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Most older garage doors are so easy to break open, gaining access to valuable garage contents or worse, your home via an integral door. Make sure your garage door is properly secure and look at the options available.
When it comes to security, the garage is often the most overlooked area of any home. Gone are the days of the garage being mainly for putting a car inside, so many garages now are more or less an extra room to the house or a workshop, gym, office, playroom or just the biggest storage area for your home. Consider the value of what is in your garage and then if you have an integral garage you possibly have an easy access point to your main home as well.
When you consider that the majority of cheap roller shutter garage doors in the UK can be literally lifted up in seconds, there are some very vulnerable garages around. The easy access through an old up and over door or a cheap roller door is misunderstood. A few seconds and usually very quietly and intruders are in and then once inside the door to the main house can be worked on in privacy, out of sight.
So how do you define ‘Security’?
Security is the most misused term for any type of door in the UK.
Getting asked for a garage door with ‘some security’ is something we hear all the time, but what does that actually mean? A big lock? Extra locks? Super thick panels? And so on…
Security can be defined in reality and is defined by various tests carried out independently around the UK by certified companies. Certifications, accreditations and standards can be met to define just how secure the door is. It isn’t mandatory in any way, but is a way that a manufacturer can prove the worth of their door and then it can be related to a specific environment or customer requirement.
Security Ratings is a large subject to cover, but generally it defines the amount of time it takes for someone to break through a door panel and create a hole large enough for a person to get through, or just force the whole door open anyway.
Various tools are used and increasing times given to define the different levels of ratings that can be achieved and then stated in a certificate. Realistically most doors do actually fail and many are broken into without having to cut out a hole anyway. It is a rigorous testing process once you get above a very basic test level. Materials and technology is making the doors better quite quickly, but generally the best security doors tend to be steel and double skinned.
‘Without certified and tested evidence of performance in a controlled test and claims for a ‘security door’ are simply unproven and it is often just marketing words’
Most common garage door security ratings offered in the UK:
Secured by Design accreditation
LPS1175 - Security Level 1
LPS1175 - Security Level 2
Standards of security levels created by the Loss Prevention Standards Board specific to intruder resistance and the security of doors. Level 1 is the starting point with level 2 obviously more resistant to attacks. Above level 2 you are in commercial specification territory when it comes to doors in the UK generally and they are considerably more expensive products with limited designs and variations.
Customers should review the level required based on ‘Threat Level’ followed by ‘Delay’ in a commercial environment. In the domestic homeowner world however as we constantly state, any garage door with a tested and certified rating is always a far higher quality door than most others and has many other benefits in areas such as insulation and general integrity, which in turn usually means greater longevity, because of the attention to design, components used and materials of a higher standard.
RC2 and RC3 Security rated - A European standard for burglar resistance with various levels of security ratings starting at RC1. Part of the EN 1627-1630 series of standards.
A lot of the German manufactured garage doors we can offer have an RC rating, which is considered a high level of security rating and has a vigorous testing process.
PAS 24 - A benchmark more for windows and entrance doors but we can provide side hinged garage doors with a PAS 24 rating if required.
So what Garage Doors offer ‘Tested Security’?
The Garage Door Centre works with many long established manufacturers who have excellent products and a range of certified garage doors with various UK and European security ratings and certifications.
In most cases you will find that a certified and tested garage door will be at LPS1175 SR1 level.
This is a test which determines resistance to the most commonly used small and concealed tools by opportunists. This is what most people would consider sufficient to give peace of mind.
If you did have a high value vehicle or considered your garage contents to be a higher risk then certainly consider an SR2 rated door, but you might find the choice is fairly limited in garage doors currently.
We can offer you garage doors with an LPS 1175 SR1 and SR2 Rating in these door types:
Electric Aluminium Roller Garage Doors
Side Hinged Steel Garage Doors
Steel Up and Over Garage Doors
We can offer Secured by Design accredited garage doors in these door types:
Insulated Sectional Garage Doors
Electric Aluminum Roller Garage Doors
Steel Up and Over Garage Doors
If you require a LPS 1175 SR2 rating then we can offer electric roller garage doors in domestic specifications and as a commercial specification for larger openings.
We can also offer steel double skinned side hinged doors but the designs are simply a flat front face in a choice of any RAL or BS colour with a choice of limited furniture too.
The list below is maybe helpful to place some perspective on the LPS1175 Issue 8 standards in the UK and is taken from the Teckentrup website. Teckentrup offer a wide variety of security rated doors of all kinds in the UK. We recommend their sectional garage door with appropriate electric operator all day long as well as their steel insulated side hinged garage doors with the 3 point locking system. These are not actually tested doors currently but they are very secure nevertheless.
LPS 1175 A1 (SR1)
Tool type A, 1 minute attack, max test duration 10 minutes
Opportunist attack using small, easily concealed tools, typically used for domestic and low commercial risks.
LPS 1175 B3 (SR2)
Tool type B, 3 minute attack, max test duration 15 minutes
More determined opportunist attack using tools of greater mechanical advantage, typically used for domestic and low commercial risks such as office buildings, schools and small shops.
LPS 1175 C5 (SR3)
Tool type C, 5 minute attack, max test duration 20 minutes
Deliberate forced entry using a wide selection of commonly available tools, typically used for higher commercial risks and infrastructure.
LPS 1175 D5
Tool type D, 5 minute attack, max test duration 20 minutes
Experienced attempts at forced entry, typically used for higher commercial risks and infrastructure.
LPS 1175 D10 (SR4)
Tool type D, 10 minute attack, max test duration 30 minutes
Experienced attempts at forced entry, typically used for high commercial risks and critical infrastructure.
Need some guidance? Don't worry, with 39 years experience we can guide and help you select the highest quality, compliant, reliable and secure garage door Call and speak to one of our expert team members today on
01933 229 135
