Smudger Snippets: Safe Sheds
Created | Updated Jul 4, 2010
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
How Safe is Yours?
There have been quite a few shed break-ins in our area recently, so I went out and had a look at ours, as we have three sheds altogether now. I was quite amazed at just how much expensive stuff we had in them all, what with electrical power tools, lawn mower and other gardening tools, along with the bicycles we keep there for our grandchildren. Then we have the summer house that I had built for Mk2 a few years ago, that has a lot in it as well: there is all the outdoor furniture that we bought recently, a three piece cane furniture suite, as well as a small gas cooker which runs on bottled gas, as does the bar-b-q that we keep in there too.
There is also our latest edition, the tin shed that we had to buy and build when Mk2 was lucky enough to be awarded an electric scooter to help her get out and about, from SAFFA, (the armed forces charity, which does a tremendous job of helping out all ex-service personal throughout the country). I had to make a wooden base for that to stand on, as I am not fit enough to lay a concrete slab one. Besides, I got all the timber I needed from my stockpile of recycled wood that I am always collecting, from skips and the like.
After making a quick list of the price of all these contents, I went into the house to see if they were covered by our house insurance, and I am glad to say that they were. But the point was I didn't want to become yet another victim of this recent upturn in crime of breaking into sheds. Apart from all the stress that goes along with such break in incidents, I wanted to make sure that I had taken as many precautions as possible to prevent this from happening.
So I took a good look at just how secure our sheds were, and to be honest I couldn't believe how easy it would have been to break into any of them. Well, the two wooden ones at least, as I had one of those circular padlocks on the tin shed. They are the best ones really, as there is less than one inch of the actual dead bolt showing on that one, even less when you count the thickness of the hasp, which makes it virtually impossible for anyone to get a hold of it with bolt cutters.
As well as that, I had pop-riveted the hasp onto the shed door, so there were no screws showing for anyone to remove.
It has always surprised me to see how much money some folk are prepared to pay for strong padlocks, which have a lot of the actual bolt showing. No matter how strong those locks are said to be, they can still be cut with a good set of bolt cutters, and with so much of the dead bolt being visible, it is easier to get a grip of, and make a successful cut.
Even worse than that, if you take a look at the average garden shed or garage, you will see that the hinges are screwed onto the door as well as the face of the shed. So all the thief has to do to break in is simply unscrew the screws on either the hinge or face, and they are in!
Which makes a complete mockery of all the money you spent on that fancy padlock. So replace a few of the screws with coach bolts on each hinge, including that part of the hinge that is on the shed face.
These coach bolts come in all sizes, and as most hinges and door bolts are usually fitted on the structural beams of the shed/garage, you will need to know the correct length of bolt required. This is easy, just set your drill bit into the chuck with around two and a half inches of the drill bit showing, then if the drill bit goes right through to the inside then you will know roughly how long the bolts have to be. Of course the hole in the hinge itself will be widened when you drill the hole, so the bolt should slide through no problem.
Then have a look at some of the hasps or bolts that you place the padlock on. Chances are you will find that they are screwed on as well, which gives the thief yet another chance of quick entry. Also some of the hasps that cover the screw heads when the shed is locked, which is good within itself, but you will probably find that there is a space large enough to get a crow bar in behind it, even when it's locked, which again makes it easy for the thief. So when you fit them, make sure there are no gaps left when the door is secured.
Even with those bolt locks, which are indeed a lot stronger, you will sometimes find that the eye the bolt slides into is held onto the door face by screws: again, an easy entry for the thief with a simple screw driver. If you are going to fit any of these locks, use those dome shaped coach bolts, and use them in place of the screws. That will make impossible for anyone to unscrew them. Also, if you are fitting this bolt to the shed door, and it doesn't have a wide cross member behind it, fit a doubler plate onto the inside of the door first, but remember to allow for that when you are buying the coach bolts, so that they will be long enough for you to put the nuts on the inside. In fact, replace all the screws you can with these coach bolts as that will make a big difference.
To make it even harder for the thief, close the shed door, and mark all the areas where the door meets the frame on the inside. Then fit a timber strip onto the frame where you have marked it. These will make it a lot harder for a crow bar to get a good grip when trying to prise the door open. At worst, it will split the near edge of the door, but it will slow down or even prevent the break in, due to the noise.
Remember the hinges on a door are its weakest point, and a door can swing open or slam shut. That could also be applied to the relationships we have with our partners, as they also tend to rely on a hinge which can also open or close, and that hinge is 'trust'. If you don't have that in a relationship, then you have not got anything! Now I am the last person to say this, but then again, it was me that broke the trust in my first marriage, and that is one thing I am not proud of.
Yet these things do happen, and I can honestly say that over the past 18 years of my second marriage, the hinges are as strong as they were the first day, and the door has never slammed shut. So the question is, how secure are your shed/garage hinges, and how strong are your relationship hinges?
