The garage door is the largest opening in most houses and frequently the least protected. This list moves from habits that are free to hardware installed in a single visit, with the older homes of Potwin and Westboro and newer ones alike in mind.
Tell us what the door is doing. The estimate is free; the work waits for your yes.
Front doors tend to receive a deadbolt, lighting and a camera. Garages tend to receive a keypad code that has never changed, a release handle reachable through the gap at the top, and an entry door into the house that is seldom locked because it is the family's everyday route.
Individually, each of these is minor. Together, they make the garage the simplest way into the house, and each is straightforward to correct.
Four of the nine measures below are habits. The remaining five are hardware, most of which can be installed in one visit after a free estimate.
The red handle suspended from the opener's carriage disengages the door so it can be raised by hand during a power failure, which the ice storms here make a genuine necessity. On some doors, however, it can be reached from outside.
Older installations in the historic neighborhoods sometimes hang the handle low and close to the top of the door, which makes it easier to reach. Those benefit most from a guard.
A compact guard installed around the release prevents that without affecting its use from inside. We carry them and install them during security visits.
Four habits, followed by five hardware improvements.
Openers manufactured from approximately the late nineties onward change their signal with each use. Earlier fixed-code units repeat a single signal indefinitely, and it can be copied. For a fixed-code opener, replacement is the lasting remedy.
Fixed-code units tend to linger longest in the older homes, where an opener installed during a renovation decades ago may still be doing its job without anyone questioning it.
The technician can determine which type you have from the motor unit during any visit and explain what a replacement would involve. The estimate is free, and nothing is changed without your agreement.
A brief routine: opener locked, track bolted, remotes indoors, interior door deadbolted, notifications enabled, and a neighbor informed.
Holiday travel and summer trips to the lakes are when most houses stand empty, and a quiet, closed garage is precisely what an intruder looks for.
A light on a timer inside the house, and a neighbor collecting the mail, complete the picture of an occupied home.
On returning, release the track bolt before using the remote, or the opener will strain against the locked door and may damage its own gears.
Release guards, track bolts, interior-door deadbolts, solid entry doors, solid top sections in place of glass, Wi-Fi openers and add-on modules, and replacements for fixed-code openers.
Each item appears separately on the estimate, so you may select what suits your home. Most can be completed in a single visit.
For the historic homes of Potwin and College Hill, where the garage often sits apart at the back of the lot, the entry door and window glass usually deserve the most attention.
Methods of forcing garage doors are deliberately omitted from this page. Knowing the protections is sufficient.
If a break-in has already occurred, please say so on the call. Clearing the opener, changing the keypad code and inspecting the release and the entry door are handled first, the same day whenever the schedule allows.
A closed door is a secure door. Not while the release is reachable, a remote remains in a vehicle and the interior door is unlocked.
Connected openers invite intrusion. With a strong, unique password, the notifications strengthen security rather than weaken it.
The side entry is unimportant. It is frequently the first door attempted, precisely because it is so often neglected, and on a detached garage it is usually hidden from the street.
Yes. The guard blocks access from outside only. From inside, the handle operates exactly as before, and the technician demonstrates it before leaving. Nothing about daily use changes.
Only if it is a fixed-code unit. Rolling-code units from that period may be retained, and the technician can identify which you have by examining the motor unit.
On most sectional doors, yes. It mounts within the track, and the opener is set so the two cannot conflict. Doors without room in the track can take an alternative lock, which the technician will describe.
It resembles etched glass and still admits daylight. A matching solid top section is the alternative, and on carriage-house styles the film is usually the more sympathetic choice. Either can be arranged at the same visit.
Yes. You are told what we recommend and why before anything proceeds, and each item may be accepted or declined on its own.
On most days. Guards, locks and deadbolts are brief installations, and a garage that has just been broken into is given priority over routine work.
Call and describe what you would like reviewed. We will agree on a time that suits you, with a courtesy call once the technician is on the way, whether you are in Potwin, Sherwood or out toward Carbondale. Security visits are usually brief.
Free estimate. Throughout Shawnee County, including Potwin, Westboro, Oakland, Lawrence, Silver Lake, Auburn, Rossville, Carbondale, Tecumseh.
Leave a name, a number and a sentence about the garage door and the entry door; that is sufficient. Both the visit and the estimate are free.
Quicker to talk? Call (785) 498-8618.
Tell us what the door is doing. The estimate is free; the work waits for your yes.