Is the Antioch garage secure enough as a hiding place for those Christmas presents?

You don’t have to worry about the little ones. Their youthful naivete is sufficient that they won’t go looking. But Peter, that little rascal’s curiosity is definitely getting the better of him. The old hiding place, not really a hiding place at all, on the shelf in your master bedroom closet, of your Antioch home, isn’t even remotely secure enough. You’ll need to get a bit more ‘creative’ about hiding the Christmas presents this year.

For Peter’s sake, you’ve come up with just the right place to hide the Christmas presents. In the back of your Antioch garage is a deep, floor-to-ceiling closet. Put the presents up there and they are clearly beyond the inquisitive capacity of Peter to find them. The top shelf is high enough, and in the shadows, that there’s no way he’ll see them from the floor.

Of course, an adult wouldn’t have much trouble finding them at all. But Peter is only 8. You know he won’t find them in the garage. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure you lock the doors. It was just a couple years ago that the Antioch Police were warning people to keep their garages secured.

Unfortunately, it’s not enough to just lock the side door and bring the overhead garage door down. Those recent break-ins that prompted the warning from the police involved someone hacking their garage door opener.

With all the money you spent on Christmas presents, especially with time you’ve missed from work due to COVID-19, the money you’ve spent is money you can’t afford to lose. And even if you could, the disappointment on the faces of the children Christmas morning is more than you want to contemplate.

Is your Antioch garage door secure enough for hiding the Christmas presents?

Can someone hack their way past your garage door – illicitly control your garage door opener? There are several things you can do to avoid this Scrooge-like behavior with an Antioch Christmas approaching, not to mention afterward. Here are some ideas:

1. Never leave your garage door opener in the car. If you do, all the nasty elves have to do is to break into your car.
2. Mount motion sensors by your garage to discourage the Grinch who might steal your Christmas. You might also install motion-activated security cameras. There’s a good chance the Grinch is a bit camera shy.
3. Install a padlock in the track of the garage door. Placed through a hole in the track, just above one of the rollers, the padlock can stop a burglar in their steps even if they hack the garage door opener.
4. Keep your code for your garage door opener remote secure.
5. Ensure that you have an up-to-date garage door opener that is more difficult to hack.

If you take these simple steps, the chance that some Grinch or Scrooge will break into your Antioch garage and make off with the kids’ Christmas presents, or any of the other valuables you keep in there, is extremely remote. On the nigh before Christmas, you’ll sleep soundly even if a creature is stirring, including a mouse. Of course, what to do about that mouse is a subject for another article.

Time for a new garage door opener on your Wadsworth garage?

Wouldn’t it be nice if the garage door opener on your Wadsworth garage would last forever? Unfortunately, the time to replace your garage door opener may come before it has completely lost the ability to open and/or close your garage door.

Wear and tear will take a toll on your garage door opener. You can mitigate that wear and tear somewhat by maintaining the garage door and garage door opener on your Wadsworth garage but, over time, that garage door opener will no longer operate as efficiently as it did when it was new.

Not only will your garage door opener get a little long in the tooth overtime, but technology is liable to pass it by. Simply put, upgrades on the technology have left older garage door openers in the dust, so to speak.

When deciding whether to replace your garage door opener, assuming it hasn’t broken down entirely, there are several questions to ask yourself:

• Is your garage door opener still operating efficiently? Watch and listen to the garage door go up and down when you operate the garage door opener. Does it move smoothly? Though it’s often difficult to tell, does it appear to take longer to go up and/or down? Does the garage door opener make more noise than it used to make?
• Does your old garage door opener provide the security you require? This not only refers to its ability to keep burglars out, but also to a comparison between the security features of newer garage door openers and that older model. Newer garage door openers can come with a rolling code feature that makes it far more difficult for nefarious individuals to hack into the transmitter and open the garage door.
• Do newer garage door openers provide new features you’d like to take advantage of? Newer models can allow you to use your smartphone or a tablet to operate the garage door. Some come with battery backups so that, even if there’s a power outage, you can operate your garage door opener. They may also come with improved safety features to avoid damaging the door, or something under the door, when raising or lowering the garage door.

Hopefully, your garage door has a few years left in it. But it doesn’t hurt to evaluate your garage door to see if it’s time for a new garage door opener on your Wadsworth garage.