Garage Door

[Eric J. Kaplan]

My wife and I have a nice detached garage. With an electric garage-door opener. It bit the dust this afternoon. And no other access to the inside. 

Before I start cutting a hole in the side of the building, anybody got any suggestions?

Sent from Eric's iPhone

[Brandon Norris]

If it has a window, you could break it and get to the door release cord that way.

[peter storonskij]

do you have a side door.  
change the batteries to the remote .
do you have a vent big enough to send a small person through.
and if you know about where the garage door opener is then you can cut a small hole and reach in and pull the cord then open the door manualy.

---

From: Eric J. Kaplan <ekap...@gmail.com>
To: omaha-ma...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2012 6:24 PM
Subject: [OMG] Garage Door

[Eric J. Kaplan]

Unfortunately, no window. :-(

Sent from Eric's iPhone

[Stephen Beck]

I've seen a method that involves sticking something in between the sections of garage door and using it to pull the cord, but that may be easier done if you were able to see the cord through a window or some such. There are several similar method for putting a long bar under the door and grabbing the cord.

[Eric J. Kaplan]

"...no other access to the inside..." 

Sent from Eric's iPhone

[Stephen Beck]

How big a door are we talking? The longer the door the easier it is to pry up an inch or two on either end. Then you can use an inspection mirror to see what you are doing...

On Oct 14, 2012 6:29 PM, "Eric J. Kaplan" <ekap...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Eric J. Kaplan]

Ohh... That sounds promising!

Sent from Eric's iPhone

[Stephen Beck]

How old is the door? With older doors and especially older wooden doors you can see the four bolts where the door opening arm bolts to the inside of the door (usually lag bolts). The heads of the bolts can be drilled off and then the door opener is disconnected...

On Oct 14, 2012 6:29 PM, "Eric J. Kaplan" <ekap...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Eric J. Kaplan]

Success!!!!

I was able to pry the sections open enough to get a coat hanger in to fish around and hook the emergency release cord. Then opened the door manually. Turns out the wall button got stuck when I closed the door last. 

Sent from Eric's iPhone

[Dan Linder]

Congrats!  So, installing a door or window next weekend? :)

Dan

--
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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"
    (Who can watch the watchmen?)
    -- from the Satires of Juvenal
"I do not fear computers, I fear the lack of them."
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** *** ***** ******* *********** ************* *****************

[Jay Woods]

I vote for an emergency escape tunnel.

[Kevin Fusselman]

Emergency Ingress Tunnel, perhaps, as the problem wasn't getting out of the garage, but rather, into it....

That said, I vote for the tunnel option as well.

[John Wise]

How hard was this to do, and any permanent damage done?  

I would say that if it doesn't damage the door, you already have your method.  Just keep something to pry with and a coat hanger around. It probably won't happen often enough to warrant a window.

I do have a question that is now moot, but did you try cycling the power to the garage?  I am not sure if it would work that way, but the stuck button may get read as a new press on power on opening the door.

What do you think?

[peter storonskij]

tunnels are so old what about a portal

---

From: Kevin Fusselman <ke...@fusselman.org>
To: omaha-ma...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2012 8:07 AM
Subject: Re: [OMG] Garage Door

[Eric Kaplan]

I did cycle the power - no luck.  This is a old door opener (to the point that none of the current "universal" remotes work with it), so it likely didn't have that kind of reset feature.

Other than a slight scratch where the larger pry bar went in, there was no damage.  I purposely started with a thin scraper, then a small pry bar, then the large pry bar, to avoid this.  The door was painted about 4 days ago....

--

Eric J. Kaplan                                       

• ekap...@gmail.com
• www.ejk00.smugmug.com

[Kevin Fusselman]

Clearly, if you'd used an Arduino interfaced to the controller.... nevermind.

[John Wise]

That will teach you to do home improvement projects.  Or at least to consult with the door first on your color choice.   These old houses have feelings.

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 11:05 AM, Eric Kaplan <ekap...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Stephanie Jensen]

Pry bar, eh? Are you on the verge of learning a new profession? 

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 11:05 AM, Eric Kaplan <ekap...@gmail.com> wrote:

[John Wise]

I have evidence of his efforts on window removal as well.  Hmmm... I think a workshop is in order.  Cat burglers 101?

[Eric Kaplan]

I have spent a great deal of my life around law enforcement.  But I use my powers for good!

[Kevin Fusselman]

Is "around" a synonym for "in the custody of"? :)

I do concur with Eric's assertion, though, regarding powers for good.  Full understanding of a system (be it a door, a computer or padlock) is optimal for many uses, each of varying morality.

[Rick Rubio]

Or perhaps in the context of working "around" the law.

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 15, 2012, at 11:24 AM, Kevin Fusselman <ke...@fusselman.org> wrote:

Is "around" a synonym for "in the custody of"? :)

I do concur with Eric's assertion, though, regarding powers for good.  Full understanding of a system (be it a door, a computer or padlock) is optimal for many uses, each of varying morality.

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 11:22 AM, Eric Kaplan <ekap...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have spent a great deal of my life around law enforcement.  But I use my powers for good!

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 11:15 AM, John Wise <wise...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have evidence of his efforts on window removal as well.  Hmmm... I think a workshop is in order.  Cat burglers 101?

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 11:11 AM, Stephanie Jensen <sjen...@gmail.com> wrote:

Pry bar, eh? Are you on the verge of learning a new profession? <330.gif>

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 11:05 AM, Eric Kaplan <ekap...@gmail.com> wrote:

I did cycle the power - no luck.  This is a old door opener (to the point that none of the current "universal" remotes work with it), so it likely didn't have that kind of reset feature.

Other than a slight scratch where the larger pry bar went in, there was no damage.  I purposely started with a thin scraper, then a small pry bar, then the large pry bar, to avoid this.  The door was painted about 4 days ago....

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 10:29 AM, John Wise <wise...@gmail.com> wrote:

How hard was this to do, and any permanent damage done?  

I would say that if it doesn't damage the door, you already have your method.  Just keep something to pry with and a coat hanger around. It probably won't happen often enough to warrant a window.

I do have a question that is now moot, but did you try cycling the power to the garage?  I am not sure if it would work that way, but the stuck button may get read as a new press on power on opening the door.

What do you think?

On Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 7:02 PM, Eric J. Kaplan <ekap...@gmail.com> wrote:

Success!!!!

I was able to pry the sections open enough to get a coat hanger in to fish around and hook the emergency release cord. Then opened the door manually. Turns out the wall button got stuck when I closed the door last. 

--

Eric J. Kaplan                                       

• ekap...@gmail.com
• www.ejk00.smugmug.com

[Eric Kaplan]

You said it, not me....  >:-[

[Jeff Jensen]

I think we're missing an opportunity to retrofit and upgrade the door button.  Maybe a cap and resistor to make sure it can only "close" the circuit for a second.  Or buy a new button.  Or a Raspberry Pi with _Real_ port knocking access control. Or...

[Eric Kaplan]

Actually... This is a relatively new button, less than a year old.

I think the real opportunity here is to remove the garage-door opener all together, and just replace the manual door handle with a new, functioning unit with a new key.  This is not a garage that holds a car, so the need to have a remote opener is slim to none.  The only real benefit is that I can walk up to the garage at any time - whether or not I have my keys with me - and open the door using the external keypad.  Come to think of it, the external keypad has not failed me, so maybe my problem was trying to close the door by reaching in and pressing the button, instead of using the keypad all the time....

[Rob Townley]

i thought for sure somebody had made a robot for this by now.

There is a key locked portal door that could be installed.

Wait, a maker wants to remove a garage door opener ... heresy! Shun
him! Shun him!


p.s. Eric, at 120th and Dodge Menards last night, i noticed there will
be demonstrations on installing windows on Thu Nov. 1st from noon till
4pm. i sent you an invite from my calendar.

[Eric Kaplan]

I appreciate the thought, but unless the window is around the century mark in age, I'm not interested.  :-)