Garage door woes...

August 16, 2011 4:21 PM

Since retraining ourselves to shut the garage door isn't working, we are looking for an automated solution. Do you have any suggestions?

Here in la casa de charmedimsure, we have been struggling remember to consistently shut the garage door. Although there have not *usually* been problems in our neighborhood, we did lose a bike to this habit last summer. Have you used and can you recommend some type of automated solution?

We would prefer something that automatically shuts the door after X time rather than something that turns on an indicator in the house when the door is open, although that would be better than nothing.

Priorities, in this order, would be

1) Reliable/proven

2) Easy to install. We are not terrifically handy, though we are good with following explicit directions written for numbskulls.

3) Cheap. We are willing to spend a hundred or two hundred bucks, however, if it keeps us from losing the bikes/skis/lawnmowers etc.

We'll take your brain hacks, too (this is a problem both entering and leaving the garage) to get us through in the meantime, but would really enjoy the security of knowing that if we left for a week and were flaky on the way out, something would close the door for us.

posted by charmedimsure to home & garden (2 answers total)

Fifty bucks, right here.
posted by beagle at 4:28 PM on August 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

I got one of these. It wires in place of your existing garage door opener button, and the sensor part is battery operated and sticks to your garage door with some sticky tape. Works great. Note: beeps while the garage door is open (unless you press the button to silence it). This can be a pro or a con -- as a pro, you definitely know when the garage door is about to close (the beeps speed up). Con: it's annoying.
posted by kindall at 5:10 PM on August 16, 2011