Garage doors pose a security concern for most homeowners. Whether storing a high value classic car, power tools, bikes, fishing equipment or even if the garage is empty, garages are an attractive target for thieves, and over the last few years there has been numerous warnings issued by police forces across the UK to improve your garage door security.

A combination of economic downturn and residents giving little thought to security has led to a steady increase in the number of garage burglaries taking place. For some reason homeowners almost forget about the value of the items stored away in their garage, forgetting to lock the garage door all together!

Most up and over and sliding garage doors will have a standard cylinder lock built into the door handle. While standard locks are better than no lock or door locks that are left unlocked, there not very secure, and with little effort, an experienced thief can soon force them open.

There are however several ways to tighten up the security of your garage door, and all of those that have some simple DIY knowledge and a power drill will soon be able to add additional security features to their garage door.

Garage door bolts that lock

A common solution to garage door security are garage door bolts that lock in place, easily found online and available at most DIY stores. As the name suggests they function by having a pair of locking bolts that extend into the walls or ground. The bolts can be fixed to each side of the garage door either vertically at the bottom or horizontally on the edges.

Compatible with the majority of garage door types including up and over, folding, hinged and sliding, the position in which you attach the lock bolts is an important factor on how much additional security the lock bolt provides.

For up and over garage doors a pair of lock bolts will give you a level of security that alone is more secure than the standard lock fitted within the handle. Each lock bolt would ideally be positioned at the bottom of the door, 20-30mm in from the edge and extending into the ground. If drilling into the ground proves difficult, or for whatever reason you’d prefer to have the bolts extending into the walls then position them 20mm or so up from the bottom of the door running horizontally.

Garage lock bolts can be operated from both sides of the door if you drill a small key hole through the door panel, but if you can access the garage from an internal door then security can be improved further by choosing not to drill the external keyhole.

Garage defenders

Garage door defenders not only increase the level of security, but are super easy to install and externally facing providing a visual deterrent that most thieves will soon pass and move on to a garage door that’s less secure.

For use with up and over garage doors, door defenders comprise of a solid steel base plate secured to the ground and a strengthen steel post that is locked to the base plate using a padlock of your choice when in use. A simple solution, the steel post stops thieves from being able to tilt open the garage door and gain access to the junk or treasure you’re storing.

Although easy to install check the base unit can be fixed to a solid 120-150mm deep concrete surface before purchasing, fitting to block paver slabs or tarmac drives is not half as secure. Another consideration to make during installation is that you should position the base slightly back from the garage door so that the door is still able to tilt and swing open when you want it to!

Having now secured your garage door, read our article 10 tips to improve front door security.