Wireless Alarm for Garden Shed

When considering the security of your property, garden sheds are often overlooked as a target for thieves.  I can personally vouch for the fact that they are very popular with the average thief but with a wireless alarm system in your house it is very easy to add a detector to protect your shed and outbuildings.

Kasp 610 Wireless Garden and Shed Alarm

Rating: List Price: £34.29 Sale Price: £20.36 (as of 05/19/2012 18:38 UTC - Details) Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days

I recall my days as a police officer I was responsible for a particular part of town, most of which bordered open countryside.  We had a gang of thieves from the neighbouring area that would approach my part of town from across the fields in the dead of night, steal the contents of sheds and disappear back from where they came.  Hardly a house was left standing that hadn’t been a victim of this gang.  So prevalent were their actions we eventually had to set up a specialist team of officers keeping observations in the area before we were able to secure their arrest.

A9- DIY Wireless Weatherproof Garden, Shed, Driveway, Garage, Outbuilding Burglar Security Alarm

Rating: List Price: unavailable Sale Price: £31.99 (as of 05/19/2012 18:38 UTC - Details) Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days

So why are sheds so popular with thieves?  Well there are two major reasons both of which are to do with the contents of the shed:

1.   Disposable Goods. Lawnmowers, strimmers, hedge trimmers, mountain bikes, expensive tools and at Christmas, those presents from Santa are often stored in the shed, away from prying eyes.  All of this can add up to hundreds, if not thousands of pounds worth of goods which are easily transportable and have a ready market for the thief in pubs and at car boot sales.

2.   The contents of sheds can give burglars the tools they need to break into the house itself – spades to lift patio doors, screwdrivers to force locks and ladders to gain entry to first floor windows.

But why were the gang I had trouble with so successful?

First of all, because of the location they were unlikely to be seen approaching or leaving the scenes of the crime.  But the biggest problem is that sheds are inherently weak structures and very easy to gain entry to.

The Solution.  Yes, of course you want to lock the shed up.  But a weak lock will not keep the thief out and it is unlikely that the shed will support a heavy duty padlock and hasp.  Some more suitable hasps and locks for a garden shed are shown below.

SECURITY PADLOCK & HASP FOR SHED or GARAGE DOOR LOCK

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Master Lock 140703EURD 89mm Hasp and 40mm Brass Padlock Set

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The important thing about fitting hasps is that the screw heads MUST be covered.   Nearly all the sheds I have seen have their hinges on the outside and this makes it easy for the thief to silently unscrew them and remove the door.  It is recommended that the hinge screws should be replaced with clutch-head screws as shown below which cannot be undone.

Pike & Co. Clutch Head Csk Woodscrew ZP 1x8 [Box of 200]

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There are other measures that can be taken such as screwing down windows to ensure they can never be opened, or my personal favourite, bolting a chain to the floor of the shed and then running it through the handle of the lawnmower, strimmer etc before padlocking the two ends.

But even having done all this I recall one instance where the thieves actually took the whole side of a shed away from the shell before clearing out the contents.

But probably the most effective solution is to alarm the shed to the house control panel.  If you have taken our advice previously, you will find that adding a detector to a home wireless alarm system is very easy indeed.  No need for armoured cable running through the garden as would be the case with a wired system.  Furthermore, since most shed burglaries take place at night when the householder is in the house, it is very likely that they will be able to respond to the alarm immediately and thereby ensure the safety of their property.

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