Workshop Security

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Security - do you bother?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • In a way

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 1 33.3%

  • Total voters
    3

sawdustalley

Established Member
Joined
7 Sep 2002
Messages
601
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0
Location
Guildford,Surrey,UK
This is an interesting one, when you actually sit down and roughly add up all the various costs of your tools - hand, power and machinery (of course the other accesories *bessey clamps*) - if your anything like me, it will be quite a heavy figure.

It would be interesting to find out what sort of security people have setup, I know some of your probably just have a single padalock and work out of a standard shed - nothing wrong in that by the way, but not very secure by any standards.

Me, I have a proper alarm system fitted - with 2 PIR detectors, 2 magnetic contacts on the window and back door. The back door itself has 2 mortise locks fitted.

The big door is an electric roll-down insulated type, which was a big improvement on the last one :)

Also, I have PIR lights around the workshop outside - which are good for whe I come in during the dark, but also good security measure.

If you have been clobbered by thiefs - tell us about it, a lesson learnt.
 
My shop security starts at the back gate, it's 6 foot, and is padlocked "top and bottom", and it's well built, as I did it myself. From the outside, there is nowhere to get a foot against to jump over. Living in a terraced house, my neighbours gardens look onto mine, and I have only a 3 foot fence either side. Easy to climb over, but also easy see over, so they watch my back garden for me. I also got to know a retired chap a few houses down, and he 'watches' the house and garden for us whilst I'm at work.

The workshop itself is double glazed, and have internal shutters that shut against them on the inside - you can't see in. The door is 18mm Plywood, with an internal 50 x 50mm frame, so very very beefy. I used 4 hinges to carry the weight, and these are all bolted through with 6-10mm coach bolts. I would like to think it was not possible to get them off with a crowbar. I used big penny washers on the inside, as it's no good having good bolts if you don't secure them into the building properly.

At the "lock" end, I use two padlocks - the type that can't be crowbarred off, and some sturdy hardware to bolt them to. - Just a note "screws" don't exist on the "door-hardware". Everything is bolted with a minimum of 6mm Coach bolts. I drilled plates to go inside, rather than penny washers as I decided this would the end you would attack if you were trying to get in.

I cut the power to the workshop every night, so if they try and break in in the dark, they can't see anything.

Also, I have an electric engraver, and have etched my postcode onto all my important equipment. Even the plastic stuff got marked - it works really well.

As soon as I wire the burglar alarm up for the house, I shall add a PIR down there as I have already buried a cable for that purpose.

And I don't keep the keys on the key hooks either! - They get hidden elsewhere!

Thats all I can think of!!

A_L
 
asleitch
from your little description of the door locking im guessing the door opend ouward .
so i come along with a couple of small drifts and a pin hamer and drive out the hinge pins .i can then swing the door open on its pad locks.
seriously though i run a security installation business, and generally we see that a shed would only be broken into to find tools that would aid in forcible entry to a house,
the average thief would not know a lee nielson from a garden spade.
the most common tools used to force entry to a house is a large screwdriver (not pozi or philips) or a spade ,lastly a brick!.
spades typically used to jack up sliding patio doors.etc
think carefully about your security for remote buildings but be realistic.
what could a thief carry away ?
what could be resold in a pub for a few quid ?
not a planner or table saw. portable radio maybe!
i dont mean to be cynical but think things through ,invite in local crime prevention officer for a chat . be proactive dont leave usable bits and pieces aroud that would stimulate interest to an intruder.

regards
Dave W

ps my shop is attached to the house is brick built and has the doors linked to my house alarm system (as you do)
 
My downside is my rented workshop is "up the road"

Its an old farm buidling, chicken house acutally, but the guy who
owns the land rents all the buildings out.

One of the other buildings is rented by a security company and they have put CCTV up all round the yard and the owner lets out two of the biggest dogs youve ever seen at night.

As for security my own shop, well I dont really have any as Im happy with th hell dogs who have taken to sleepin out side my workshop door.

Cost me a few lamb chops but well worth the investment :wink:

There hasnt been a breakin up there ever, most that happens is that the skip gets filled over night by fly tippers, still rather that than dumping in the forest like they usually do.

My biggest problem is lack of insurance, as im not trade no one will even think about covering me. No problem itf the workshop was on my land but pipper off otherwise. :x

Maybe we could start a thread concerning workshop insurance.

At our new house I will be building a ws in the garden and as desmoigne mentioned ill be getting the local CP officer round to have a chat.

My new insurer will also be covering the workshop as well now, all the usual plus accidental damage. Not quite sure if the accidental damage will be usefull as Im sure theyll do all the can to advoid paying out but it was included with the household stuff so who am I to complain.

Cheers

Signal
 
Hi folks

I have a mobile security patrol. If the chihuahuas don't getcha (or wake up the neighbourhood - yappy little bu**ers are chihuahuas) then the stealthy alsation is a certainty :twisted: .

There's only one house in our street that doesn't have a dog; the burglary rate around here is conspicuously low.

Yours

Gill
 
>so i come along with a couple of small drifts and a pin hamer and drive out the hinge pins .i can then swing the door open on its pad locks.

Please, I wouldn't go to the lengths of all those penny washers and plates and coachbolts and then use non-security hinges?

I had thought of that, my hinges are "barn-door hinges"

http://www.betterbarns.com/images_hardware/Hinge02.jpg

Like these, in the link above, I used 4 even though they recommend only 2 for a large garage door - youi can never have too many - and I don't like doors which sag. Anyway, it means the pin is capped (top and bottom) and cannot be removed. Unless you can cut through those coachbolt caps, - which is almost impossible as they are slightly recessed.

The reason I went for such high security was that at my parents had 2 sheds, one of which I used as a workshop, and this got broken into twice within a week. The police who attended suggested the locking back gate, as it is much more conspicious climbing over fences in resedential areas than just walking straight through a gate, and it needs to be a good lock as they will lever it off from the inside as well, to make a an easy escape especially if carrying heavy power tools.

He also pointed out the hardware on an average shed can be levered off with even a small screwdriver as the screws are rubbish. They need bolts right through, with washers to spread the load. And probably they need the frame beefing up.

It's the main reason I etch my postcode onto all my tools, just in case I was ever to see them at a car boot sale. I also mark them somewhere hidden, just in case they try and grind off the markings.

I have a secondary shed, which is also padlocked which contains all the stuff like spades etc, so they can't "lever" open the back door etc. The backdoor is also outward opening, so again, I have security hinges, and these pins which push into the frame as the door shuts in case the hinge is somehow removed (not quite sure how but....) and the other side has additional locks top and bottom.

I think that's pretty secure eh?

>what could a thief carry away ?
what could be resold in a pub for a few quid ?

Well when they broke in last time they took (from me), electric planer, electric drill, electric screwdriver, all my drill bits, stud extractors, taps and dies, screwdriver bits, 2 cans of petrol, mountain bike.

So they like all power tools, and bikes, espcially mountain bikes - which are nearly always in the shed.


>but be realistic.
>i dont mean to be cynical but think things through

Yep done that, but I live in a town with a very high proportion of drug use, and this means our burglary rate is higher than average - and there is probably more stuff of value in the shed now, than there is in the house :oops:

A_L :lol:
 
At my previous house we had an alarm system fitted and specified coverage for the detached garage (didn't want our Suzuki's to go for a ride without us!). The solution we went for was a remote PIR sender in the garage, a wireless link effectively. This went into one of the circuits in the house (hard wired) system and was very good at making me wake up at seven in the morning when I went to wheel the bike out without switching it off.

Another suggestion from my biking friends is a baby monitor. Put the sender unit in the garage/workshop and the receiver by your bed - any late night callers will hopefully be heard.

My dog sleeps outside the back door to the garage, which is beside the shed door (gardening tools are in there). She barks when someone knock on the door of the house opposite, let alone our house. Just so long as the burglars do not look too hard - Golden Retrievers are more likely to lick a thiefs hand off than bite it.
 
asleitch
sounds like youve got it prettywell sorted on that note.
if you are thinking of adding a pir detector to the work shop, carefull siting is paramount to tability and lack of false alarms. site away from any vents,and doors as drafts however small can induce activation moreso in an unheated outbuilding.

Dave W
ps some pir's are known to shut down at temps below -10c
 
Dave,

Don't worry, I also thought of that when I got the PIR's! And the one for the Shed is specially for that type of application - can't remember what was so special about it now, but it was more expensive!

A_L
 
I work in my garage, which is attached to the house. It has a up and over door which is locked but that is all. I should do something more permanent on the security front


Aidan.
 
Just a thought about PIR's in the workshop - just like everything else they will get covered in dust. Try to remember to wipe them clean before setting the system or they will not function!

Aiden - there are plenty of options for a garage door from rim locks to sink-in locking bars. Any reasonable security company will be able to advise on that score.
 
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