I purchased my current house over six years ago and have made numerous improvements to it. Some of the security upgrades include installing new doors, reinforcing door jambs, installing better locks, adding a single-side deadbolt, purchasing a home security system, updated the exterior lights, replacing my front gate, and putting a peep hole in my front door. The one area that I didn’t have a chance to update was my garage door…until last week that is.

I wanted to install a more secure garage door but decided to put it off for a while. There were other areas where my money was needed so this particular upgrade languished for a while. However, this year I had the funds to do it and decided to proceed with the installation. It needed to be done, which I will describe in greater detail.

Old Garage Door

This door was a security risk, primarily because it had glass windows across the top panel. A would-be thief could look into a garage and assess whether the owner was at home and decide if any of the contents were worth stealing. Like most home owners, I keep my hand tools, camping gear, bikes, and other equipment in the garage. I wouldn’t want to lose this equipment because even with insurance, it is a time-consuming and expensive process to replace these items. Most of it was clearly visible to anybody who bothered to look through the windows. An entry-level thief with a wedge and a coat hanger could break into my garage in under ten seconds, which I will discuss in a future post. In other words, one of the entry paths to my house was only minimally secure.

When I purchased my house in 2009, the home inspection listed the door panels as damaged. This was evident to anybody who bothered to look at them. What the picture doesn’t show is that the material around the door was damaged too, which meant the door was actually dangerous to operate. The next picture will show this more clearly.

Virtually all garage doors have a deadbolt that slides into a gap on the track rails. That only works if the bolt is in alignment with a slot though. The rails were bent enough where the rollers for the door panels would work but the lock couldn’t be set. In other words, if I needed to physically secure my garage for a prolonged period of time, I wouldn’t be able to do so. Plus, there was the risk of the door coming off the rails and falling apart because it wouldn’t operate correctly.

On top of that, the garage door opener was a noisy unit that was barely hanging on after years of use. It used the old-style garage door openers that use DIP switches to set the code, which are not secure either. It was past time to upgrade my garage door to a more modern and robust one. It was time to replace everything and get it done right.

New Garage Door

After speaking with my handyman and a few other people, I decided to get a new Wayne Dalton steel garage door with a Chamberlain belt-drive opener. It would represent a significant upgrade but one that needed to be done. The first item that was installed were the tracks, which were aligned correctly and secured to my garage. This means that the new deadbolt could slide into a slot without any difficulty, immediately making my garage more secure.

New trim pieces were installed too, meaning that the garage had a much better fit and was more secure in that regard too. What was amazing is how quiet the door was since the opener used a belt drive instead of a screw drive. Also, since the rails and rollers were new, the entire door opened with a minimum of noise and vibration. In fact, the unit is barely audible from the outside.

Another helpful feature was a remote keypad that I could use to open the door. My previous door didn’t have one of these and I am glad I have it now.

Needless to say, I was happy to have a new garage door and all it’s accessories but I was also relieved that my house was more secure because of it.

Conclusion

This was definitely a home improvement worth making. For less than $2000, I was able to address a security vulnerability that also gave my house some additional curb appeal. The results speak for themselves.

My hope is that any readers who have garages can learn something from my experience and apply them when required. The garage is one of the primary entry points that criminals use to break into houses, so keep that in mind when prioritizing home improvements.