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21 Nov 2018

Warmth and security are key for garage doors

Getting the right garage door for your property isn’t always a straightforward endeavour. There’s a lot more to choosing a garage door than first meets the eye, so Garador is looking more in detail at two important aspects: insulation and security.

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British winter with long spells of wet weather and temperatures going down below freezing can have real implications for homes and garages. Heating bills tend to go up as homeowners try to keep their properties warm, but the savings that could be made from heat loss from a garage are often overlooked. The contents of a garage also need to be considered, as modern garages are often used for a variety of activities such as home offices, home gyms or for general storage, and keeping valuable items reasonably warm and protected is a key factor.

Insulation to keep energy bills low

Today, garage doors have come a long way from the basic designs of yesteryear, and it can make sense to look for a garage door that offers good insulation. Sectional doors can be especially well-suited to offer excellent insulation, with insulated panels and rubber seals on all sides of the door. Garador offers a variety of insulated sectional garage doors that are 42mm thick and filled with highly insulating PU foam to really minimise heat loss. When combined with rubber seals, this is a great way to help retain warmth inside the garage. Garador’s Managing Director, Neil Discombe, argues: “If you want a door that is insulated, it’s always worth checking if there are also quality rubber seals around the door.”

Sectional doors offer additional advantages as well. Because they lift vertically, they provide full access to space immediately behind and in front of the garage; vital for homes with a short driveway. With this vertical lift, there is also full width at the garage entrance; ensuring modern wider vehicles have no problems getting in and out of the garage.

Burglars love the long, dark nights of winter

If you are in the market for a garage door, along with insulation, another major factor to consider is security. When you think of all that valuable equipment that is often found in garages; items such as garden mowers, keep-fit and sporting equipment as well as expensive DIY tools and equipment, security suddenly becomes a major aspect when choosing a garage door. Along with the valuables found in a garage, burglars favour trying to break in through a garage because this can offer access into a house or a route to the back of the home where they can operate away from prying eyes.

Today, you can buy a garage door that is Secured by Design (SBD)-accredited, indicating that it has been tested extensively by the UK Police to ensure it can withstand a break-in by a burglar. One of the weakest points on a garage door is the locking system. Lock snapping, involving breaking the cylinder to manipulate the lock open, is a common method of entry used by burglars but again you can find garage doors with levels of extra bracing and reinforcement to offer a high level of strength against this possible way of attack and entry. Garages with cylinders that feature an anti-snap, anti-drill design and even a sacrificial front are available today that will prevent entry through the lock even after an attack.

Modern technology is everywhere, and that includes garage doors. Today you can buy a variety of remotes and systems so that the garage door can be opened and closed remotely. However, surprisingly few people think about the cyber skills of burglars when you buy a garage door with an automated opening system. The security issues associated with copying the signal from a hand transmitter were first identified in 1960s and 1970s suburban America and also in the sprawling neighbourhoods of Great Britain. For those who were lucky enough to have a remotely operated door, on occasion some neighbours found they could accidentally open each other’s garage doors. This proved to be quite common in suburban areas, where homes and garages were in relatively close proximity to one another.

Whilst technology has moved forward, some problems still remain. Much in the same way that you can hack a computer, you can also hack signals from remotes today, from some lesser manufacturers using older technology. Using a remote hand transmitter and operator without rolling code technology is not recommended these days as it is too easily copied.

So when buying a garage door fitted with an electric operator, it is a very sound idea to look for extra high security on garage door remotes. Today you can find new technology on hand transmitters that feature 128-bit security technology; this is the same level of security used by banks. Wireless finger scanners are also now becoming available to provide extra security for garage door opening devices. It is generally recommended to use an operator system with a high-frequency signal of 868MHz.

Today, choosing the best garage door for a property is not an easy task, and it is important to ensure the latest options have been examined before making that final decision.

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