After an ace weekend camping with family and friends at the Dyfi I’ve returned to find my garage roof smashed and lots of bike parts and tools gone. All my got robbed last October and I had secured the window and door and now I need to upgrade my roof!
The garage is precast concrete with steel trusses supporting corrugated Asbestos cement sheets. Need to replace asbestos sheets and wondered what the STW massive thought?
My initial thought is to make a timber framework round trusses and perimeter and fix exterior ply or OSB board,felt covering and then box section steel sheets fixed to ply and timber bearers.

So they know bikes are kept in there. They’ll comeback again and still get in somehow.

The only thing you can do is buy two large vats of very nasty acid and sleep there with a machete.

let’s hope the thieves get asbestosis in 30 years time.

be *very* careful clearing up – the dust really isn’t good for you.

a decent steel mesh under the ply roof would be as good as sheet and weigh a lot less – those asbestos boards are fairly light and you don;t want to cause yourself structural problems by overloading the walls etc.

try and make sure you maintain ventilation around the edge of the roof too.

Without trying to sound like a complete health and safelty numpty, I hope your going to get some asbestos safety gear on, before cleaning up.

If you’re claiming on your insurance, would they not pay for repairs to the garage and therefore pay for proper asbestos removal people to clear the mess up for you?

What about a large metal ground anchored lock box for your bits and bobs and cemented ground anchors and big locks for the bikes?

Bad luck with the theft. Aside from that as a building surveying student I would not recommend fiddling with asbestos whatsoever, may be best to call someone qualified to do so if it is extensively damaged and fibres have been dislodged.

Though you are probably already aware of this! I hope!

As the roof needs fixing I’d suggest having some steel reinforcement mesh (the stuff they use in concrete formwork) welded on the underside the roof supports and a standard profile steel or timber outer cladding. That, and a decent alarm – the scumbags don’t like drawing attention to themselves.

If you have the money, the lock-box is the strongest solution.

Oh Christ Tom, not again!
Sorry to hear that mate.

sorry to hear that, id keep the bikes inside the house and maybe misses in the shed?

who would have cooked on the camping trip if he left the missues locked up in the garage?

What they say re stell cladding etc

the problem you have is they know you havs stuff and they know the vehicle is away as you are away a fair bit

Not what you want to hear

A very loud alarm and shotgun [ sound not a real one] going off as they go in

I am yet to speak to my insurance company – its next on the list.

I am aware of the risks posed by asbestos and don’t intend going in again until I have safety equipment / PPE. Obviously I went into gawp at the hole and go f’#k b@5t@rd5 they’ve taken my forks, cranks, frame, wheels and the **** tyres and some tools and other stuff but its such a mess now its hard to tell.

I will see what insurance company say about it all. I really don’t want a patch repair as its just not secure enough.

I do like the welded steel reinforcing mesh underneath a box section.

Alarms and cameras are next.

On the plus side most of the nice bikes were away with me and the family in Macchynlleth. Worryingly last night my mate down the road had his house broken into while they were in bed and 3 bikes nicked 😥

They ripped a section of my cement/asbestos roof to get at my pub bike. All my bikes live indoors now.

If youre starting from scratc consider that they will find and attack the weakest link. Mate of ours had £20K of bikes taken. He’d used various bolts etc to strengthen the weakest link, the metal up-and-over door. So they just cut a hole in it.

CCTV and Alarm seems the most sensible investment here.

Mate of ours had £20K of bikes taken. He’d used various bolts etc to strengthen the weakest link, the metal up-and-over door. So they just cut a hole in it.

Sounds like something you’d see in a heist movie.

There’s obviously some seriously well-connected criminal gangs running the bike crime biz.

Echoing the H&S concerns re the asbestos. There was a company in removing it from toilets at my work last week. It was like something from E.T. kid you not.

Insurance company have been great. They are sending an emergency crew round tomorrow night to make it safe and we are just not going in the garage until its cleared!

Surveyor for insurance co is coming Friday so hopefully will have a solution of some description.

And I’ll save my pennies for the alarm and CCTV and perhaps a rabid dog or two.

Its still too much of a mess to know exactly what isn’t there anymore but frame forks and enough parts to build a bike appear to have walked.

Cctv and alarm?

What if you are out
On holiday
Watching a film
Pissed/hungover

Or in. Are you willing to run outside and get lamped?!

All you can do is increase the time and violence needed to break in. If the burglars need to spend 30 minutes making lots of noise to get in they’re more likely to give up or try elsewhere. That’s the principle with bank vaults – no vault is impregnable but a good one would require lots of noise and time to get into increasing the risk of getting caught.

Steel mesh sound a reasonable way to go.

Good luck.

Colleague was followed home and had his taken from his garage. It was chained to the wall. They chipped the brick out. Replacement is kept in the house. They’ve been back since to look for the replacement

This really boils my piss. I hate to say it but you are going to have to go for the full camp bastion approach to see them off. Because it sounds like you will get another visit in time. Can you still get that anti trespass paint that never drys and sticks like shot to anything that touches it? Then paint it on all the surfaces that may be vulnerable after the rebuild.

A chap I know on another forum had his five nicked from the garage, they kicked the door in and cut through the locks. He kept the Enduro that replaced it in the house but when he started building an HX1 he left it in the garage. He’d only had it finished a week and they came back. He’d had a metal door put in with deadbolts so they just smashed a hole in the side of the concrete garage big enough to fit it through and fecked off.

He’s moved house now.

Guess theses garages are remote?

tomaso

Bummer about the bikes, but at least you seem to be insured.
As others have warned, don’t mess with the asbestos yourself. Although it’s by no means one of the really nasty asbestos containing materials and doesn’t need a licence to remove it must be done by someone who knows what they’re doing and sent to a licenced tip!

The HSE guidance for removing it is here. Be wary of anyone appointed to carry out the works by your insurer who doesn’t follow these guidelines as it’s not just their own health they’re risking!

Cheers

Jeff

You could probably make a simple rebar cage for a reasonable price – to protect the sides and roof

I’m thinking some sort of a cross between Apocalypse Now and Pulp Fiction for the alarm siren. I just want them to go and a 120 decibels of Ride of the Valkyries and Samuel Jackson’s Ezekiel / psalm may just help!

“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon thee.”

The Full Camp Bastion approach I don’t really have the space for, but it is gonna get heavy. My neighbour used to repair ships and has offered to help me weld some serious steel armour.

I read the HSE guide this morning while waiting in A&E…

Bit extreme but could you not fabricate a steel cage in the garage then bolt it to the floor? Place the bike inside said cage and have the bike bolted to ground anchors? With an alarm going off that should put off any intruders.

I’m moving house Friday (hopefully) and will have the same garage (pre fab concrete & asbestos sheeting roof) so I’m looking for extra security ideas too.

Maybe something like this-not mine BTW.
click

Exactly like that!

Seems like a cheap solution in my opinion, something I’ll be looking into for sure.

Quite worryingly the house were moving in to has had the garage broken in to, could explain the two ground anchors & alarm they had fitted!! Still, something to bolt my pride & joy to at least!!

I’ve just fitted ground anchors and have ordered some garage door bolts. Hate the thought of my bikes being taken.
OP- thislink may be of interest.

Know a mate with some of these:

http://www.henrykrank.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2964

Someone else has a CO2 suppression system ‘accidentally’ wired to alarm panel rather than fire panel to protect his Ducati collection. I’d pay good money to see the outcome of someone breaking in his garage….. 🙂

My astbestos roof turned out to be concrete once I’d got a piece tested. Good job really as I’d fallen through it!

I read the HSE guide this morning while waiting in A&E…

It doesnt rain but it pours? Hope all ok?!

difficult to know what to suggest that doesnt have a weak link somewhere.. hope you find somthing!

Another thing to do, if you have room, is plant hawthorn’s all around the garage, so the only “comfortable” way in is through the door.

Try planting Pyrocantha alongside the garage if they try and climb / cut through it they’ll leave loads of DNA behind….

The garage sits on a retaining wall that runs along the boundary of my property with an alleyway running along the length of it. The thieves used a large Bosch drill case to get a step up to a ledge between the retaining wall and my boundary wall that stands on top of this.

I think I need to make the step un-usable with some concrete to form a 60 degree angle infill – if you get what I mean.

Last time the garage got robbed I did consider doing away with the up and over door and bricking it up and installing a wide heavy duty steel door and frame.

Good news is they didn’t nick my commuter bike that ground anchored with a big chain a u-locked to a dead motorcycle! And one of the pairs of forks I thought they’d nicked turned out to be in the house!

I am researching cameras and alarm systems so any pointers welcome. I will have a search on here to see what’s been recommended before when I’m not at work…

I’m in the middle of an insurance claim regarding bike parts (http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bike-parts-not-covered-by-insurance?replies=1#post-5991772) and they are saying they are not covered. It would be interesting to see what your insurance company say about those parts that were not attached to a bike.