Searching for Deadbolt for Manual Garage Door (UK)

Wiki Projects & Stories
#1

So this has been bugging me for a little bit. In the UK, Automatic garage doors just aren’t a commonly seen item, meaning the installation of one can cost upwards of £1500 (£1800), and that’s even before trying to add a connected opener.

Our requirement is fairly simple, so we don’t really want to have to spend that amount of money.

  • Our manual door has a lock that can be opened from the inside, but can only be locked from the outside! meaning that while you can go out the garage door from within, if you come back inside, you’ve got to then go back outside to lock it, and walk in the front door. this is ridiculous!

  • My idea would be to forego use of the door’s built-in lock, and instead mount some kind of remote deadbolt, which could be controlled with SmartThings, and this locked and unlocked from anywhere.

  • External physical access is not necessary, as long as the door can be unlocked by the app

The only problem is that I can only find connected deadbolts that are built for house doors (not garage doors). And so I turn to the community to help me with my search.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi! You’re my only help!

#2

What specifically makes your garage door structurally different then a house door in this context?

Garage doors might slide horizontally or vertically.

They might roll up or just flip up.

There might be space on the side for a lock or not

They might be made of metal or wood or composite.

And so on. The solutions may be different.

Can you post a photograph of your existing lock? Both with the door open and with the door closed. That might help a great deal.

There are some options, but it’s going to depend on these kinds of factors.

#3

It’s an up-and-over canopy door, made of a single un-insulated pane of aluminium

I’ll definitely take some pics when I get home… but the key difference is I suppose thickness.

if I were to mount a deadbolt at the side, I’d need to also attach a block of wood to the door, in which to house said deadbolt.

#4

“Up and over” means that the door doesn’t bend or roll?

Some of the date lock options might work. Or possibly the retrofit locks which fit over an existing lock. Photographs would definitely help. :sunglasses:

If you want to take a look at some of the project reports on gates, you can use the quick browse lists in the community – created wiki and look at both locks and gates.

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Quick_Browse_the_Community-Created_SmartApps_Forum_Section#Quick_Browse_Links_for_Project_Reports.2FQuestions

As far as the retrofits, the August lock doesn’t work with smartthings, but the zwave Danalock does. ( you need to get the EU zwave version, not the Bluetooth only version)

https://danalock.com/?page_id=35

Also depending on the design, you might just be able to use a throw actuator that would keep the door from being pulled up when The actuator was extended. That’s how cabinet locks on the interior of the cabinet work.

#5

Yes, sort of like this:

The inside looks like this one (googled image)

and twisting the handle basically just pulls pins out of an already existing slot in the mounted railing.

I was actually wondering if a simple electric deadbolt, and z-wave relay might do the trick, but I don’t really want to be pushing power through it to keep it locked.

#6

You can set up a fail close door strike lock (so that it is locked when there’s no power) as long as you have a manual open option to meet fire safety requirements.

Here’s one of the lock projects I mentioned with an electric strike. It won’t work exactly, but you could have a similar set up with an actuator.

#7

@johnconstantelo might have some ideas, he’s really good at projects like this. (John, this is in the UK.)

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#8

Let me noodle on this a little bit. First thought would be a solenoid and a MIMOLite depending upon how the door is on the frame and how that is mounted in the opening. If there’s room, the solenoid could mount on the frame so that it passes a rod through the frame into something mounted on the door. The MIMOLite can just be mounted on the wall next to the frame with power nearby.

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#9

So there’s not really any room around the frame, so this really will have to be battery powered and mounted on the door.

I should also mention that it definitely need WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) so it needs to respond as a lock, not a switch. I’ll be bridging it through to HomeKit within HomeBridge so she can do it from her phone easily.

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#10

Wow, that’s a tight fit. I travel a lot to the UK and I’ve seen ones like you have.

Since you’re willing to not use the door’s built in locks, what if you were to remove the ones on each side and keep the one on top? Instead of the strike plate at the top that’s mounted on the frame below the spring, can it be removed?

I’m wondering if that can be replaced, the black center piece specifically, with something like a sliding rod actuated by a solenoid. The sliding rod would go through what ever the end of that spring lock looks like if it has some type of hook, but if not, it could slide in front of it preventing the door from opening. The rod could be supported by one end of the silver metal bracket that would still be there, and slide into another hole on the other side for a secure fit so the door can’t be forced open by bending the rod.

#11

I see what you’re saying… remove the side pins, and use the permanently unlocked handle to turn and pull the top pin, but only if the solenoid releases it?

I think is a solid pin, not a hook, so it’ll be tough to get a hole in it big enough for a solenoid bar. Also, I’m not sure how the top pin alone would stop the door from being raised

Couldn’t a pair of solenoids just be used in place of the side pins, And attached to the door itself?

#12

i have two ideas for you here. 1: put standard house door strikers on each side of the door with a solenoid to pull them open with. A side effect of this is if you really tighten your springs the door will open for you and latch when you pull it down since the door strikers have springs in them.
2. Install the handle to a different garage door. Mine has a lock that works by lowering a deadbolt into a notch in the handle base. For automation you could easily replace that with a standard deadbolt. i assume you could order stuff from ebay etc? look at this and see the notch http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/260893291514?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

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