even faster than you. You might also want to check your garage at night to see if there are blinds spots or areas that can be used by criminals as cover. If possible, list down all the vulnerabilities that you see in your garage, so you can tackle them one by one.
It’s also recommended that you call professional help, especially if you’re unsure about what to do or where to start in securing your garage. A Seattle locksmith or any certified contractor in your area can provide services that’ll help you in securing your garage.
3. Replace Your Outdated Garage Doors
Outdated or broken garage doors can be a liability to your home’s overall security. It’ll be much easier for criminals to break into if they find any opening or gap.
If you want to ensure the security of your garage, you should consider repairing or replacing its doors. You can also use this opportunity to improve the curb appeal of your property. There are many modern-style garages available, so it’s not that hard to pick one that you like.
You can also opt to choose steel garage doors if you prefer durability. It’s the most popular choice among many homeowners these days because they also come in a variety of custom designs.
Regardless of your preferences, you need to make sure that you replace your outdated or broken garage doors as soon as possible. Your home will become more vulnerable and less secure if you leave outdated or broken garage doors as they are.
4. Add Lighting
Most criminals, such as thieves and burglars, prefer to attack at night since it disguises them from the watchful eyes of homeowners and neighbors. To help deter thieves and burglar, you can use a lighting fixture or two in order to prevent these criminals from approaching or ‘casing’ your home during nighttime.
You may opt to install motion-activated lights, especially in key locations, such as entryways, garage doors, and corners of your house. Motion-activated lights are ideal for deterring burglars and thieves, especially at night. They stay off when the area is clear or there’s nothing moving around. But, when something or someone enters its area of detection, they’ll automatically turn on. This will, then, reveal whatever or whoever is approaching your property. ‘
5. Install A Security System
Thieves and burglars will likely hesitate to target a garage that has a security system installed. Security systems are also ideal for homeowners who are looking to protect the rest of the areas of your property.
Home security systems come in a variety of options, from advanced to do-it-yourself. If you haven’t installed one, take some time to explore your options so you can find a security system that’s best suited for your home.
It’s important to remember that security systems go beyond than just alerting you after a break-in. They’re also capable of notifying the local authorities, especially if you’re out of town.
You should also consider installing security cameras, especially on the entry points of your garage. Motion-activated video cameras are ideal for monitoring suspicious activities through feeds that you can watch on your mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. With a security system installed, you can ensure that everything that happens in or around your garage will be recorded.
6. Don’t Leave Valuable Belongings In Your Garage Or Car
This is more like a common sense instead of a tip—avoid leaving your valuable belongings in your garage or inside your vehicle.
A lot of homeowners often use their garage as a catch-all space for their household items, especially if they can’t find a storage room for these things elsewhere in their homes. Most thieves and burglars don’t just randomly break into homes or garages. They usually ‘case’ a property to ensure a quick and successful break-in.
Imagine yourself storing some valuable belongings in your garage and leaving its doors open, and then someone just walks down in front of your property. This person could be your neighbor, friend, acquaintance, or a stranger. This person will use this opportunity to see what you have in your garage. If they see that it’s something valuable or of interest to them, they might return later to go grab certain items. So, make sure that you keep your prized possessions out of sight, especially in your garage, to ensure that thieves and burglars are unaware of what kinds of items you store inside.
This isn’t to say that you can’t use your garage as a storage room. Rather, the idea here is to never store your most prized possessions in the garage or in your parked vehicles.
7. Cover The Garage Windows
If your garage has windows, you should ensure that you cover them, especially during daytime. You could be letting potential thieves and burglars scope your home through your garage as visibility will allow outsiders to see what you’re storing inside.
There are effective ways you can decrease visibility when outsiders try to look through your garage windows. You can opt to install curtains or blinds to obstruct vision. But, if you still want daylight to enter your garage, you should opt for tinted windows to make it harder for outsiders to see what’s inside your garage, while still allowing some light to pass through. Additionally, you can also install bars behind your windows to get rid of an entry point for outsiders.
8. Install Deadbolt Locks On Your Garage Door
Another idea for adding extra security to your garage is installing deadbolt locks. Most locks will provide an automatic lock feature when they’re activated. Therefore, deadbolt locks on your garage doors will prevent anyone from entering your garage without first having authorization or knowing a code. This will also discourage any burglars who might feel that the risk of gaining access to your garage is worth the reward of being able to enter your home easily.
9. Install An Alarm System
Installing an alarm system in your garage is one of the most important things that you should consider. Not only is it one of the safest ways to keep your family safe, but it’s also one of the smartest decisions that you can make to ensure the security of your garage and entire property.
Once you’ve decided that you want to install a system in your garage, the next step is to start checking out the different options that are available. There’s going to be many different systems that you can choose from, so make sure that you take your time and look at each one very carefully. This will be your best chance of getting the right kind of protection for your garage.
Conclusion
As you’ve seen, there are many different tips to secure your garage at all times. No matter how safe you think your garage is, you should always check it out periodically. You never know when a burglar or someone else is going to strike. If you’re concerned about safety, you should always try to secure your garage. In the end, it’s much better to be safe than sorry!
