When people think about home security, they think about the front door. Maybe the back door too, if they’re being thorough. Almost nobody thinks about the door connecting their garage to the inside of their house, and that’s exactly the problem.
We get called out to a lot of homes after something has already gone wrong, and a surprising number of those calls involve that interior garage door. It’s the door homeowners forget exists as a security concern, mostly because it doesn’t feel like it’s facing the outside world. But the garage itself is often easier to get into than people assume, and once someone’s inside the garage, that interior door is frequently the only thing standing between them and the rest of the house.
Why This Door Gets Overlooked
Think about how most homes are laid out. The front door gets a deadbolt people think about, lock, and sometimes upgrade. The back door usually gets similar attention because it’s a known entry point. The door from the garage into the kitchen or laundry room, though, often still has whatever builder grade hardware came with the house, sometimes nothing more than a basic doorknob with no deadbolt at all.
The reasoning makes sense on the surface. If someone’s already in your garage, doesn’t that mean they’ve already gotten past your security? Not necessarily. Garages get entered far more easily than most homeowners realize, and once that happens, an unsecured interior door turns a minor break-in into full access to your home.
How Garages Actually Get Broken Into
Garage doors themselves, the big overhead kind, have a few common weak points. Older automatic openers can sometimes be defeated with simple code grabbing devices, though this has become less common as manufacturers have improved encryption. More frequently, the issue is a side entry door into the garage from outside, which often gets far less attention than the main garage door and may have a flimsier lock than any other exterior door on the property.
There’s also the emergency release cord. Most garage door openers have a manual release that disconnects the door from the motor so it can be opened by hand during a power outage. On many installations, that cord and its release mechanism can be reached from outside using a wire or hook fed through the gap at the top of the closed door, especially on older models without a shield covering the mechanism. Once the door is manually disconnected, it can sometimes be lifted open by hand.
None of this means your garage is doomed to be insecure. It just means the garage deserves the same level of attention you’d give any other entry point, and the door connecting it to your living space needs its own real lock, not an afterthought.
What We Recommend for the Garage Side Door
If your interior garage door currently has only a doorknob with a simple privacy latch, or no lock at all, that’s the first thing to fix. A proper deadbolt on this door does the same job it would do on your front door. It buys you time and creates a real obstacle, even if someone has already managed to get into the garage itself.
For homes where the garage is detached or where the side entry door to the garage faces the street or driveway, treat that exterior garage door with the same seriousness as your front door. A quality deadbolt, a solid strike plate with long screws anchored into the frame, and a door that actually fits tightly in its frame all matter here just as much as anywhere else on the house.
If your garage door opener is older and you’re not sure whether it has a shielded emergency release, that’s worth checking too. A simple plastic shield that blocks access to the release cord from outside closes that gap for very little cost.
Don’t Forget What’s Stored in There
Garages in Asheville homes often double as storage for tools, bikes, and sometimes a second refrigerator or freezer. They’re also where a lot of people keep spare keys, whether on a hook by the door or tucked into a junk drawer. If your garage is broken into and a spare house key is sitting in plain sight, the burglar doesn’t need to force the interior door at all. They can simply use the key.
If you keep a spare key in the garage for convenience, consider moving it somewhere less obvious, or better yet, switch to a keypad lock on one of your exterior doors so you’re not relying on a hidden physical key at all.
A Quick Self-Check
Walk out to your garage and look at the door leading into your house the way a stranger would. Does it have a deadbolt, or just a knob lock? Is the strike plate solid, or does the door rattle in the frame? If your garage has its own exterior side door, does that lock match the quality of your front door, or is it noticeably weaker?
For most homes we look at, the fix here isn’t expensive or complicated. It’s usually a single deadbolt installation, sometimes paired with a strike plate upgrade, and the job is done in under an hour.
We Can Take Care of This in One Visit
If you’ve never had your garage entry points evaluated, it’s worth having someone take a look, especially if you bought the home from a previous owner and don’t know the history of the existing hardware. We check garage side doors as part of every home security visit, and we’re happy to come look at just that door if it’s the only thing on your mind.
A.L. Odom Locksmiths is a family owned, brick and mortar locksmith shop serving Asheville and Western North Carolina. We’re located at 1240 Brevard Rd, Suite 4, Asheville, NC 28806. Call us at (828) 274-6613 to schedule a deadbolt installation or a full walkthrough of your home’s entry points.