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What would be the best ways to make a wooden summer house secure for 3 bikes?
Its a 4 x 4 meter wooden summerhouse with double glazed windows and double doors that are about 2 thirds glass. It's already in place and not sure if its on solid concrete. Not my house (yet). I'd like to use half for bike storage and half as a workshop.
Curtains or blinds.
Home insurance.
I had just such a thing and the best security I had was that it was out of public sight at the bottom of my garden and when I came back from a ride, I was always careful as to who may see me wheel the bike round the back of the house. In the shed I fitted cheap roller blinds and used both a long 10/12mm cable and lock and U-locks. I also added an extra padlock on the door. Make it look more than just a summer house and you may get people wondering what is inside if it needs this much security. I also put in a small very loud stand alone alarm.
I keep my bikes in the shed and have a ground anchor up through the floor and a big expensive chain/,lock. Ground anchor set in a big tub of concrete.
Curtains or blinds.
Home insurance.
Exactly this. Make sure the insurance covers wooden buildings. M&S do, lots don't. It's never going to be that secure unfortunately.
Make sure the insurance didn't stipulate they're locked to a solid object etc, it becomes a huge pita, especially if you have more than 1.
I just don't see the point in chains/anchors as of they want them, they'll get them. If they're disturbed, they'll just come back. It sucks, but it's the way it is.
Ground anchor set in a big tub of concrete.
That's a good idea and easy to set up.
Its a pretty big space and bikes dont need that much room (well it depends how many you've got) Â - Doesnt matter how strong you make a door when theres a perfectly easy to break window. I'd make a small, strong partitioned space inside the shed and keep the bikes in there - out of sight.
Do you mean like a metal cage?
A dog.
A loud, barky growling teeth baring dog.
Do you mean like a metal cage?
Anything stronger and more opaque than glass đŸ™‚
Wasps nest đŸ˜€
Dig down inside and make an underground vault ( either steel or concrete ). Nice rug over the top and no one would know it’s there..
If they did find it, you could always bury the bastard in there 😉
I've got a domestic burglar alarm in mine. Sensors on the windows and doors and a pir in the back corner.
The bell box is on the inside and the led light that blinks side to side is very visible through the windows.
Pir floods in two places in the garden, a Blink camera covering the garden and one inside the summer house.
If there's anything they want though, they'll find a way
In case my original answer sounded flippant,
Security is only as strong as it's weakest component. With the best will in the world it's wood and glass, you're not going to defend against any sort of attack if the structure can be breached by a well-placed size 9.
What you can do is make it less attractive, so don't have its contents on show and don't be wheeling bikes in and out on public display. And, whilst some of us probably love them more than our children they are 'just' bikes. Talk to your insurance company, they might say "we'll insure them but you'll need to do [x] first." Doing [x] it the answer to your question. Anything truly irreplaceable, well, I wouldn't have it in a shed in the first place.
There are some good suggestions here too. I installed a ground anchor in the yard back when I had a motorbike, together with a security chain like Chewbacca's bandolier. But consider, a thief doesn't care about your shit; a dirty great pigeon-killer lock is of little use if they just cut your frame in half to have away with all the expensive components.
I lock all of my bikes together. They are either going to have to make a load of noise or try and carry 6 of them out all at once.
Sounds like quite a big space - put an ASGARD shed inside it?
Just found out it has a 9 inch deep concrete base, so the plan is cut a section the wooden floor out and install a ground anchor as suggested above.
What might be the easiest and neatest way to cut a section of floor out?
Oscillating multi tool. They're amazing.
Thanks, I'll have a look.
Someone above said about putting an asgard inside the summerhouse. The more I think about this the more this might be a better option.
Are they really that secure? Or some kind of secure cage might work. One to hold 3 bikes would be ideal.