Garage Door Latches....

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

So my two-car garage has two separate "sectional" doors.  Each of these doors is secured by a simple, sliding latch.  The doors cannot be opened from outside without first going through the house, into the garage, and sliding the latch to the "open" position.

 

Might anyone have suggestions for a more civilized solution?  I'd like to be able to open the danged doors from either inside OR outside.  Directly.  Oh... and I have no interest in electronic openers.  

 

Thankee!  

 

                      

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

I’d start with contacting a local garage door company who might be install one that locks & unlocks with a key and T-handle. 

Just being nosy, but how come you don’t want electronic?

[sassnetguy50]

They make sliding latches with through door handles.  Maybe add step plates to the outside to avoid putting too much pressure on the handle.

 

Something like this

https://www.amazon.com/Garage-Door-Stuff-LKit-Lock/dp/B0C57ZKXNX/

[Rip Snorter]

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Edited April 25 by Rip Snorter

[El Sobrante Kid]

Do you have a garage door opener? If so, do you want the latch to open when the garage door is activated, or do you want the latch to be operated separately from the garage door opener?

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

57 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

I’d start with contacting a local garage door company who might be install one that locks & unlocks with a key and T-handle. 

Just being nosy, but how come you don’t want electronic?

 

Well, I don't park in the garage; just use the space for storage and tools.  So, if I'm doing yard work or other projects and need something, not only do I not want to have to truck through the house to unlatch a door from inside, I also don't want to find a remote - might be five times a day or once a week.  Plus, I'm not so feeble yet that I need to spend hundreds of dollars on motorized openers.  

[Cypress Sun]

38 minutes ago, sassnetguy50 said:

They make sliding latches with through door handles.  Maybe add step plates to the outside to avoid putting too much pressure on the handle.

 

Something like this

https://www.amazon.com/Garage-Door-Stuff-LKit-Lock/dp/B0C57ZKXNX/

 

Hardpan

 

If you decide on one like Sassnetguy posted, make SURE that you have extra keys made and keep the key insert well oiled/lubed. Don't ask me how I know...but I know.

[Eyesa Horg]

The type with the handle in the middle and the flat ars that lock into the vertical track, can operate from both sides. The handle only locks it if properly adjusted, from the outside/inside. You need a key to unlock it from the outside.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

It’s pricey but you can also have a garage door with a pedestrian door.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

What about just cutting a hole in a wall and mounting a pre made door?

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

52 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

What about just cutting a hole in a wall and mounting a pre made door?

 More than “just cutting”, is there a load? Need to carry the load.

Edited April 26 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

Curmudgeon be a Luddite fer sure 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

 More than “just cutting”, is there a load? Need to carry the load.

That wouldn't necessarily be a problem. Structure the door frame to carry the load. For a simple two car garage, 2X4s would probably do it. 2X6s at the most. 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

This particular garage doesn't lend itself to an "inset" pedestrian door, and there's no room in the front of the garage for another door.  Actually, there is a pedestrian door in back - I want access to the front for large stuff, like the riding mower, welding cart, boat motors and such.  

 

          

 

So the latch set that @sassnetguy50 found might be the ticket - when looking at it I stumbled upon this one, which might bear consideration:  "Old School Garage Latch"

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

I've been using electric garage door openers for 40 plus years; my only disabling failures have been due to a lightning strike and a broken spring; pretty darn good reliability, as moving parts go.  You do not need to carry a key; just install a touch pad on the overhead door frame.  I'm a Luddite too; but some electro-mechanical devices are just too useful to ignore; even the Amish use power tools.

 

LL

[Rye Miles #13621]

I love my garage door opener, I’ve had it forever. I have no man door just a small window but if the power goes out I have a key to disable the pull for the opener. I’ve had the motor replaced once and springs once. Not bad for over 50 years!

[Ozark Huckleberry]

If I was using the garage just as a utility shed, I'd probably forego the garage door opener, as well.

 

But all it takes is one time of pulling up to the house in a drenching Florida rain to appreciate having the little electric motor to crank the door up for me.

 

Re the 'old school' double-sided latch -- seems to me there's not a lot of point to the extra mechanism/installation hassle, especially with a single-width garage door. 

 

On a related note, with the way most garage doors are made up these days, it seems you'd need some kind of solid filler (a wood block, maybe?) to give the lock something solid to keep it from being ripped out of the door.

[Eyesa Horg]

7 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

This particular garage doesn't lend itself to an "inset" pedestrian door, and there's no room in the front of the garage for another door.  Actually, there is a pedestrian door in back - I want access to the front for large stuff, like the riding mower, welding cart, boat motors and such.  

 

          

 

So the latch set that @sassnetguy50 found might be the ticket - when looking at it I stumbled upon this one, which might bear consideration:  "Old School Garage Latch"

That's the type I was speaking of.

[Pat Riot]

7 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

So the latch set that @sassnetguy50 found might be the ticket - when looking at it I stumbled upon this one, which might bear consideration:  "Old School Garage Latch"

I find it humorous that the company selling that latch on Amazon is called “Vintage Technologies”.

 

[Sedalia Dave]

15 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

The type with the handle in the middle and the flat ars that lock into the vertical track, can operate from both sides. The handle only locks it if properly adjusted, from the outside/inside. You need a key to unlock it from the outside.

 

this ^^^

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

11 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

This particular garage doesn't lend itself to an "inset" pedestrian door, and there's no room in the front of the garage for another door.  Actually, there is a pedestrian door in back - I want access to the front for large stuff, like the riding mower, welding cart, boat motors and such.  

 

          

 

So the latch set that @sassnetguy50 found might be the ticket - when looking at it I stumbled upon this one, which might bear consideration:  "Old School Garage Latch"

 

Be sure it can be opened from the inside when the outside latch is locked.  Seen a few that couldn't. 

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

This is the style we had on the farm.  Could be opened from the inside and automatically latches when closed.

 

https://ddmgaragedoors.com/blog/2017/09/22/how-to-install-garage-door-locks/

[Stump Water]

16 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

I stumbled upon this one, which might bear consideration:  "Old School Garage Latch"

 

Not sure what the extra handles and stuff is for with that kit.

 

Try this one.

[Eyesa Horg]

5 hours ago, Stump Water said:

 

Not sure what the extra handles and stuff is for with that kit.

 

Try this one.

That's exactly the ones I'm most familiar with. They come with the door hardware package.

[Blackwater 53393]

My shop door opens with a remote, (we have three) our built in vehicle door opener, and with a programmed app on our cell phones.

 

I can obtain a much smaller remote that can be kept on my key chain, but I haven’t bothered to order one.

 

The shop also has a heavy steel walk-in door with a reinforced frame.