Burglar in garage

I have a friend who discovered that her garage door was bent deeply inward at the top. She reported it to the police, who explained that burglars frequently will pry the door inward near the top-center, then reach in and pull the disconnect rope. This then permits the door to be raised. A variation of this is to break out a glass window in the door for the same purpose.

No report was filed with the police, since nothing seemed to be missing. The friend bought a new top section for the garage door and had it installed and asked me if I'd install a new operator to replace the old one that was original to the house.

When I went to do the operator installation, I naturally tested the "weight" of the door to make sure the spring was adjusted properly. What I found was that the door had virtually no lift from the spring at all. The fellow who installed the top panel did his work, he apparently never checked the spring tension. The old operator, a screw drive Genie had plenty of power. After years of faithful service, it finally had weakened the top panel enough that rather than open the door, it merely had jerked the top panel inward. This was made worse by the tendency of the rubber strip at the bottom of the door to stick to the paint of the garage floor.

I retensioned the spring properly and when the new operator was installed, all worked perfectly. Not every instance of a bent-in door is evidence of a burglary. It also points out the need to occasionally disconnect an operator and lift the door manually to verify adequate spring tension.

Reply to
Nonny
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When I read the thread name, I thought there was a burglar in the garage now and you were posting about it. YOu never know these days. I hear about people who are robbed or burglarized who instead calling the police tweet about it.

So there was no burglar? That's good, I guess.

Reply to
mm

i REMOVE THE ROPE SO NOBODY CAN USE IT TO UNHOOK THE DOOR FROM THE TRACK.

Reply to
Sid6

Those springs can hurt you if you don't know exactly what you are doing. Best left to a pro. I looked at one once. Got some rebar, and found it to be very tensioned. I called a pro. He had some special bars, and said the rebar would bend. He had it right in five minutes, and charged me $20 cash, as he was on his way home and near me. He said he got a lot of jobs from people who had tried to do their own, and some of them screwed up the door, or themselves. They ain't rocket surgery, but they are dangerous.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

Very inneresting, good advice. Also good advice about removing that rope....

Reply to
Existential Angst

Yeah, until the power is out, or the opener won't work and now instead of reaching an easy cord, you have to figure out how to reach the trolley over top of a car.

If thieves want to break into a house, I don't see why they would waste time bashing in garage doors to reach a rope. A rock through a window in a back door or window sounds a lot easier and faster.

Reply to
trader4

If the house is on fire, that rope may just save you. The reason it is call an "emergency release".

Reply to
Oren

I never heard of a thief pushing in the garage door top, the rope is to far away to grab, and you would need a ladder, entry doors usualy open with a kick.

Reply to
ransley

Not exactly. When the door is closed, the rope is right there for the grasping.

Insert a 4' crow bar at the top center of the door, wedge it in and pry downward. Just enough to get a hand in there and pull the cord.

If the top panel has glass - just break the center pane out.

Doors and windows may have alarms, but how many GD's have one...

Reply to
Oren

True but having the garage door open and carrying stuff out would be very noticeable by neighbors and passersby's...The entry door into the house from the garage could have an alarm..You could put a motion sensor in the garage also..Locked doors only keep honest people and kids out..You need alarms or a dog for pros and a gun on you in high crime areas...Thankfully I live in very rural Maine and have NEVER locked a door and the keys are in my truck which is full of tools parked in my unlocked garage...LOL...I do have a CCW permit and am usually carrying though unless on the job when it's hidden in the truck....Taurus .45 ACP..Most everyone has a gun up here thus little or no crime except in the VERY liberal Portland southern Maine area which is just Boston North and 150 miles away...Most you see around here is kids doing stuff and they are caught quickly as everyone knows everyone and neighbors look out for each other...LOL...

Reply to
benick

Burglers don't like noise. I heard breaking glass next door one late Saturday afternoon. I called the police and three police cars arrived in about 2 minutes. They found 8 boys in the house using paint ball guns, not exactly burglers, but there was extensive damage. Outdoor lighting helps a lot, unless you live in the boonies.

Reply to
Phisherman

And pounding in the top panel of a garage door doesn't make noise? If it were me, I'd much prefer the short sound of breaking glass from a window compared to standing there beating in a garage door. And if they are concerned about glass noise, I can think of some easy solutions to that. Like covering the window panel with a piece of stick on material like you would use to line drawers.

Reply to
trader4

I'm late here and I can't believe no one mentioned the proper installation of a garage door opener. The top door panel should have what my door manufacture calls a strut. It stiffens the top of the door where the opener pulls on it putting the load across the entire width of the top panel. I've used a piece of angled steel on a different door.

Anyway, what happens is your door sticks a little to the floor, and also to the weather striping around the door, or maybe you get a little freezing rain. What ever.... You need the top panel braced. Without it braced guess what it does? It pulls the top panel kinking it in half while the rest of the door stays put. It may or may not come loose and open and home owners don't notice what happened until they return home. Whoever installed the opener is 100% at fault if it doesn't have the bracing. If you have one, read the installation manual and it WILL mention some type of bracing.

As far as the spring tension, yes that probably helped it kink in half, but if it were properly braced, it still wouldn't have happened.

That's the first time I ever heard of someone breaking into a garage with that method. If anything, they probably reach in after the door is already kinked.

Reply to
Tony

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