Best security - Little is more

[Adaaam75]

I am in the process of converting my shed into an observatory and have read good and bad ideas on how to make my equipment safe.

I am of the strong opinion like many others that no one is going to break into a shed to steal a garden rake, so my main intention is to maintain the look of my second innocently looking shed, and keep the appearance of a shed. The domed observatories are Gucci but also have a very highprice label, along with an advertisement over the front door. 

My shed/obs is going to be a roll off roof in a garden which fortunately for me backs onto farmers fields in the country so there are no overlookers. I also don't have my location details published anywhere but I do agree to an extent with a member on here who pointed out most people who are members or keen in this hobby are not the kind of people looking to burbles your shed from your IP address or Lat/long coordinates, but I'd rather not give more than necessary away.

What I am installing is standard internal fire door hinges. A simple look at the front doors of my shed told me that the doors could be easily removed by the external "gate" hinges by simply removing the exposed screws. Obviously the screws would not be accessible with internal hinges similar to an internal door in your house. 

I am also installing decent hasp and staple with hidden bolts through the the wood of the door so it can't simply be crowbarred off and a decent padlock to accompany it. I will have the same padlock on the other shed too to make it look normal.

I believe the idea of prevention and detection are very similar but offer different results. Overt CCTV cameras and alarms are great (both are installed on our house) however if your house/shed is the only one in the street with this it does seem to say "spend some time here Mr burglar guy we have stuff to protect". Pin hole cameras and covert alarms will not deter thieves but will certainly do a similar job in helping catch them after the crime. Pros and Cons for both. 

I am not installing an alarm unless someone can point me in the direction of a low priced gadget that delays in activation but isn't £150! Yes I will have mains power in the shed.

I am not installing CCTV in my shed. 

WORTH MENTIONING IS.....If a burglar has gone to the effort to locate you via coordinates or IP address or recon, they will probably have gloves and covered faces with plain unidentifiable clothes on. 

Prtoect you gear with permanent markings (door number and postcode), take photos of all your gear, record serial numbers and inform insurance company of the value of goods. They may ask for added security but to ensure a payout......it will be worth it in the long run.

Non water based Fire extinguisher is also worth researching, not sure if Halon or CO2 is better????

Your considerations please including what insurance companies expect??

 

[Star101]

I am also in the process of ror shed building this summer while the nights are short.

I will be following this thread with great interest.

[Scooot]

You could also use a Stick Up Cam https://ring.com/stickupcam if your wifi will extend to your shed?

I have their doorbell and I'm very impressed with it. The motion alert feature of it might be useful, which you can turn on and off. It works from heat, not motion, and mine does detect some things overnight occasionally, probably a cat or something. So I turn the motion alert off overnight.

[Craney]

Good luck with your venture,   one thing to point out,  that came out of a attempted burgulary that I had (house, not obsy) is that the crims will break into a shed to get tools with which to attempt the house.  I think it goes along the lines that should the matter come to court , the 'house'  break-in was  'not planned'  and the perpertrator had not gone along with tools to do the job in the first place.   It sounds ridiculously close to the house owner  being partly responsible for aiding and abetting the thief by providing a lovely shed full of tools !!

What a great society we have created !!

Thought I would put this into the mix.   Don't have nightmares though.

 

Sean.

[RayD]

Good luck with the build, it's good fun.  I'm doing mine at the moment and loving every minute of it.

With regards to security, you can never have too much in my opinion.  I've invested many thousands in my kit and obsy, so a couple of hundred to protect it is a good investment in my books.  Don't forget as well that things like CCTV and visible alarms are a very good deterrent for opportunistic thieves.

There are quite a few little stand-alone alarm units that are GSM enabled so if it goes off they will send you a text message like THIS ONE as an example.

If you don't need to change the hinges on the door for any specific reason you can swap out a few of the screws for security type ones which can't be undone like these. it just means they would need to be ground off or crow barred, but if they are prepared or have time to do that, then there's probably not a lot you can do.

Have fun with the build, it's satisfying.

[nightfisher]

When it comes to shed obsy locking system for the main door, i have wondered if some kind of internal lock using a read switch and relay could be used, leaving no external lock

[RayD]

1 minute ago, nightfisher said:

When it comes to shed obsy locking system for the main door, i have wondered if some kind of internal lock using a read switch and relay could be used, leaving no external lock

There are quite a few of these available Jules, and I did consider them as we use them at work for access control, but the problem of course is if they fail (the solenoid breaks) how do you get in?  They are available fail safe or open, so if power cuts you'd like it to lock, so then you would need another way in to get to it if it fails.

Best way really is multiple locks with different keys (one top and one bottom), and ones that can't be drilled out, so rule out padlocks.

[nightfisher]

19 minutes ago, RayD said:

There are quite a few of these available Jules, and I did consider them as we use them at work for access control, but the problem of course is if they fail (the solenoid breaks) how do you get in?  They are available fail safe or open, so if power cuts you'd like it to lock, so then you would need another way in to get to it if it fails.

Best way really is multiple locks with different keys (one top and one bottom), and ones that can't be drilled out, so rule out padlocks.

I wish i had room in garden for an obsy to put a lock on 

[RayD]

I've had a pair of these on my garage door for a few years now and they are excellent.  I'm fitting them on the obsy as well as they are very secure.

[Davey-T]

Only got a padlock on mine which is only locked if I go away for a few days, the problem is I unlock it and then put the key down inside, go out and lock the key inside then spend an hour trying to find the spare key 

The more security you have the more damage they do if they're determined to break in.

Dave

[RayD]

2 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

 

Only got a padlock on mine which is only locked if I go away for a few days, the problem is I unlock it and then put the key down inside, go out and lock the key inside then spend an hour trying to find the spare key 

 

Oh to have £1 for every time I've done a similar thing.

If they're determined they can get in any shed, even if it means taking a battery jigsaw to the cladding.  I think the biggest thing is deterring the opportunistic kids garden hopping and looking for something that's easy access that they can do a pop-in theft.

[RayD]

12 minutes ago, nightfisher said:

I wish i had room in garden for an obsy to put a lock on 

Coupled with the mist, fog and rain!!! 

[xtreemchaos]

get you obsy and kit insured with the house then if the unspeakable happens you have some new kit to look forward to, plus make sure you have pics of everything a receits for most, its makes the claim much faster. charl.

[andyboy1970]

I have kept the standard galvanised hinges that screw in from the outside, however I replaced one screw on each side of the hinge with a mushroom head coach bolt.

So now they try and knock the hinge pin out, the door won't push in because there are beams that prevent it, it can't be pulled open because there are metal bars on the inside secured by the hinge coach bolts, these bars go behind the door frame when the door is shut.

Decent padlock and hasp with concealed bolts.

Also have two concealed patio door type barrel locks just in case the padlock is beaten!

Simple methods that will hopefully put off anyone trying to get in.

[frugal]

6 hours ago, Adaaam75 said:

Non water based Fire extinguisher is also worth researching, not sure if Halon or CO2 is better????

Halon was banned years ago. The current equivalent is FM200, but that is only really used in data centres where you can dump it into a sealed room. Plus you generally need to evacuate the room before you dump it as it works by consuming all of the oxygen before the fire can. 

For observatory equipment in a shed you are looking at Class A (Wood) and Class E (Electrical). Unfortunately there is not one extinguisher that deals well with both. You really want a Foam extinguisher for the wood (Water is out because of the electricals, and Powder is out because it will get everywhere and likely ruin all of your telescopes / electricals) and a CO2 extinguisher for the electricals.

[Al.Grant]

Quote

I am of the strong opinion like many others that no one is going to break into a shed to steal a garden rake

Well maybe not for a garden rake, but shed break-ins are not that unusual as they often contain power tools, bikes etc. in fact shed break ins happen is spates in certain areas.

Most local police force websites contain gardedn/garage/shed security advice.    

This link from Nottinghamshire Police  https://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/advice/prevention/shed  Has advice and a PDF on securing your shed (or discreet obs!).  And this from Essex Police on securing your garden in general https://www.essex.police.uk/advice/garden-security/

Fitting an alarm doesn't cost much  http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/yale-shed-and-garage-alarm-210437  Your neighbours may ignore an alarm going off, but I'm sure you wouldn't  :-) either way I'm sure the scumbag breaking in won't hang around!  The PIR should trigger the alarm as soon as the door moves.

CCTV might be going a bit too far, I'm lucky as I have an old CCTV system from our shop and have put a cam looking over our back garden, might not (probably not!) going to get a face image, but it will give a date/time and general description. 

 

[Adaaam75]

On 04/17/2017 at 08:59, Craney said:

the crims will break into a shed to get tools with which to attempt the house.  I think it goes along the lines that should the matter come to court , the 'house'  break-in was  'not planned'  and the perpertrator had not gone along with tools to do the job

I agree, although I think thereason is a second reason that they go shopping in the shed for tools, so they don't look suspicious walking down the street with a crowbar and bolt croppers. Hard to explain when stopped by the law!

Solution? Keep all tools locked away and not left out, then if they did want to borrow my tools to get my set up, they'd have to break into 2 sheds! If it's gonna happen.....it's gonna happen!

[Adaaam75]

On 04/17/2017 at 10:26, andyboy1970 said:

I replaced one screw on each side of the hinge with a mushroom head coach bolt.

So now they try and knock the hinge pin out, the door won't push in because there are beams that prevent it, it can't be pulled open because there are metal bars on the inside secured by the hinge coach bolts, these bars go behind the door frame when the door is shut.

Decent padlock and hasp with concealed bolts.

Also have two concealed patio door type barrel locks just in case the padlock is beaten

Now that's what I'm talking about. Simple ideas that add extra security without anew advert for Billy Burglar. Mushroom headed bolts through internal metal bar to reinforce hinges, removable beam to prevent doors being forced in on themselves and barrel locks. Sold!

[Adaaam75]

On 04/17/2017 at 16:02, Al.Grant said:

This link from Nottinghamshire Police  https://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/advice/prevention/shed  Has advice and a PDF on securing your shed (or discreet obs!).  And this from Essex Police on securing your garden in general https://www.essex.police.uk/advice/garden-security/

Fitting an alarm doesn't cost much  http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/yale-shed-and-garage-alarm-210437

Excellent advice Al. The alarm is definately getting researched and bought. If it goes off Burglar guy won't want to wait and see if it is linked to cctv/house alarm/police etc. Good idea on checking for police advice too ?

[Erla]

 Just an idea - make a cage/fence around the obsy and get a German Shephard or two to reside there as permanent obsy employees.  Haven't heard of doghouse burglary.