Garage Door Fishing: Prevent Unwanted Break-Ins
There’s a little-known term that could spoil your sense of security when it comes to garage doors and garage door openers. That term is ‘‘fishing.’’ This has nothing to do with baiting a hook on a pole and dropping it in a lake. Rather, this has to do with potential intruders overriding the security offered by your garage door.
Locks may keep amateur thieves out, but with the pros, it only slows them down a little. When a pro wants to break into your garage, the most common way is for the thief to go garage door fishing.
How Do Thieves Use Garage Door Fishing to Gain Access?
Fishing is a technique thieves use to break into a garage. It’s really relatively simple. The thief pushes on the top panel of your garage door and, if it gives way so there’s a gap between the top of the garage door and the garage door frame, they reach in with a wire or coat hanger and hook the emergency release cord on the garage. With a simple tug, they are then able to manually raise the garage door.
You’ve probably used that disconnect cord yourself at one time or another. By accessing the emergency release cord from the outside of the garage door, thieves and intruders can enter your garage and, potentially, your home.
Fortunately, not all garage doors are as susceptible to this garage door fishing technique. It’s not generally a difference between the manufacturers of the garage door openers and their overall quality, though. Rather, it’s a question of installation.
How to Apply Garage Door Settings to Avoid Fishing
Ensuring that the garage door and garage door opener are installed properly in the first place is the first line of defense against garage door fishing. This means setting the stop points when opening and closing the garage door correctly.
Setting Stop Points in 3 Easy Steps:
- Run the garage door opener until the garage door is all the way down.
- Keep running it for a few additional seconds.
- Set the lower stop point.
Running the garage door opener for a few seconds after the door is completely down locks the top panel in place so that even a linebacker would have a very hard time pushing the top panel back!
Prevent Garage Door Fishing With a Door Adjustment
Another way to stop thieves in their tracks is to have your garage door adjusted properly. Garage door fishing is no match for a properly adjusted garage door.
When the garage door is properly adjusted, and the stop point is tight to the floor, the thieves find that they can’t push the top panel back to make room to hook the release cable. Adjusting the garage door properly so that thieves can’t go garage door fishing to get into your garage is a fairly simple procedure for a garage door technician.
Additional Security Measures
- Invest in a security system with video surveillance
- Install an alarm system
- Secure the emergency release so it cannot be manipulated
- Install proper lighting outside your garage
Have Questions About Garage Door Fishing? Ask Us!
It’s June, and the odds are pretty good the fish are biting in one of the lakes near Round Lake Park, IL. Why not get your pole and tackle, buy some bait, load ’em in the boat, and head to your favorite lake for a relaxing day on the water? You can enjoy your time fishing while Garage Doors and More adjusts your garage door to prevent thieves from garage door fishing at night.
They might be fishing to get into your garage, but our team will help keep your door and your home safe! Contact us today.
