I am locked out of my garage door. How can i open it?

A: Garage doors lock in two different ways. If you dont have an opener than the door has a built in lock on the inside of door. Some locks can use a key from the outside to lock and unlock. Others have a simple slide lock on the inside left or right hand side of door. If your door has an automatic opener then it will lock door when in the down position.

Locking yourself out of garage door

This always happens when your garage has only one entry, the the garage door itself. These types of garages are usually detached from the home somehow. Building codes require that these types of garages must have a vault release (Vault release: keyed lock that if garage has a opener you can turn a key and will release the opener from the door so it can be opened manually.) This is common when the power goes out and opener won’t open door.

Disengage the opener

If you don’t have a vault release to disengage the opener, than opening the door is going to be difficult . If you have windows in the door then you will have to break a window in the center or door. At that point you can reach threw open window and pull down on the emergency release (emergency release: red handle and or red cord hanging about 1 to 2 feet long down from opener.) to get door open. If you don’t have windows than a technician will have to cut a hole in door panel to access the emergency release.

Sometimes garages have windows and I have climbed through many windows. And busting out windows is a small repair cost especially if your car is stuck in the garage and need to get to work.

If none of these solutions apply than you have to start to take things apart to access the garage. This should be done by a technician.