Garage Locks?

[slaughteredlamb]

We have a garage that is separate to the house in a block of other garages and a few times I've noticed that ours has been opened. Initially I thought it was me forgetting or not locking it properly but it's happened too many times for that to be the case. There is no sign of forced entry, the lock isn't damaged and nothing has ever been stolen (largely because there's nothing but junk in it) so I'm pretty sure it's 'just kids' of thieves looking for specific items which we don't have.

Either way I would like to make the garage more secure but as there isn't much of any real value inside I don't want to spend a fortune doing it. Has anyone had new locks fitted to their garage, can you recommend a type of lock and was it expensive? Ours is an up and over metal door if that makes a difference. Not sure what type of lock is on there at the moment but it's one where the handle is in the middle of the door and you put the key into the handle (I think then pushes bolts or something out to the sides).

[Dom]

I know exactly what type of garage you mean, as we've got the same one. The best we've done is put bricks in front of the door, but that was only supposed to stop the wind from blowing the door open. The lock in the handle doesn't seem to work with our door, but I've had the same one in the past and they worked well as a lock. Does the one you've got not work properly?

I've got no idea how much they'd cost, but I'm sure you'd be able to get a standard garage door handle (with lock) like the one you've got now in Homebase or B&Q, or some place like that, as I think they're pretty common.

Or you might need a new garage door which would come with a working lock and key, but that might be a bit expensive for what you want.

In summary, I'm not much help, sorry.

[neal]

Is it owned or rented? Can you legally drill into the frame around the door and the door itself?

We had the same thing, and our solution was this:

Get a couple of these and drill through the garage door to mount them on the outside, on the left and right of the garage door (about 35-40% of the way up from the floor should be high enough not to be a pain in the bum but also being secure enough to do the job) then secure it by placing a block of wood behind the garage door (corresponding to where you'll be mounting the bolts) and screwing in to that. Then drill into the frame or brickwork to create the hole that the bolt will fit into when it's locked.



I'll take photos later on of our actual implementation if you'd like?

[spannaa]

One of these should do the trick.

[slaughteredlamb]

Cheers all. I'm a little loathed to put anything on the outside of the door for fear that this would be more of an advertisement i.e. lots of visible locks must mean there's something inside worth nicking. In thinking about it I think our existing lock might just be a single pin type where you have a pin at the top of the door that goes into a hole in the frame and that perhaps fitting a different lock to the back of the door with multiple points (top and both sides) would make it a bit harder to break into without giving the appearance that it would be worth their time to break more visible locks. No idea though if that type of lock can be fitted to an existing door or if that requires a new door.

[yawner]

Or alternatively you could just move oop north and not worry about locking your garage door. Our friends even leave their keys in their car ignition....

As it happens, I've heard of a lovely guest house thats up for sale. 

[slaughteredlamb]

Or alternatively you could just move oop north and not worry about locking your garage door. Our friends even leave their keys in their car ignition....

As it happens, I've heard of a lovely guest house thats up for sale. 

Don't tempt me, I'd love to and even like the idea of running a guest house.