The Garage Is an Exit Nobody Counts

Most families count the front door, the back door, and the patio slider. The garage often gets left off the list, and it is one of the places an exit goes wrong without anyone noticing. A wall button by the door into the house can lift the big door in seconds, and the side door from the garage is often a simple inside turn. Once the garage door is up, the driveway is open.

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How it goes wrong

A garage door opener works from a wall button, from a remote in a car, and from a remote in a coat pocket. Anyone who has watched someone press the button can learn it, and a remote left on a counter does the same job. The side door tends to be the quiet one. It is cold, it is out of the way, and it is often locked from inside with a turn anyone can make. The garage is also where coats, shoes, and car keys tend to be kept, which makes it a natural place to begin getting ready to leave.

What to notice early

The first signs are small. A remote is missing from its usual place, or there is an extra one you cannot account for. The big door is up when you expected it down, or the car has been moved without anyone meaning to. The side door is unlatched when you check it, or cold air is coming into the house from that direction. A coat or a pair of shoes is gone from the hook by the garage door. Any one of these is worth a look. Two of them together means the garage belongs on the evening checklist that night.

Walk the garage in one sitting

Go through the garage with everyone who lives in the house. Write down how many remotes exist, who carries each one, and where each is kept when it is not in use. If your opener has a way to lock out the wall button, the manual will say how, and that is worth setting up while the house is in its evening routine. Check the side door next. The lock should open from inside quickly, because anyone in the house must still be able to get out in an emergency. Do not make the garage a place she cannot leave during a fire or a fall.

Keep one remote and one owner

Keep one remote for the car, and keep it out of reach of the wall button. Name the person who checks the garage door and the side door each evening, and give that person the same short list every time. Post the list on a card near the door so the check does not depend on memory. If you want the full evening order, Start Here: Dusk to Morning, in Order lays it out step by step, and the Sources page lists the guidance behind these checks.