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Zinc-plated spring-bolt garage door slide latch with PVC-covered handle
Garage Security

Garage Door Slide Latch (2-Pack)

A steel bolt through the track slot, so the big door can’t be lifted. One for each side.

$29.99One-time · free tracked shipping
  • Pins the door to its trackSlide the handle and a steel bolt passes through a slot in the vertical track. The door is held to the track, so it can’t be lifted.
  • Both sides in the boxYou get two latches, one for the left track and one for the right. The door ends up held at both edges rather than one.
  • Steel, and nothing elseA galvanized bolt on a spring in a stamped steel housing, with a PVC-covered handle. There’s no battery in it and nothing to pair.
  • For nights and for tripsA latched door has to be freed by hand before you drive out. Most owners set it at bedtime and before they travel, not every morning.
Free tracked shipping 30-day returns Tested before shipping
Garage Door Slide Latch (2-Pack) $29.99

Why the garage comes last

The biggest door in the house has the least on it.

Most people secure a home in the same order. Windows first, because they are the obvious weak spot. Then the front door, with a better lock or a bar. Then you walk into the garage, look up at the biggest door in the building, and find nothing on it anywhere. No bolt, no keyhole. The opener holds it down, and that is the whole arrangement.

What sits behind it matters too. The garage is where the tools live, and tools are what open other things. It is where the bikes are. And on a lot of houses there is a second door at the back of it that goes straight into the kitchen, which makes the garage part of the house rather than a shed attached to it.

A slide latch changes what the door is held by. A sectional door rides in two vertical tracks, and the latch puts a steel bolt through a slot in that track, so the door is pinned to the rail it runs on and cannot be lifted. It is not clever and it does not need to be. The one thing it does not touch is the opener’s emergency release cord, so the latch is the muscle and an alarm is the noise.

The opener keeps the door closed. A steel bolt through the track keeps it shut.
2latches
one for each side of the door
0batteries
purely mechanical, nothing to charge
1slide
to throw the bolt or free it
1driver
self-tapping screws supplied
Garage door slide latch from the side, showing the coil spring and sliding bolt
Where it goes

On the end stile inside. Through the slot in the track.

The latch mounts to the end stile, which is the vertical edge of the door panel on the inside, right beside the vertical track. Self-tapping screws come in the box and go through the housing into that stile. This is the part to be straight about: the latch is screwed to the door, so it is an permanent fitting rather than something you lift on and off, and it stays where you put it.

Using it is one movement. Slide the PVC-covered handle and the spring-loaded bolt runs across into the slot in the track, which pins the door to the rail it rides in. Slide it back and the door is free again. Both latches have to be freed by hand before the door can go up, which is why most owners treat it as a night and travel lock rather than something they touch every morning.

Two per packGalvanized steelNo batteriesScrews to the door
Setup

Both sides, with the door closed

1

Close the door and find the stile

With the garage door down, look at the vertical edge of the door panel on the inside, right next to the vertical track. Hold the latch against it so the bolt lines up with a slot in that track.

2

Screw the first one on

Drive the supplied self-tapping screws through the housing into the end stile. The housing should sit flat against the door and not rock when you push it.

3

Do the other side

Fit the second latch to the opposite stile the same way. The pair is meant to be used together so the door is held at both tracks.

4

Slide it and test

With the door still closed, slide each handle so the bolt passes through the track slot, then try to lift the door by hand. It should not move. Slide the bolts back to free it.

Engage the latch only on a manual door, or on a door whose automatic opener has been disconnected first by pulling the emergency release handle. An opener that tries to lift a latched door will damage the door, the opener or both. Free both bolts by hand before you drive out.
Where it belongs

Attached garages first

If your garage has a door into the house, the garage is part of the house, and the big door is the opening with the least on it. A detached garage earns a bolt for a different reason: that is where the tools and the bikes are kept. Fit the pair once and then use them the way most owners do, at night and for the days you are away, since a latched door has to be freed by hand before the car goes out. US shipping is free, and if the latch does not suit your door you have 30 days to send it back.

Layer your defense

The latch holds the big door. The alarm covers the small ones.

A latched door cannot be lifted, but a garage usually has two more ways in: the service door at the back and the window beside it. A TremShield Alarm sticks to either one and fires 125dB the second it is pried or rattled, so the quiet entrance stops being quiet. Most people want one on the service door, one on the garage window, and the rest spread through the house. Six of them run $99, which works out at $16.50 an alarm.

See the alarm
The latch holds the big door. The alarm covers the small ones.
Good to know

Questions, answered calmly

A garage door slide latch is the usual fix. It is a steel bolt that screws to the inside edge of a sectional garage door and slides sideways through a slot in the vertical track, so the door is pinned to the track and cannot be lifted. TremShield sells them as a pair, one latch for each side, with self-tapping screws in the box. Engage it only when the door is manual or the automatic opener has been disconnected.
A garage door slide latch is made for a sectional door, the kind with panels that roll up inside two vertical tracks. It screws to the end stile, which is the vertical edge of the door on the inside, and the bolt slides through a slot in the track next to it. It does need screws: self-tapping ones are supplied, and this is an fixture on the door rather than a no-drill accessory.
Only with the opener disconnected. Use a garage door slide latch on a manual door, or pull the opener’s emergency release handle first so the door is off the opener before you throw the bolts. If the opener tries to lift a latched door, it will damage the door, the opener or both. That is why most owners latch at night and when they travel, and leave it open on ordinary days.
No. A garage door slide latch holds the door to its track and changes nothing about the opener or its emergency release. What it does mean is that the door still cannot be lifted while the bolts are thrown. For the other ways into a garage, the service door and the window, a TremShield Alarm on the glass fires 125dB the moment it is pried or rattled.
Yes. A garage door slide latch is purely mechanical, so both bolts have to be slid back by hand before the door can go up. Most people use it as a night and travel lock rather than an every-morning one. There is no battery and no remote in it, which is also why there is nothing to charge or pair.

From the security guide

How to Secure a Garage Door: Close the 6 Gaps Burglars Know

We harden the front door and leave the garage on autopilot. Here are the six gaps that matter and the calm, specific fix for each.

Read the guide →

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