Back-up way to ensure garage door is closed at night

Question: My children are constantly forgetting to close our overhead garage door. We have an electric garage-door opener making it a simple task to push the button and close the door. However, I am constantly finding that the door has been left open all night. Is there any way of ensuring that this door will close every time it is being used?

Fourchalk: There is a product called a Garage Door Monitor, made by Sky Link. This two-part unit consists of a receiver and a monitor. The receiver is placed in your home where you can screen the problem area. The monitor attaches to the inside of the overhead garage door.

The principle behind this product is that when your garage door is closed, it pushes the plunger-like sensor in the monitor against the floor of the garage. As soon as the door opens, the sensor plunger pops out and sends a signal back to the receiver in the house by beeping and flashing a light to notify you that the garage door is open.

This easy-to-install unit offers a three-metre range between the monitor and receiver and can work with up to four sensors allowing more than one door to be monitored. This product sells for about $54, offering an inexpensive way to assure that your garage door is secured.