The internet is full of tips telling homeowners how to secure their garages, but few articles really explain why securing this area is so critical. Wondering why you should invest in security garage doors, glass-break alarms on your garage windows and other garage security measures? Here are the top reasons why:
1. Because property crime is a credible threat
Property crime is one of the most common types of crime in Australia. Although news casts may focus on reports of violent crimes or kidnappings, those crimes are far less common than property crimes. Property crimes include vandalism, vehicle theft, household burglary and arson, and homeowners can reduce their likelihood of being victims of most of these crimes just by making their garages more secure.
2. Because your garage is full of valuables
In most cases, garages are full of valuable items, and in many cases, these items may be even more attractive to a criminal than the items inside your home. For instance, inside your home, you have electronics, but most electronics seem to become obsolete within a few months of purchasing them. In your garage, in contrast, you have cars, power tools, lawn mowers and other items which all hold their resale value fairly well.
For a criminal, even some of your garbage can be valuable. Scrap metal theft is increasing in many areas all over the world, and savvy thieves may be interested in your old bicycle frames, pieces of scrap metal, broken bed frames, old copper pipes and any other old metal in your garage.
3. Because your garage leads into your home
After they finish pilfering the possessions in your garage, some thieves may call it a day and leave your property. Others, however, will take advantage of the fact that you have an often unlocked door leading from your garage into your home, and they will enter your home. Once inside your home, criminals can steal the rest of your stuff, and they may even take old pieces of mail, credit cards or other identifying documents that make it easy for them to commit identity theft.
Even if you opt not to secure your garage, you should consider securing the portal between your garage and your home with a security door and a thick metal frame. Keep in mind that if you have a hollow core door between these two areas, anyone can easily kick their way through it even if it is locked. For more information, contact a company like Aus Secure.
4. Because without special security your garage can be easily breached
Once you realise how important it is to secure your garage, you may begin locking your garage door more often or making sure you always close your automatic garage doors. Unfortunately, in most cases, those measures are simply not enough. Research indicates that the average thief only needs six seconds to open a regular garage door. Using an extended wire hanger, most thieves can manipulate the hanger to trigger the garage door's emergency release lever. Designed so that you can open your garage door in a power outage, this lever can also make your garage doors vulnerable to thieves.
Luckily, you can prevent this from happening by replacing your regular garage doors with security garage doors. You can also add special security locks to your garage door that essentially deadbolt the overhead garage doors every time you close them.
5. Because your garage is not part of your home
In some cases, thieves are drawn to your garage because it is an easy-to-penetrate entry point into your home, but in other cases, they may be drawn to this area because of its distance from your home. Successful thieves do not want to get caught, and because of that, they may stick to the areas of your home that seem the safest. If your garage is not connected to your home, it calls out to thieves because it is a distinct, unmonitored area – because of this, you need to consider securing it.
Even if your garage is connected to your home, it may draw criminals because they feel they are less likely to be heard or seen in a garage than in the main part of your house.
Share8 April 2015
Hi, my name is Jenny. I love decorating both the inside and the outside of my homes, and in particular, I love picking out garage doors. Contrary to popular belief, garage doors do not have to be boring. They can be super colorful or unique designs. One thing I really like is garage doors that remind me of the great outdoors. To that end, I love garage doors with vinyl stickers on them depicting the outdoors, and I also love doors reminiscent of old barn doors. If you want tips on making your garage door look like it is inspired by nature or farming, please explore my blog.
