The Garage Is a Second Front Door: How to Tell You Have an Unwatched Exit at Dusk

When a family plans for the late afternoon, the front door gets the attention. It is the one everyone uses, the one with the lock everyone knows, the one that gets the chime. At dusk, though, the door she uses is often one nobody is thinking about. If your house has a garage, a side door into the garage, or a back step that leads to the yard, you have more ways out than you counted this morning.

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Walk it from her chair

Start where she spends the late afternoon. Then walk the route she would take if she wanted to go out to the car, the yard, the mailbox, or to look for something she believes she left outside. Do not stop at the front door. Keep going until the route ends in outside air. On paper, write down every door you pass, and beside each one note three things: whether it is latched or locked, whether it opens with a knob, a bar, or a button, and whether you can see it from where she sits.

Most families find one door they had not written down. It is often the door between the kitchen and the garage, because it is the way the groceries come in, and nobody thinks of it as a door to the street.

What the garage asks of you

A garage door is a large opening that looks like the way out of every car trip. Check three things. First, the wall button for the garage door opener: can she reach it, does she know what it does, and is it near a window where she could see the car leave? Second, the remote in the car: where is it kept, and could she find it in the car or in a coat pocket? Third, the side door: does it lock from the inside with a knob she can turn without a key, and does it stay shut when the car is parked?

If you are not sure whether the garage door is connected to any alert in your house, walk out through it once with someone else and see whether anything sounds, lights, or rings where you usually are. A door that makes no sound is still a door.

The signs you have a second exit to plan for

You do not need her to have gone out yet. Look for the small signs. The garage door has been left up after a trip out. The side door is propped with a box while groceries come in. You find the yard door unlatched after the trash goes out. She has been found in the garage, near the car, or on the back step more often than at the front door. Any one of these is a reason to add that door to the list.

Write the list once, then keep a copy on the wall by the door you use most. The next time someone new comes to help at dusk, they can read it instead of guessing.

If you are working through the house one step at a time, the Start Here: Dusk to Morning, in Order page puts the same questions into a sequence.