Looking at having to put some bikes in the shed due to lack of space in my single garage (1st world problems). Looking to reinforce the shed to make it harder to break in. I had a shed break in many years ago (different house and different shed) where they just unscrewed the screws on the hinges...easily fixed by replacing cheap crap hinges with more substantial ones and replace screws with coach bolts.
I would also look to reinforce the shed door frame and door structure with more wood and metal brackets in the corners, and maybe install some better locks and more than one - proper mortise locks instead of pad locks. The shed has no windows and I've had no issues or break in's over the last 10 years with no locks on the shed at all, but nothing valuable inside worth nicking. of course I have no way of telling if anyone has ever opened the shed before and taken a sneaky peak....but if they have they were very polite and closed the door behind them and left everything as they found it. I guess there is a balance between making the shed as secure as reasonably possible, but not so obvious where it screams "Valuables stored in the shed".
But for those unfortunate enough to have had shed break in's by what means have people managed to get into your sheds apart from unscrewing hinges and bolt cropping pad locks?
Appreciate it's never going to be Fort Knox and a determined thief will get in whatever, but should be possible to make it pretty secure without them having to bust out the cordless drill and jigsaw and having to make a hell of a lot of noise and commotion. And in any case it will be my wife and kids bikes in there.
Ta.
Convince your neighbour to buy some bikes more expensive than yours.
Can you put an asgard bike shed inside the wooden shed?
Consider them no longer your bikes so you get used to when they get stolen. Seriously people still use a flimsy wooden structure to store thousands of pounds worth of their possessions?
Some ideas here...
https://securityforbikes.com/shed-shackle.php
Also, a bucket full of concrete with a shackle / chain in it makes for an effective ground anchor.....
Well the point is the shed is a flimsy wooden structure now...but the plan is it wont be once I've finished with it. Just like tens of thousands of wooden houses up and down the country...my brothers house is a wooden construction you could cut a hole through the wall with a cordless electric saw, so basically just a big shed. And most peoples garage doors are hardly that secure either... most garage doors you can break in in a matter of seconds with no tools.
The whole point of my question is trying to ascertain what the main method of shed break ins so I can modify the shed to address. If its smashing windows...not a problem...I've not got any windows. If it's cutting through pad locks, I can put proper mortice locks on - probably three of them, if its jimmying doors, I can reinforce the door and frame...if it's cutting a hole in the side with a jigsaw...I'm screwed - but could put sheet metal on the inside of the shed...but probably stepping into the realms of taking it to the extreme.
Fooflaps - good shout, I could easily shackle and chain to the ground or something no problem. Probably the best last resort method.
I don't want to replace the shed as it was custom built to fit down the side of my house so non standard dimensions. But can certainly and very easily and cheaply reinforce the structure with decent solid wood.
And its not thousands of pounds of bike...maybe the thick end of £1k all in over 3 bikes so not a brace of brand new Santa Cruz's or anything. Alot less valuable as alot of peoples garden furniture or BBQ's they leave scattered in their gardens totally unsecured.
Get a metal shed. Hopefully be more secure
I have not had a break in but neighbours have. One had a portion of shed roof levered up to gain access the other a window frame removed, both relatively quiet to do. This rather worried me so I have locks, window bars, alarms and the final barrier is an Asgard bike store in the shed. Hopefully that lot will cause a mix of delay and noise enough to prevent me losing much
Should you not of bort metal or wood polls, m8?
Have you had a look at one of these wireless alarm systems?
https://www.screwfix.com/p/yale-premium-alarm/7338x
Dead easy to install and if someone is to enter the shed you will definitely know about it and the racket it makes will definitely be a good deterrent.
I have not had a break in but neighbours have. One had a portion of shed roof levered up to gain access the other a window frame removed, both relatively quiet to do.
A good defence against this is to run a reel of Builders Band over all the panel junctions internally - would make it very hard to lever apart.
run a reel of Builders Band over all the panel junctions
or maybe some of that nail-plate stuff with the evil spikes on it, for holding roof timber together ?
If that was facing outwards from the inside of the shed they might also tear their hands to bits trying to open it up
If not already lined then line the inside of the shed with 8x4 sheets. If these are screwed to the frame every 3 inches it is much harder getting through the wall.
Door - my shed door has triple heavy duty hinges and a mortice lock fitted to a proper exterior heavy door. The door frame is from 2x4s. The area of the frame around the lock is steel re-enforced.
The door is visible from the house and has a 10w LED light over it so it can be seen clearly at night.
Roof is steel sheeting they aren't getting through that.
My shed windows don't open. The sill is shoulder height and they are too small to fit a bike through. Windows are frosted glass fitted between vertical 2x4s.
Mortice locks are useless on a shed as leverage can be used to spread the surrounding frame away from the door. The locks sold for securing van doors are good as are thick steel tubular bars fitted across the whole door opening secured with enclosed hasps. Use both and make sure you beef up the door and door surround with some sturdy timbers. If you've got power fit cctv and an alarm.
Beef up the door frame with angle iron and brace the walls up with more timber.
And above roof tie the roof down.
Put an alarm in and get a pair light to cover the shed
Thanks. Alot of good ideas there and some angles I'd not considered too. The structure of the shed can and will be bolstered significantly with proper structural wood and the idea of utilising a proper exterior wooden door is a good suggestion. Have to think about reinforcing the roof structure too.
Absolutely no reason why the shed can't be reinforced and made as secure as it needs to be. There is a limit as to how much time and noise a burglar will invest in order to knick a few hundred quids worth of bike. Like I said before it's not as if I've got a brace of Santa Cruz's tucked away inside. I don't want to/can't change the shed as it's a non-standard size to fit in the space down the side of the house, but with some investment in materials I can make this shed easily as secure as any alternative shed out there.
Regarding the roof I can certainly tie it down and beef up the structure and putting up some lighting and/or an alarm or even a CCTV camera shouldn't be a problem...but aware I don't want to make it too obvious and give away any sign that there might be something valuable inside...will have to be as discreet as possible. In the last ten years or so it's not attracted any attention from petty pilferers as it's hidden quite well down the side of my house so not obvious its even there even if you were in my garden. So far stealth seems to have been it's greatest defence.
Try to make the outside of the shed look insecure and flimsy. Thieves will target any shed that looks like it is hiding something. A shed that doesn't look secure might be left alone.
Therefore I'd not bother putting locks or hinges on.
Instead I'd get a bucket or car tyre filled with concrete and good locks to secure them and hopefully when they open the door they think it's too much like hard work.
I'd also get an alarm for the inside. Something simple that makes a noise and/or a hive motion sensor if your WiFi reaches.
Whilst nothing is going to stop them if they really want to take it, make it as difficult and loud as possible should they try.
Lets say you want to use the Shed Shackle, go for the longer bolts, strengthen the wall you will be attaching it to with extra batons and some thick boards, like 20mm OSB, over the entire wall. Then use a good, well rated chain and lock, just make sure that it won't reach the floor to cut down the changes of them getting leverage on it. Or use two chains. Maybe even some other cable and lock too. Also throw on a motorbike alarmed brake disc lock, these are cheap and usually quite loud.
If you have windows, throw some solid metal mesh/grid over them as another way to slow them down. Beef up the security on the door. Even a cheap batter powered alarm will alert people something is going on before they can shut it up.
shed alarm
but aware I don’t want to make it too obvious and give away any sign that there might be something valuable inside…will have to be as discreet as possible.
This.
A covered hasp
https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/product/padlock-protector-right-hand-270242
and a decent closed shackle padlock should be enough of a pain to get through but doesn't advertise "bikes in here"
All the other strengthening can be done internally.
Get some 2x2 timber and make a beefy frame for the door, it give the hinges something sturdy to bolt to and you can also fit a proper mortice lock, I have done this and it's got a sturdy hasp and padlock too, you can get cheap battery motion detect alarms, I got one from b&m for less than a tenner, 120db. I've also got a chain diagonally across the door frame internally so that's stopping any thief while the alarms going off if they manage to get through both locks undetected with a security light lighting them up. My shed has also got built in benches and shelf units so it's practically reinforces everywhere, even the roof.
Actually I was thinking about completely re-building the front face of the shed that contains the door frame and use proper construction as you would construct a wooden house, so proper timber, braced, proper door frame, proper framed and braced door. Can make it appear to be a normal shed from outside but will have the same structure as a house front door. Will put a token pad lock on the front for appearances but will use proper 5 lever mortice dead locks as the main lock.
But yes on alarm and probably CCTV. However I've re-configured my garage and might be able to squeeze a couple more bikes in the garage so maybe down to only one bike in the shed now.
If you want to make it difficult to cut through the wall, a sandwich of plywood and steel mesh is ideal. Can't saw it because of the metal and can't disc cut it because of the plywood. I've also seen it suggested that 10-15% of the value of the bikes is a good guide to how much to spend.
I guess part of my question was to establish from peoples experiences if theives actually do break into sheds by cutting through the walls. I suspect not and that they mostly go through doors or windows hence my question. I would have thought to tool yourself up and risk making the noise of cutting through the side of a shed for a couple of bikes would be a high risk strategy. The peeling the roof off thing was something I hadn't considered but easy enough to reinforce the roof.
Most opportunist thieves use tools they find lying around, eg garden spades / forks, which are pretty good levers and can open most wooden doors quite easily...
A colleague was burgled this way using the tools borrowed from an unlocked neighbours shed.
