Is your Crystal Lake garage waiting for transformation into your mancave?

Your wife has her sewing room in your Crystal Lake home. The kids have a play room. Downstairs, you have a laundry room, a family room and a workbench and storage area. But, what about your area? Where can you have your mancave?

Is your wife sympathetic to your plight? Even if she isn’t, if the garage has become the de-facto landing place for odds and ends and assorted junk, maybe this is where you can add your man cave. It will take some work, a little money and, most importantly, some thought.

This is where it all starts – with a plan. Ask yourself some questions, such as:

• How big is your garage?
• Is your garage attached to the house?
• What do you want to do in your mancave?

Once you’ve answered these questions, it’s time to design a mancave that will fit your garage and your goals. It’s time to answer more questions, such as these questions about the infrastructure of your mancave garage:

• If you’ll use your mancave year-round (of course, you will), how will you heat it? Will you cool it (AC)? Will you need to insulate – Walls? Ceiling? Subfloor?
• Will you need plumbing? A sink? A bathroom?
• What are your electrical requirements? Where will you need outlets? Do you have a circuit in your electrical panel that can meet the electrical requirements of your mancave?
• What will you do with that big hole – the garage door opening? 

The last of these questions is pregnant with possibilities. Some folks may want to enclose their mancave with a permanent wall, or maybe by building a sliding door into the opening. But, a garage door is a way to open your mancave to the great outdoors. You can even add a screen, such as a Lifestyle Screen, so that you can enjoy the great outdoors without allowing bugs and pests into your mancave.

Now, it’s time to for layout and interior design. Will you have a bar, a bathroom, a pool table, an entertainment center. Of course, you’ll have a big-screen television. Where will you place it and where will the sofa and recliner go?

What kind of a motif do you want? Are you into NASCAR, hunting and fishing, other sports? Your walls and ceiling are pallets where you can express your passion and create and environment that celebrates your interests. The possibilities are almost endless. Your wife may want to help but, don’t forget, it’s your mancave; make sure that, in the end, it is a reflection of you and your interests.

Will hackers hack your Lake Bluff garage door opener?

Hackers are hacking into computers all over, from the CIA’s computers to, potentially, that laptop computer of yours. They’re also hacking into smart phones. Word on the street is that they can hack into on-board computers in cars. Considering, it’s no wonder that they can also hack into your Lake Bluff garage door opener.

When a hacker hacks into your computer, they’re seeking your personal information, which can include anything from your social security number and other personal info to access of your bank account. Clearly, this is not a pleasant thing. It can turn out that it’s very costly whether they charge purchases to your accounts or they steal your identity. But, there is one thing that makes a hack into your garage potentially worse than all that. You and/or your family may be home when they come in through the garage.

Garage door opener hacking leads to cases of burglary where the burglars are present in your Lake Bluff home. Whatever the thieves’ intentions, that you might meet them, face to face in your home, is a distinct possibility. Things and money can be replaced. Your life and health – the lives and health of your loved ones – is not something you can so easily replace.

The good news is that not all garage door openers are equally susceptible to hacking. If your Lake Bluff garage has a ‘rolling code’ feature, your garage door opener is less susceptible to hacking. Garage door openers with ‘fixed code’ transmitters virtually offer open invitations to hackers.

Garage door openers with the ‘fixed code’ transmitter use an 8- to 12-digit code. That works out to, at most, 4,096 possible combinations of digits. This may sound like a lot; it’s not. With computer technology, a hacker can run through that many numeric combinations in short order.

A garage door opener with a ‘rolling code’ transmitter, on the other hand, works with billions of combinations that change every time you open your garage door, even though you don’t notice the change. Hackers are skilled in their illicit trade, but they’re not that good.