Garage Door Break-Ins Inspire Billboard

© 2002 Door & Access Systems
Publish Date: Spring 2002
Author: Tom Wadsworth
Page 50


CLIPPINGS
Garage Doors and Openers in the Media

Garage Door Break-Ins Inspire Billboard

A new billboard over the downtown skyline of Gilbert, Ariz., is telling homeowners to lock their garage doors to prevent burglaries.

In 2000, Gilbert led the area in residential burglaries with one victim for every 85 people. Police say that 35 percent of these burglaries resulted from open, unlocked garage doors.

A $46,000 state grant paid for the billboard and its four-month run. The giant ad depicts a ski-masked burglar stealing golf clubs and tools from a home because of an open garage door.


Europe: Trend Toward Sectional Doors?

Cardo, a leading garage door manufacturer in Europe, is investing US $10 million in a new production line for residential garage doors at its plant in Torslanda, Sweden. The new facility, which will be completed by mid-2003, will produce sectional garage doors for all European markets.

Cardo's CEO Kjell Svensson said that sectional doors are "winning an ever greater market in Europe at the expense of … the more traditional vertical one-piece door."

The release says Cardo is one of the world's largest manufacturers of industrial doors and is Europe's leading supplier of dock loading equipment. Annual sales are reported at US $500 million.


Educating the Builder

"Why do we have to constantly fight this nickel and dime battle with the builder?" asks David Osso of Wayne-Dalton in Builder magazine. Susan McCormack of Clopay agrees that many builders "just want to get the cheapest door possible."

However, builders should know that garage doors now feature many "innovations in safety, appearance, and insulation" allowing builders to "offer higher quality, better-looking garage doors."

Mike Martin of Martin Door explains the new DASMA 116 pinch standard, and the new pinch-resistant door from Amarr is also discussed in the story.

Conclusion: "Of all the possible options and upgrades in a new home, the garage door may be one of the easiest to sell because safety, aesthetics, and noise are common concerns among consumers."


Christmas Card Garage Door

Five years ago, Helen Hale of Brea, Calif., returned home from vacation to find that her garage door had been painted with a Christmas scene.

The culprit behind the painting is part-time mural artist Tim Lemen, hired as a practical joke by Helen's son, Bruce Hale. Every year since then, Lemen has transformed Helen's garage door, apparently a flush wood door, into a giant Christmas card.

Each year, Lemen brings a new scene to life: dogs pulling lights off a Christmas tree, Santa Claus handing a present to a snowman, and this year, a Christmas tree near a fireplace.

The neighbors love it, and neighborhood children always stop and stare. "To me," she said, "that's what Christmas is all about."


Garage Door Message

In October, Terisa Fullmoon took black paint and angrily painted this message on her garage door: "My aunt served in the U.S. Navy to protect your freedom as well. You stole her casket flag. Please return it."

Terisa had been flying the 10' x 6' casket flag since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
After no one returned the flag, her garage door became embarrassing to her. So, she called a local high school and asked if students would paint a flag on the door.

The school's art club was glad to oblige, as 14 students converged on Terisa's garage door and painted a rippling, garage-door-size version of Old Glory.


Yep, Another Garage Door Mural

Inspired by her love of Maine, Shannon Privee painted a lighthouse on her garage door, in full view of cars and passersby.

Completed in just five hours, "Privee transformed her ordinary wood garage door into artwork by using regular house paints."

People stop often to photograph the painting and admire her work. Others have urged her to paint murals for them.

The article concludes, "Who knows? Maybe she will start a trend."