I am concerned about the possibilty of my garage door windows being broken into...is there anything that can be applied to them, other than bars? Also, if a person did want to use bars, who would you hire to put them up?

-- Jo Ann (MaJo@Michiana.com), December 15, 1999

Answers

Might I suggest a heavy guage double dipped galvanized machine mesh. Available at most sheet metal shops, hardware stores and/or lumber yards.

Mesh should be about 12 inches wider and longer than the windows to be covered, or width/length of garage door panel, whichever is less. (i.e. 6" more all the way around.)

First step is to fold the edges of the mesh in so that there is a 3" wide double thickness strip all the way around the window area.

Mesh should be bolted every 6" or so around perimeter of the mesh with round-headed carriage bolts (no slot or head to hold onto or turn from outside). There is an raised square area that will bite into the wood to hold the bolt from turning as it tightens. Mark bolt location and predrill hole through garage door. Fasten with a large, 1" minimum, outer diameter, and correct fit inner diameter, washer between the bolt and the mesh and another on inside of door. Thread a standard nut onto the bolt inside the garage until the bottom of the outside washer is flush with the door (mesh embedding itself to the wood). Then finish by tightening on a self-locking nut over the first.

For added stregth - you may want to stagger the placement of the bolts so that one is centered approximately 3/4 of an inch in from edge of mesh, and the next is about 1 and 1/2 inchs in.

Do not mount these bolts too close to the glass as the stress on the wood may crack the glass ... which is why I advise you to stay and inch and a half out all the way around.

Non-bedroom house windows can be secured the same way ... do not use same installation technique in bedrooms due to possibity of entrapment in case of a house fire. If interested in explanation of a 'safe' installation for bedrooms, post here and I'll answer ASAP.

For the window installation, since you will not want the bolt and nuts sticking thru your wall, you will have to mount to the studs around window frame. The hardware store has also has screws and carriage bolts that use a special tool to install and remove, not commonly available to the average person. Talk to the hardware specialist.

Other point about windows - I would use 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick galvanized steel strips around perimeter of mesh outside instead of the washers ... for added security and strength.

-- hiding in plain (sight@edge. of no-where), December 15, 1999.

Are you trying to secure the garage door as an entrance? Ie, to prevent somebody from breaking the window and unlocking the garage door? Is the garage attached with regular door? Is it detached w/ or w/o regular door?

Most garage door locks have a hole drilled into the end of the locking bar that goes through the track that you can attach a padlock to.

If you want protection, but don't want to make it look protected (hey thief - here is something worth protecting!) go to a plastics shop and see what they have in 1/2" plastic acrylic or thinner lexan. The metal would be cheaper(?) but more of a red flag *particularily* if nobody else in the neighborhhod does it. Like the previous poster said use carriage bolts with the nut on inside, etc. If you go the thick plastic route you might have to readjust the tension on the springs to account for the extra weight. Also you can apply a sticky backed plastic (3M?) that will hold broken glass much like old fashioned safety glass to help cleanup, though again this makes your garage stand out as special if somebody is just going through and merely vandalizing all of the garage windows.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), December 16, 1999.

www.shattergard.com

Be safe,

Nick ================================================= - Bulletproof Vests for Law-Abiding Civilians - * www.BulletProofME.com * =================================================

-- CONCEALABLE BODY ARMOR (solutions@access1.net), December 16, 1999.

Jo Ann ; Check out your local windshield repair shop, for a material named 3M clear window film. In Florida they sell it for Hurricane winds, goes on like window tinting. You can also look on the net for it. That way you will not make your garage out of place...

-- Furie (furieart@dnet.net), December 16, 1999.

there is also a product called CLEAR DEFENSE that is a cold laminate and supposedly works better than others of the same type of product because it can be applied in multiple layers. if a window is hit, it can shatter but will not break (if you know what i mean). you can't get the window to fall apart. it ain't cheap.

-- tt (cuddluppy@nowhere.com), December 17, 1999.

Our neighbors just got a new garage door without a window. (The door was rotten, anyway.)

-- (ladybuckeye_59@yahoo.com), December 18, 1999.