I locked myself out of my detached garage. The remote to open it no longer works.
It’s a really old garage and the opener is from 1999.
Trying to lift it obviously doesnt work. There’s an emergency release you can activate with a key, but the keyhole is crammed full of old hard metallic paint that I can’t get out.
Anything else I can do? Or do I have do smash the thing down?
Sounds like you have the key for that little lock. If so clean it out and use it.
If you cannot do that then drill out that little lock.
I would probably just ask my local hardware store what garage door guy they recommend.
Some kind of solvent in the keyhole?
You could get a new garage door remote. The code should be as little switches on the inside of the old remote.
isnt that only for remotes without rolling codes?
Yes but OP says:
opener is from 1999.
If you’re planning on replacing that painted over lock the easiest way to go about is grab a 1/16" drill bit, put a key up to it, note the orientation of the ridged part of the key, that side has the pins. Stick drill straight in, drill through the pins. Take 3/32" drill bit, aim right where you were previously aiming, drill that out. Scrape what you can out of there with a seal pick, might pull out a few springs etc, but once the pins are drilled out you can turn it with a screwdriver. Key lines up the pins so it can turn freely, but without pins it’ll turn freely, that kind of thing
Get a new opener, they are like $15.
But you can’t get into your garage if there is a power outage? I would work on that problem.
Remove the lock cylinder and touch the two wires together. Replace cylinder.
Get the pull cord somehow. If there is an emergency release, put a coat hanger between the door slats or drill a small hole into the door to pull it with a coat hanger.
