Originally Posted by
Jerry Peck
I've seen many like those Richard linked to, they work great, attached garages with only the overhead door for access (typically used for golf carts on the houses I inspected).
The ones I saw would allow you to re-insert the keyed lock mechanism (giving the cable to the emergency release device slack), then you could reset the emergency release lever to automatically engage when the door closed.
That way, you could close the door from the outside and it would lock back into the opener traveler and lock the door closed.
....
A lot of our "vaults" in the urban areas are at older houses (1910's on) with small, single, detached garages in the back yard. Many don't have power, many of those that do don't have an opener, and maybe one in a hundred is actually still used for parking a car. Most are now junk or tool sheds. My own used to be a vault but I have recently rebuilt the walls and "cottagized" it with salvaged door and windows (see photo). I do have an opener on the new main door as the wife parks her scooter in there, but it would be tight for a car, even for the Mini.
In the "burbs", some of the "lower-rise", apartment/condo complexes have separate, detached banks of garages with one assigned to the unit. Those are usually "vaults" but, in those cases, they always have the emergency releases pre-installed. I just explain it and remind the client to get the key (probably often lost).
On re-locking. With some of the screw drive openers, the traveller locks onto the screw anywhere along it's length. Those are the ones you see with micro-switch travel limiters at each end of the track rather than travel setting screws at the motor head. On those types, there is no way to reset the emergency release and still be able to close the door manually.