Home security is always the biggest concern for any homeowner; however, we often forget to ensure that our garage door is just as secure as all other entry points in our home.
This is where you need to set up garage door slide locks to improve home security and ensure that intruders don’t breach your home through the massive garage door.
It’s a huge security risk for homeowners to leave their garage doors unprotected.
Although they seem heavy and hard to breach, garage doors aren’t always structurally sound, nor do they deter criminals. An unlocked garage door is one of the easiest ways a perpetrator can get into your home.
Most homeowners aren’t wary of garage door locks they can buy to protect their homes. And so, today, we’re going to guide you through everything you need to know about garage door locks, mainly slide locks, to increase security in your home.
Table of Contents
Different Types of Garage Locks
There are quite a few locks you’ll have to consider before settling on one for your home –
1. Sliding Garage Door Locks
These locks work by aligning the lock’s bolt with a hole in the garage roller’s track. And so, you can install this type of lock inside the garage door and prevent the door from opening by locking the track with the lock’s bolt.
Prime-Line GD 52118 Inside Deadlock & National Hardware N280-727 V7646 Side Locks are popular choices in this category.
Due to its simple operation and reliable security, it’s easily the best garage door lock you can buy.
2. Garage Door handle Locks
Older garage doors require manual operation, and so have these types of handle garage door locks. Although you won’t find these locks on modern automatic garage doors, it’s worth knowing that these locks exist.
They quickly went out of style as the outside garage door lock remains exposed to external elements all the time and ends up getting damaged more frequently due to extreme weather conditions, heat, or rain. Moreover, you’ll have to replace them more often as well.
3. T-Handle Locks
The T-Handle lock is the typical lock you’ll find in most metal garage doors. It uses a tamper-proof keyhole cylinder that perpetrators will have a hard time breaking into. Furthermore, these locks are substantially more secure than the standard handle locks.
4. Keyless Garage Door Locks
More expensive automatic garage doors will feature a keyless lock. As the name implies, you don’t need to carry around a key to unlock your garage door, but instead set and remember a code. Here, for a higher price, you get better security and convenience.
Is it worth buying a Heavy-Duty Garage Door Lock?
A heavy-duty garage door lock usually ends up being more of an obstacle. For instance, if you use your garage door at least twice a day, you’ll have to go through the trouble of unlocking the hefty lock each time.
Instead, you can rely on a sliding door lock or something simple to keep your garage secure.
Therefore, unless you’re going away from home on a vacation or trip, a simple sliding lock will serve as a thief deterrent without burning a hole through your pocket or forcing you to unlock a hefty lock multiple times a day.
Installing Garage Door Slide Locks
Here’s how you can go about using a garage door lock bar kit to install a sliding garage door lock:
Step 1 – Close your garage door. Remember to stay on the side of the door you’ll install the lock onto – interior or exterior.
Step 2 – If it’s an automatic garage door, unplug the power to prevent any electrical issues. Unplugging the door also ensures that nobody ends up opening it up by mistake while you’re still working on it.
Step 3 – Before installing a sliding door lock, you should ensure that you don’t already have a garage door opener. If you do, you’ll end up damaging the tracks and panels of your door, along with the opener. Therefore, avoid using a sliding lock with a garage door opener.
Step 4 – Grab your garage door lock bar kit; it should have all the screws and tools you need to install the door lock.
Step 5 – Install the bolt of the sliding lock in the second-from-bottom section of the garage door.
Usually, the door will come with a stopper that you can remove to let the sliding door lock-in bolt. So, bring in the sliding lock with the bolt protruding from the lock and slide it into position.
Step 6 – Secure the lock in place using the screws in the garage door lock kit. Remember to avoid overtightening the garage door lock screws.
And that’s all there is to it. Your garage is now safer with new garage door locks.
Garage Door Locking Mechanism and Slide Locks – FAQ
1. How do you use a garage door’s sliding lock (Interior)?
2. How do sliding garage door locks work?
3. What are the main advantages of a sliding garage door lock?
4. What are the main parts of a sliding lock?
Conclusion
That covers just about everything about garage door slide locks. They’re simple locks you can easily install into your garage door to improve the overall security of your home.
Although you should consider investing in heftier locks if you intend to leave your home for a long time, sliding locks are perfect for everyday use.
