[Closed] Shed security

What type of shed?

Timber, then you need to make sure it's screwed together properly in the first place. Don't depend on there being enough bits in the kit to do it either. I added extra screws, plates and straps to give the shed some [previously non existant] rigidity.

I added 18mm exterior plywood to the floor as 8mm plywood is not up to the job. I also added ply to the walls for fixing points.

If the shed has a perspex window then consider adding some timber mullions and transoms (fix to the plywood) which can be effective and decorative (as opposed to metal bars).

Shed door, braced and ledged with external Tee hinges? Firstly make sure the hinges are a decent quality and thickness. Then fix with coach bolt through both door and frame. Same for the lock (if it's a harsp and staple). I'd add a second lock too, a decent door bolt. Secure both with quality padlock - Squires for eg.

The intention is to make the shed secure but not make it look like it's secure.

Internal security? Well, multiple layered and type is a good place to start. Quality base level - Almax chain and padlock through anchors (could be a couple of buckets or car tyre filled with concrete. Then a combination of quality u-locks and cables.

Anything over 13mm in diameter tends to need a lot more effort to cut through.

Disc alarms are good - se motorbike suppliers.

Good and proper insurance.

Ultimatey, if someone is determined to get your bike then they can quickly cut through the frame anyway.

Shed Security

n. pl. shed se·cu·ri·ties
1. Freedom from risk or danger; safety in a shiplap box
2. Freedom from doubt, anxiety, or fear; confidence in a few planks of wood
3. Something that gives or assures safety in a wooden hut
4. A very good example of an oxymoron, your bikes will be nicked

I should add, I spent a lot of time and money securing my shed, only to have the roof removed the first time, and bikes nicked. And then the doors totally stripped off, my locks sawn through, and all my alarms nicked, while still going off!

If you live in a dodgy area, just keep the bikes in the house. Sod the mess.

Feasible to build some sort of secure metal cage within the shed? I'm sure I've seen someone on here do this.

Reckon rickon is correct there. Sheds are not safe places for bikes.

Sheds dont need to be wooden.

Also , most store built sheds are garbage anyway - i wouldnt store my lawnmower in half of them.

If your roof was able to be removed period id question its suitbility as a roof...

Last sheds ive built i doubt i could get the roof off the shed - and i know how it was put together - 18mm birch ply , onto a 3x2 inch framing timber frame nailed togehter with 5 inch ringshanks fired out the nail gun and big dirty screws to stop it coming loose in the wind.

Most store built sheds will be lucky if the nails used are an inch and the timbers even big enough to stop them protruding.

Agreed most store sheds are crap.

Think about location. Have the door facing the house and in full view of the house windows with some lighting above the shed door.

My shed is a wooden frame built from 4x2" timber, a sheet steel roof, and the interior lined with 8x4ft fibreboard sheets. The frame was spaced at 2ft centres to allow this. They are screwed to the frame, not nailed. Nobody is getting through the walls. The door is a solid core wooden fire door with a 5 lever mortice lock and triple hinges.

Best shed security is to not keep bikes in them. House is best.

If your roof was able to be removed period id question its suitbility as a roof

With the right tools, most shed roofs can be easily removed. If not, it's not unknown to just turn up with a forklift and jack the whole shed up. In my case, and also my neighbours, even with thick sturdy hard wood and long nails, screws and bolts, big tough padlocks... crowbared the wood and in they go.

You can spend a fortune on making it a fortress, though this makes it more attractive, but stick it in the house and few people even consider trying and few will even know there's a bike in there, whereas they can assume something like a bike or valuable tools in a shed and it's often a quiet place to work well away from the house and street. A garage is next on the list, a bit noisier but still they often get away with not being noticed.

Breaking into a house is a far riskier crime for them. Usually best left to those desperate enough to do it, and generally they want small valuable items they can grab and run with.

I think your best bet will be having proper insurance for your bikes I can not see how you can possibly secure a wooden shed.

Another defence is to not advertise. Careful about showing off your pride and joy on public forums, where you live in the posts or your profiles, posting routes on Strava and the like showing your home location, and driving about with thousands of pounds worth of bike on a rack.

Secure roof to walls with builders band,from screwfix or toolstation, cover all windows with curtains and builders bar, reinforce around locks with the above, boltys through t hinges nuts on inside,decent padlocks and shed alarm, possible baby monitor hidden to listen for noise inside shed, face door towards house, flodlight it,PIR light,get good insurance fort the bikes.

Pray they dont get stolen

Take a look at Asgard sheds. Pleased with mine. As above if someone wants to get in they will, but they will wake up half the neighbourhood, and then find a second line of defence, kryptonite chains and motion alarms. If they get through that lot then I'm insured....

By the time you buy a shed, and all the other stuff mentioned above, you'll be up in Asgard 4 bike unit territory. 450 quid.

Chains, alarms, sheds named after tribal gods homes... smashing.

I just walk downstairs and wheel my bike out of the front door. Keeping bikes in sheds makes sheds a target for bike thieves, so bike thieves like bikes in sheds.

Especially these days with the money people spend on bikes, they are a desirable, easily sold on, and above all valuable thing to steal. Don't leave it in a shed.

And if you think the asgards any better than a wellbuilt wooden shed your deluded.

Youll be requiring the same noisy tools to get into the asgard as you will the sheds ive put together -Crow bars wont cut it.

If they are comng with a forklift then you have bigger issues- keeping themin the house wasnt going to stop that.

Never said it was better. Said I was pleased with it. The noise it makes just opening the doors is enough to make next doors dog barking. They,d need an angle grinder to get in, by which time the alarms will be going off. For those without lots of time it's a good choice takes a couple of hours to build on your own ( if you have some one to hold the roof it is much easier) plus when I move I plan on taking it with me. Building my own wooden shed was an option but I costed it out as more.

Some of us don't have the space or understanding other halves to keep things inside. Locate a shed properly and no chance a forklift or van can get near them.

Other things, gravel on the ground and a flood light / CCTV. And a barky dog.

gravel on the ground and a flood light / CCTV. And a barky dog

and a £450 shed. 🙄

Sorry, but you contribute to the problem rather than help it.

Think of your bike as a suitcase containing enough cash to buy it, don't leave it in a shed.

Some of us don't have the space or understanding other halves to keep things inside

Sorry, but this is rubbish. Bikes don't take up that much room and wives are replaceable.

Don't baulk at 450 quid if your paying extra mortgage every month so that you can have a 'spare room'.

Ah single then ?

Ah single then ?

As if... 😉

We both cycle.... Bringing the bikes into the house still doesnt compute.been there done that in our last three houses. It is a shit existnce for a regular cyclist - keeping the commuter clean enough to bring it in..... Naw yer ok. And lifes too short to ride shit bikes

Bikes are actully not my main worry about garage/shed thefts anyway.

We both cycle.... Bringing the bikes into the house still doesnt compute.

So do we, and it works.

OP

Type the word 'stolen' into the search field ------>

Many say cut through locks too.

Or cut through your frame in seconds to get the bike to breakdown/sell.

For you maybe but it doesnt really work long term. I got really ****ed off with it that it actually put me off going out on my bike - it go run instead - less hassle

it doesnt really work long term

I know I'm going on about it, but I've done it for 21 years now and it works for me/us.

The number of 'Oh my bikes been stolen from my shed/garage/outhouse' threads should be a wake up call, but people think they are cleverer than the thieves...

I suppose if you house is crap and don't mind dirt and mess all over it then crack on. At some point I'll be loaded and able to buy a big enough house with a utility room / downstairs shower so the bikes can live inside. Till then the shed will have to do. It would actually be easier to break into my house....

Alarm mines are mighty loud & scary, you won't sleep through it unless your deaf, I have them on my garage doors, they are also very cheap!

I have a Groundeffect bodybag and wheelbags. Wheels live anywhere.

Why not clean your bike?

My bike has a 11yr old rear mech. Maintain your bike, then its cleaner than the shoes You store there.

I suppose if you house is crap and don't mind dirt and mess all over it then crack on

😆 😆

You ride twice a week ?

I ride twice a day.

You commute on your carbon/weekend/top bike in winter/roads?

Crack on then.

Keep stuff in your shed that you can get over. If a thief bought 20 cans of lager, a big bag of weed and some pills on me I would be pissed off. Especially if he cameback 3months later.

You DO have a choice. You choose to risk it. I dont.

I own a large shed and brick built outhouse. **** putting my weekend bike in them.

You DO have a choice.

Yes, as does the OP, and he was asking about sheds, not keeping bikes in the house.

Well, the other option is to keep the dirty cheap commuter in the shed, and the good bikes in the house. I had a commuter in the shed every time I've had bikes nicked, unlocked, and they didn't even bother to take it, the poofaces.

£100 for a dirtworker, take it in the car, wash bikes down of general mud, then pop them in the house.

Hora's comment

I have a Groundeffect bodybag

Do you mean, if they come in your house you have a bodybag ready for them, so they don't mess up your carpets? Good stuff indeed.

Wtf is a weekend bike ? I just have bikes.

Most of my commute is off road. I just ride what ever i feel like pending what luggage i need to take or where im riding after work - been known to ride anything from my tt bike in on the road or my titanium mtb through the woods.

Most of my ridings done from the door not the car.

Not living in bosnia does help though.

Had mine 10yrs. Used it on the underground, inside car to hide contents/keep car clean and in the house:

http://www.groundeffect.co.nz/product/bag/bod/

Folds into a bagpack small and I dont mind leaving my wheels bagged outside/anywhere. For me its tyres that hold most of the dirt post cleaning and bulk up the bikes footprint.

In some areas your choices are bikes in the shed and it gets stolen or bike in the house and your back door (so to speak) is kicked in and bike stolen. Personally I'd rather keep it outside.

Aside from picking a decent shed - Tiger sheds are good quality & cheap - and as said above erecting it properly with plenty of screws and nails (chose one without windows). Its all about layers of security rather than investing in one product:

1: Insurance.
2: Don't advertise the bike i.e. if possible don't drive it around on the roof or back of your car; inside is always better.
2: Pragmasis or Almax chain, ground anchor and shed shackle (get two chains)
3: An alarm (not a £5 quid job) but proper house alarm with a PIR and door contact in the shed.
4: coach bolts through the hinges and drill out the heads of the remaining screws (stops the hinges being unscrewed / removed)
5: Decent shackles, I prefer the square bullet padlocks that leave very little exposed for anyone to bolt crop - long dangling padlocks are an invitation to be cut.

It won't be cheap...

[i]

Not living in bosnia does help though.

😆 😆 😆

if possible don't drive it around on the roof

Good advice.

Definantly good advice re roof rack

I used to live between northfield and woodside in aberdeen. It was no surprise my bike was nicked living there...

It was stored in the flat an all.

Good thing about stupid big 29ers( pre the 29er boom) is that its obvious to coppers that it doesnt fit in with a small child riding it round mastrick.

Alarms... Do you ever pay attention to neighbour's alarms, car or house?

Most people ignore them and if it's middle of the night they just get annoyed and moan in the morning that their alarm kept them up all night. Who actually calls the cops or goes and checks it out?

Though obviously another matter when it's your alarm but a lot of the time thefts occur when you are not home, for obvious reasons.

Modern alarms are pretty clever... dialers and inbuilt CCTV in the PIR and can be controlled remotely.

Don't rely on your neighbors to tell you - let the alarm earn its keep and call you.

I'd take a determined thief to stay in a shed with an additional siren mounted on the wall, damn thing makes my ears bleed (well almost)

May be we need a poll... how many people have had their bikes stolen from sheds / outbuildings when they were asleep?

I rigged my shed with booby traps. "There is nothing wrong with storing pEtrol and fireworks in a shed" is what the fire investigation people said so the police dropped the manslaughter charges. The titanium components survived the fire but the scrote did not.

My shed was broken into last year. The first time they unscrewed the hinges and took nothing but I moved the bikes to my parents while I upgraded the shed.

Before I had chance to do anything they came back and got in by fiddling with the Yale lock. They had my chainsaw.

I now have a bloody good mortice lock that isn't obvious as I just drilled a hole where the key goes in. I have swapped to heavy duty internal hinges so they can't get to them and have reinforced the door. I have heavily used builders band on the already quite secure roof. I already had a ground anchor and big motorbike chain.

I am going to put some hinge bolts and deadlocks on it to finish securing the building. I am having a metal cage built that will go in the shed and will be bolted to the floor and wall, this will fit at least two bikes inside and will have two padlocks on and a hole in the floor for my ground anchor so they can be chained inside and to the cage.

Even with serious tools it will take a good effort to get to the bikes.

I'm moving to a tiny house with no room for bikes

I don't know if its better to try and make the existing shed more secure or get one of those asgard jobbies

We don't have a garage or space for one so at the moment I keep my bikes in the mother-in-law's celler. Safe, but a real ball ache when I want my bike (although it's only 5 mins away).

I'm thinking of building a block built 'shed' in the bottom of the garden - basically a block built chalet with double glazing etc. It would double as extra storage for the house/possible future office too.

I believe that if you keep a footprint of less than 15sqm and lower than 2.5m in height that you don't need planning (might be wrong though).

Costed it at apx £2k (self build) which seems like a lot, but doesn't seem that bad for adding what will efectively be another room to the house.

Anyone done something similar?

Stu.

Not sure how this thread morphed from one requesting help on improving shed security into one asking the OP to justify why he has a shed in the first place!!

Everybody's circumstances are different, the houses they live in, the type of person their partners are, there disposable income, the area they live etc etc.

If the guy thinks the best solution for him is a shed then let the poor bloke use a freaking shed.

Some helpful advice:

If the shed is screwed together, drill out all the external screw heads so they cant easily be removed with a cordless drill.

Stu - Yes, I've just done this - last summer.
Mine is 14.6m2 and 2.4m high.
I cast a concrete base, then built the walls from 7nm blocks, it is lined in 24mm celotex, covered in 11mm SBS board.
The roof is packed with celotex, and loft insulation between the joists, and clad in Galvanised steel sheet.
It has 1 x small double glazed unit, and a white, powder coated steel security door from ebay.
I've not finished the electrics yet, but so far it has cost just over 3k - I did everything myself, except laying the blocks, which cost me £400..

We costed up good quality wooden sheds, but decided this offered better value for money, as it could also work really well as a garden office, or studio.

Freeagent - that sounds very very similar to my thoughts. I hadn't costed in wall insulation as am considering building a block cavity wall and having the internal walls either mostly covered in cupboards, or plastered (can't do plastering so I'd need to cost that in also).

Was thinking of felt covered 18mm ply for the roof, but have reservations whether it would be secure enough. If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost for the steel roof?

Might pick your brains more when I get closer to starting if that's ok with you?

Post a pic when it's done, would like to see how it turns out.

Thanks,

Stu.

Hi Stu -
The roof came from Accord steel cladding - it cost £490 inc delivery/VAT.
It was cut to size, and supplied with everything needed to fit it.
I was very happy with it, and would use them again.
I bought 2nd grade Celotex boards from http://www.secondsandcoscotland.co.uk/
I think 8' x 4' sheets worked out about £10 each.

Hope this helps -

jools182

Without knowing what's there it's hard to say whether trying to convert it is sensible.

Personally, I'd be inclined to start again and integrate multiple layers of different types of descreet enhancements - see my first reply on page 1.

Thought I would update this in case anybody is interested.

I have had this made at work. It is to go inside the shed and is seriously strong. It will be pretty hard for the thieves to get into this. It has bi-folding doors and a built in anchor point so I can chain my bikes to it. It bolts to the floor and wall and has two padlock points. This is to ad to subtle strengthening and extra security to stop thieves getting into the shed in the first place.

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IAche, how much?

All I paid for us the hinges as we had the steel lying around. I could probably get a price for you if you're interested and at whatever size you wanted. Mine is 2m wide 1.35m high and 0.74 deep. I would have liked it deeper but couldn't because of the shed door width. I think I will be able to squeeze my road bike in there too.