Home security & break-ins

Your garage is the side door nobody locks

People put real thought into the front door and almost none into the garage. Someone looking for an easy way in tends to do the opposite.

By Timmy Creighton, founder and licensed locksmith · Major Key Locksmith · October 2026

The remote in someone else’s car

A garage remote is a key. If you bought the house, the previous owner’s remotes may still work. If a car is broken into in a driveway, the remote clipped to the visor goes with it. Most openers can erase every paired remote from the learn button on the motor unit; check your opener’s manual, clear them, and re-pair only the remotes you have in your hand.

The keypad code everyone knows

The outside keypad code tends to get shared with contractors, neighbors and the kids’ friends, and never changed. Change it when you move in and whenever someone who knew it is no longer welcome.

The emergency release

The red cord on the opener lets you open the door by hand in a power cut. On some doors it can be reached from outside through the gap at the top of the door with a bent wire. There are release shields made to stop that. Do not tie or disable the release itself; it is there for your safety.

The door into the house

This is the one that matters. Once someone is in the garage they are out of sight, and the door into the house often has a basic knob and no deadbolt because it feels like an inside door. Give it a real deadbolt and keep it locked, especially at night and when you are away.

Let your phone tell you

A smart garage keypad lets you open the garage with a code and get an alert when it opens. The most useful thing about it is the notification that the garage has been left open at eleven at night. We install and pair one for $750, after checking your opener is compatible.

Questions people ask

Can someone open my garage with a universal remote?

Older openers with fixed codes can be vulnerable. Most modern openers use rolling codes that change every press, which makes that much harder. If your opener is very old, that alone is a reason to look at replacing it.

Should the door from the garage into the house have a deadbolt?

Yes. Treat it like an exterior door, because when the garage door is open, it is one.

Will a garage keypad work with my opener?

It depends on the opener’s brand and age. We check compatibility before booking, and the keypad page explains how.

Keep reading

Any price mentioned here is the one published on our pricing page as of October 2026. The final price is always confirmed with you before any work begins. More answers from the blog →