You would not believe

[MoToys]

how many people rely on their electric opener as their only means to enter their garage.

As you can see I am from Long Island and live near the suffolk/Nassau County border on the south shore. The storm hit my area very hard and almost a week later there are still hundreds of thousands without power.

I am a locksmith by trade and this storm has made me very busy all week. The one call we keep getting that has me dumbfounded are people locked out of their garage. Why don't people have a mechanical way to enter their garage in a power failure? Additionally, I found if they had other means of access, they didn't have keys to get in. Even crazier are the people with the little bypass lock that had no clue what it was.

So how many of you guys rely on your electric opener to get into the garage?

 

[Steevo]

I once had a home that was built with only an overhead door with opener on the garage.
It was below one end of the house, so I cut in a half-door from the 5-foot high crawlspace below the house.
It came in handy when a power outage kept the opener from functioning, and I needed to get my generator out of the garage.

 

[Gary S]

This just shows the foolishness of people today. They actually think this technology will take care of them.
But, some days, stupid has its drawbacks.

 

[ddawg16]

With all the automation, I'm surprised people still know how to flush the toilet....oh, wait....that has been an issue for many years....

 

[Lawson4450]

mine is auto but i dont park in there and i have the manual release inside so i dont worry about it. there isnt anything in there i cant get to thru the house. i do have an outside door but its screwed shut right now because it needs fixing and its on the list lol

 

[hifi_hokie]

My doors are human-powered.

 

[mrbreezeet1]

I can get to mine from up stairs. But what is the "little bypass lock "?
What is " a mechanical way to enter a garage "?

 

[Gary S]

My mechanical way to get into my garage is my walk in door. It has mechanical locks that work no matter if I have power or not.

 

[MoToys]

I can get to mine from up stairs. But what is the "little bypass lock "?
What is " a mechanical way to enter a garage "?

It is a little wafer lock that is connected to a braided cable that is connected to the red emergency pull cord inside. The key releases the cylinder from the housing and you pull that to release the door from the opener. It is usually installed in the middle of the door in the top panel.
I will look for a picture.

My mechanical way to get into my garage is my walk in door. It has mechanical locks that work no matter if I have power or not.

The thing is all the people that end up calling me don't have the keys to that door either.

 

[JCQuick]

The single door on my attached 3 car garage does not have an electric opener and I have a key to it

 

[rslaback]

You can belittle people who only have electrical access to their garages all you want but realistically, their system is effective 99.999% of the time. My guess is that most people do not have back ups for most systems that only fail 1 in 10,000 times.

I know that it is possible that one day when I go out to start my car (2008 model) that it might not start. I don't have a backup car sitting in the driveway just in case though. I also know that there are a few places that I will come to that my cell phone will not have a signal. I don't keep a sat phone around just in case.

When a system that is almost always working does fail I deal with it. In this case the way they deal with it is to call you.

 

[Gary S]

The thing is all the people that end up calling me don't have the keys to that door either.

Kind of makes you want to cry.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I have a detached garage... So every morning I open the side door to push the button for the garage door, then I walk around to get in my truck.

But yes I would agree, people that are too lazy to key their locks all the same on their house are just stupid... I know people that have a different door key than their deadbolt, or the front & back door are different... Why on earth would someone live with that? It takes a locksmith only a few minutes to replace the pins in the tumblers...

When the power was out from the last hurricane here, you wouldn't believe how many people walked up and asked how we got our garage door open because they couldn't open theirs. I pointed out the little cord that you pull on to release it from the drive chain/gear so you can lift/close it manually... Yes, people are THAT stupid...

 

[MoToys]

Here is the bypass lock. (I do not endorese this site, it is just the picture I found.)
http://lockmingyi.en.alibaba.com/product/333303508-212301226/Garage_door_lock.html

You can belittle people who only have electrical access to their garages all you want but realistically, their system is effective 99.999% of the time. My guess is that most people do not have back ups for most systems that only fail 1 in 10,000 times.

I know that it is possible that one day when I go out to start my car (2008 model) that it might not start. I don't have a backup car sitting in the driveway just in case though. I also know that there are a few places that I will come to that my cell phone will not have a signal. I don't keep a sat phone around just in case.

When a system that is almost always working does fail I deal with it. In this case the way they deal with it is to call you.

I am not belittling anyone. So relax.
I am pointing out that most people don't even consider something like this will happen. Even that one time in ten thousand is usually to critical of a moment to just write it off. Especially when your lifeline (generator,fuel, car, chainsaw, food, etc) is locked inside that garage.
You might not have a backup vehicle but you probably keep a set of jumper cables. As for your cell signal, that argument is just going off on a tangent.

 

[battlegraduate09]

When me and dad built our shop we made all the garage doors by electric opener only. The remotes are stored securely outside of the garage. Then we installed one door on the far left with two locks (they use the same key as another one of our shop doors) Once you get into the shop via that door it leads directly to the upstairs where we store parts, wheels, old chests, tires, ect. To the right is another door that remains locked with 2 locks on it as well.

Im sure this is not fort knox quality security, but it was the most practical yet assuring way we came up with. This way, you cant break into the garage door itself and lift it with ease. Also with having 2 doors to break into this will delay the time they have to actually load anything up or take it. Also we made sure the doors were close together at a 90* angle of each other to also prevent ease of walking out with the bulk items. I have carried items through the narrow doors and upstairs and it is no easy task. However, if we open the garage door and walk through the locked door to the stairs, there is more room.

Just listing our thinking and setup we used

 

[AndyL]

LOL,

Not down there... but yeah, its a weekly phone call... see that little cord/chain hanging from the opener? Pull it, then lift the door...

I had a deficiency from a home builder recently... because they chose not to have an opener installed, then couldn't figure out how to work the door "there's no button". Was an interesting trades day that one

 

[MoToys]

Funny thing is Andy, we got one call from someone who had a bypass lock and the key but didn't realize they needed to pull it once they turned the key.
It's like they expected the door to come rolling up one they turned the little key. We were more than happy to walk them through it on the phone.

 

[wedge40]

It shouldn't be this way, but how many people are really surprised by this. I've never had a garage door opener or worse a garage without an entrance door. I'm in the process of building my garage and should have automatic garage doors by next year. First think I'll learn is how to open the door if and when power goes out.

Wedge

 

[juiced10]

Thanks to the OP for the link to the cable lock. Ordered one off amazon as I had no clue one existed. My detach has no other door than the overheads and thought of this very issue after I installed the openers years ago. Figured to get in there is always a way . As to why no man door.....just another entrance to secure.

 

[signcrafter]

Here is the bypass lock. (I do not endorese this site, it is just the picture I found.)
http://lockmingyi.en.alibaba.com/product/333303508-212301226/Garage_door_lock.html

I need one of those! My service door is **** and needs to be replaced so I screwed it shut and put some big rubbermaid bins in front of it so nobody can break in. Which left me with only the electric garage door opener. I did install a recepticle in weatherproof boxes on the side of my garage that is wired into the opener circuit so if ever needed I can run an extension cord from my power inverter in the car to open the door with a male/male extension cord. But I like the keyed backup better.

 

[Dustball]

Thanks to the OP for the link to the cable lock. Ordered one off amazon as I had no clue one existed. My detach has no other door than the overheads and thought of this very issue after I installed the openers years ago. Figured to get in there is always a way . As to why no man door.....just another entrance to secure.

I need one of those! My service door is **** and needs to be replaced so I screwed it shut and put some big rubbermaid bins in front of it so nobody can break in. Which left me with only the electric garage door opener.

I bought mine in person from Sears- Chamberlain 7702CB.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00213KWAM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

The garage at my last house was a vault-style meaning there was no other access other than the garage door itself and this did the trick for allowing access for either power outages or if the garage door opener itself ever failed.

 

[signcrafter]

I bought mine in person from Sears- Chamberlain 7702CB.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00213KWAM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

The garage at my last house was a vault-style meaning there was no other access other than the garage door itself and this did the trick for allowing access for either power outages or if the garage door opener itself ever failed.

Thanks for the link. So where do you mount this thing and how do you route the cable so it's not in the way?

 

[reyna14]

The only way to get into my garage in my house is through the big door. I have no access from inside the house, it's the most annoying effin thing about it. No real room to knock out a place for a door, either.

 

[MoToys]

I did install a recepticle in weatherproof boxes on the side of my garage that is wired into the opener circuit so if ever needed I can run an extension cord from my power inverter in the car to open the door with a male/male extension cord. But I like the keyed backup better.

Not a bad idea.

As for instalation of the lock. Just drill a hole in the center of the door up along the top panels and bolt it in. Hook the s hook at the end to the bracket where the pull cord is attached and let the braided cable droop.

 

[signcrafter]

Not a bad idea.

As for instalation of the lock. Just drill a hole in the center of the door up along the top panels and bolt it in. Hook the s hook at the end to the bracket where the pull cord is attached and let the braided cable droop.

Ya when I screwed my service door shut I was a little worried about if the power ever went out and came up with that idea. I never knew they made a bypass. I could always break the window and crawl threw if I needed to also.

See you edited you post while I was typing. That makes sense with the install. I was trying to picture it mounted in the framing somewhere. Obviously I've never seen one of these before. Will be ordering one soon. Thanks for the advice.

 

[YNOT2K]

i guess i fall into the "stupid" catagory. the garage door remote is my only access to my garage/house without breaking in. i don't carry a house key with me, just the car key. i'm going to the hardware store right now to buy a fake rock to hide a house key in for power outages, or maybe just put a house key in each car. any other ideas?

thanks for posting about this, OP. i'm on it.

 

[MoToys]

How about a mechanical combo lock for the house like a simplex.
Like the 6200 series.
http://www.kaba-ilco.com/kaba-acces...cal-Pushbutton-Locks/292886/simplex-6200.html
Or the 7100 series
http://www.kaba-ilco.com/kaba-acces...cal-Pushbutton-Locks/292892/simplex-7100.html

Otherwise, hiding a key isn't a terrible idea, just hope no one else finds it.

 

[Cougar]

i guess i fall into the "stupid" catagory. the garage door remote is my only access to my garage/house without breaking in. i don't carry a house key with me, just the car key. i'm going to the hardware store right now to buy a fake rock to hide a house key in for power outages, or maybe just put a house key in each car. any other ideas?

thanks for posting about this, OP. i'm on it.

Put a house key in your wallet.
Now I always carry my keys, since the day I got locked out of my shop when it was about zero out. And my keys were sitting on my desk.

 

[Dustball]

Thanks for the link. So where do you mount this thing and how do you route the cable so it's not in the way?

This will give you an idea-

 

[info2x]

Well call me stupid.

The house I'm in now has a man door to the back garage but I haven't changed the locks out. Luckily it's not where I keep a daily driver so I'm not too upset.

The place I rented before moving here had a man door that I replaced the lock on for just this reason. The owner forgot where the key went and paid me to put a new lock on. I even reinforced the jamb. Well a storm blows through, and knocks the power out. Only problem was I stacked all of my **** in front of the man door because of the project I was working on. My boss had a good chuckle when I told him why I wouldn't be at work. Luckily the wife's car was outside again because of the project.

 

[jwhcars]

My electric chamberlain has a built in back up battery. It may not last a week but I can open the door. I also have a man door.

 

[Ryan87LX]

The problem with those release mechanisms is that they make your garage stupid easy to break into. Here's how you can fix that.

http://www.sfdcoatings.com/index.php?page=BlogDetail&id=91

Not sure if the lock shown would be okay with this or not - it looks like a steel cable, so its probably okay.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Don't even kid yourself that doing that will help. I've seen thieves simply back their trucks into a garage door. It caves in and comes off the hinges... Instant access...

 

[MoparTrucks]

I got rid of my automatic garage door opener after a couple times where I returned home to find the door wide open because one of the animals or something broke the safety beam and the door went back up after I took off. I know I should have waited for the door to fully close before leaving but I just feel more secure doing the manual thing and I dont miss it at all.

Also, one of my questionable talents is that I can pick locks including residential door locks and padlocks and its actually pretty easy to do (tons of YOUTUBE videos on it). Besides having fun at parties with that "skill" its come in handy around the farm when I cant find a key or forget a combination. All your doing with locks is slowing down the break in and most burglars will quickly find a way in one way or another regardless of what lock or opener you use. The fact that a homeowner couldnt get into his own garage because the automatic garage door opener doesnt work is astounding to me.

 

[383 240z]

There are electric ways to open garage doors??? JK I had them on my last shop, along with a man door. I ended up never using them because I was walking projects in and out, I never have parked in my garage, and I never had the remote handy, so I left them in manual mode most of the time.

On my new place the shop had electric openers when we looked at it, but the owner removed them and took them with him. I haven't framed in for a man door yet, but I really don't see me putting openers on. I just really don't see the usefulness of them. Keith

 

[mrbreezeet1]

Don't even kid yourself that doing that will help. I've seen thieves simply back their trucks into a garage door. It caves in and comes off the hinges... Instant access...

yeah, they can get in if they want, but after seeing the vid. about the coat hanger trick, I locked my release in place. Might help. I had to drill my own hole, and had to use wire instead of a zip tie.