Garden Shed Security
A garden shed can store thousands of pounds worth of tools. Those same tools in the hands of a deterrent thief could even be used to break into your home. Securing your belongings stored in a garden shed is paramount.
Follow these easy steps to lock your shed up securely and keep your belongings safe
Build on a Secure Location
Don’t make your garden shed attractive to potential burglars by choosing a location that’s viewable from the street, such as the end of your driveway. It’s preferable to build in a spot that’s covered by a security light. If someone does try to break into your garden shed, you want to have maximum visibility so you can see anyone roaming around where they shouldn’t be. Some people tend to keep the light off their shed thinking it’s only going to give thieves the light they need to make it easier to break into. This isn’t always the case because they’d just bring a torch. With a security light, it’d be like breaking into your shed in broad daylight. Most burglaries happen after dark so the security light can lessen the likelihood of your shed being targeted.
Use Closed Shackle Padlocks
A lot of timber garden sheds will come with a standard padlock that’s best to be upgraded as they can be easily picked or broken. The most secure padlocks to use on outbuildings are closed shackle padlocks because bolt cutters can’t be slipped in to break the shackle.
Upgrade Your Hinges
The hinges on standard garden sheds are only held in place with small screws. These can be forced off or the shed door prised off. You can enhance the security of your shed door by swapping screws for nuts and bolts with the bolt on the inside of the shed and glued in place to stop it from being turned with force.
Window Security
Shed windows are the weakest point in your garden shed. If you don’t need sunlight and only use your shed for storage, consider sealing it off. If you’d rather keep the window, use curtains so nobody can see through the window to see what’s stored. You can also buy film to put over your windows such as opaque film or a mirror acrylic to turn your window into a mirror but still allowing a decent amount of sunlight into the shed.
Alarm Systems
Garden sheds without electricity wired up will need to use a battery-operated alarm system. These are inexpensive to buy and straightforward to fit as there’s only a few components to install. Motion sensors in a corner of your shed to cover the door and any windows and the operating panel that houses the batteries and where you’d activate and deactivate the alarm using the keypad and usually a four-digit code. Be sure to change the code from the default 1234 or 0000 as those will be first pins entered to disable the alarm, defeating its purpose.
Bike Locks for Your Large Expensive Items
If you’re going to be leaving your home for a while such as when you go on holiday and don’t have anyone keeping an eye on your place, it can make your property attractive to burglars. To make things more difficult for anyone who does get into your shed, you can attach larger more expensive items together making them bulkier to carry away or longer to break more locks. Bikes chained to lawnmowers and petrol strimmer will be harder to steal together than if they were stored in the shed with no additional security.
About Shedman
Shedman custom design timber outhouses and build garden sheds delivered and installed in Glasgow.