Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 25 total)
  • Attempted break in / securing up and over garage door
  • joebristol
    Full Member

    So I keep my bikes in the garage – it’s attached to the house but has no direct door into the house. I’ve got 2 up and over doors on the front and a pedestrian access upvc door on the back.

    A few nights ago someone tried to break in through one of the up and over doors – despite having disconnected the top bolt and having added a bottom bolt they got the door open about a foot but luckily all the crap stored behind it jammed it so they didn’t get in. The bikes are chained inside, but if someone got in with a battery grinder then not many chains will survive very long.

    I’ve therefore screwed the door shut and then made another anchor to hold the bottom of the door shut. Additionally I’ve stuck on an alarm now too.

    Any further things I should do to secure the front doors? Was wondering about bolting a joist across the top of the door on one and building a sturdy stud wall behind the other.

    Thoughts?

    kneed
    Full Member

    Metal up and overs?

    These kind of locks in the lower corners work well: there are lots on ebay – some may be a better brand than others.

    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GARAGE-DOOR-BOLTS-LOCKS-ASEC-HIGH-SECURITY-PAIR-QUALITY-KEYED-ALIKE-C-W-3-KEYS/232200889297?epid=20027569722&hash=item36104063d1:g:P0oAAOSwpThczBXn

    Get them all ‘keyed alike’ so you only need one key.

    Otherwise: lights, lots of them. PIRs outside that turn on lights inside are a good decoy too.

    And remove anything like angle grinders from inside. Dont make it easy for them.

    doomanic
    Full Member

    Something like this will slow them down and make a lot of noise as they cut it off;
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Security-British-Defender-Padlock-Protect/dp/B0018RRBTM

    I wouldn’t normally suggest them as they draw attention but as you’ve already been targeted it will be a good deterrent.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    doomanic
    Full Member

    Get some CCTV up as well.

    Something that sends alerts would be good, like this; https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074G9DPXD

    joebristol
    Full Member

    I’m trying to avoid making it obvious there’s valuable stuff inside with external garage defender type products if I can help it – and the doors effectively don’t need to be opened due to the other exit.

    The doors are metal framed with wood on the front – I’m not sure if there is a metal panel behind the wood or not. I stuck insulation inside them a few years back. I could do something with those corner locks potentially –
    Will have a look at whether I could make those work or not – need to have a look at what is next to the edges of the lower part of the door. Could be a good option.

    I’m less worried about the one I’ll build a stud wall behind as there’s no way that door will be opening once I have done that – it’s the other one that I’ll be more worried about.

    Does cctv really act as a deterrent? I’ve seen lots of videos online of masked burglar attempts which presumably isn’t at all useful to anyone.

    brownsauce
    Free Member

    Does cctv really act as a deterrent?

    Not really , hoodie up and scarf wrapped around lower face and even the highest quality images are rendered useless.

    You wouldnt believe the sheer brazeness of todays career thieves , you need physical protection rather than hi-tech deterrents , and that includes the pvc backdoor.

    security is only as good as the weakest point etc etc.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    If you never use the front door, you can just block it- I put a shelf unit across ours, it can move about 1 inch before it gets totally stuck. More storage space for me, too.

    CCTV’s not as useful as people assume but the police are still very keen for it- even clothes, build etc is useful info. (they very nearly got the guy who nicked my Soul, based purely on that info but I was lucky to spot him). Livestreaming CCTV is also useful in that you can check the garage from the house, or get push alerts if it detects motion (handy during an actual breakin, also handy in a false alarm) Blink XT2 is dirt cheap just now…

    The last breakin attempt we had was foiled because of a cheap alarm and the blink alert. They’d spent at least 10 minutes or so in the garden disabling our security lights, so a camera would have detected all that and let us call the police earlier, or just chased them off before they started damaging the door or took down all the lights.

    LeeW
    Full Member

    Scumbags are definitely getting more brazen. My neighbour runs a MTB leader training company, has a garage full of bikes in a very well secured brick built shed. I’ve seen very clear footage and photos of scumbags walking around his garden with bolt croppers without anything covering their face.

    Another friend put two large brackets either side of the door about 30cm down from the top, on the inside. Just drops a piece of 2×4″ in the brackets preventing the door being pulled open.

    jimdubleyou
    Full Member

    I’d think about replacing the UPVC door with something sturdier – our builders put one of these in our detached garage (not sure which version).

    https://www.lathamssteeldoors.co.uk/steel-security-doors/

    Think about an alarm for in there too.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    Don’t try what that bloke in Maine did.

    joebristol
    Full Member

    Another friend put two large brackets either side of the door about 30cm down from the top, on the inside. Just drops a piece of 2×4″ in the brackets preventing the door being pulled open.

    This is the kind of thing I’m considering -joist brackets either side of the door with a lumpy bit of wood between them. No chance of pushing the top of the door in then.

    No way the upvc door is going – it’s the kind you have as a back door on your house. Cost £800 or so only a couple of years ago.

    squirrelking
    Free Member

    Another friend put two large brackets either side of the door about 30cm down from the top, on the inside. Just drops a piece of 2×4″ in the brackets preventing the door being pulled open.

    That’s what I was thinking. Easily removable should you ever need the doors open but otherwise beyond cutting through it it’s going nowhere. Bolts at the bottom and job done.

    Multi lock uPVC should be pretty strong so long as the frame is fitted properly, I’ve watched police breaking one down, it was entertaining to say the least.

    As for leaving tools, probably more likely to nick them than use them, cordless tools have probably rendered the no tools/power argument null.

    duncancallum
    Full Member

    To stop the door twisting I’d consider bonding bolting etc some angle iron into the door.

    joebristol
    Full Member

    To stop the door twisting I’d consider bonding bolting etc some angle iron into the door.

    This is a fair point – the top won’t be able to go anywhere if I get said joist type arrangement in place – but the bottom maybe more vulnerable. Depends if the above bolt / lock things are a goer or not I guess. If they aren’t then bending up the door corners (which would be noisy as wood on the front would snap off) could happen. Maybe some round iron rod across the entire width of the bottom of the door would be a good shout.

    TiRed
    Full Member

    If it has metal hinges rather than cables, you can slide batten down the hinges to prevent the opening. One inch by four inches and a couple of feet long slides right down the gap in the hinge.

    dogbone
    Full Member

    My bikes were taken from my garage a few weeks ago (from Bristol). They smashed the lock on the upvc side door and took all three bikes in one lump, as they were chained together.

    I will be;

    adding some external and internal lights on PIRs.

    adding a internet camera with alert to my phone

    change the side door to Secured By Design steel one

    install ground anchors

    joebristol
    Full Member

    Did they bump the lock – I.e. it was a euro barrel one rather than something better? I need to check what I’ve got and if it’s euro then it needs changing.

    I’ve got pir lights all round the house and garage – but as they had a go at the front on the road where there is pir also I don’t think that’s much of a deterrent.

    Cameras might just be useful if they have a linked phone app to warn me, rather than as an evidence / deterrent thing.

    I’ve already got a couple of ground anchors – one in the wall and one in the floor. Might delay them for a couple of minutes – hence the alarm now fitted to add some urgency to their work.

    dirkpitt74
    Full Member

    Thinking about securing garage better.
    Only access is through the up&over door at the front.
    Is it worth fitting those corner locks to the top as well as the bottom?

    patagonian
    Free Member

    Even if it’s just a short term fix why not put bolts/padlocks on the inside on each bottom corner to prevent the door being lifted. That way it doesn’t advertise you are protecting something of value.

    drnosh
    Free Member

    You really need to secure the bottom of an up-and-over door.

    Once the bottom has been wrenched open enough to get a hand hold of, then the whole door will bend/twist/warp until access is gained.

    You could try 1″ square steel tube across the full width of the door, overlapping the brickwork at each side by 1′, with 2 brackets welded to the frame of the door, 2 matching tabs welded to the cross bar, both drilled to fit 2 keyed alike padlocks. Fitted just up from the bottom of the door.

    In addition, a 3mm steel strip pop rivitted across the full width of the frame externally at the top, overlapping the gap between the frame and the door in order to prevent getting a screwdriver in the gap to flick the catch open.

    wors
    Full Member

    After my garage got done in I put a garage defender on. Might stand out a bit but id rather have itr on as up and over doors are shite. I’d brick it up but would mean having to drag bikes through the house.

    joebristol
    Full Member

    The middle of my doors now have a bit of steel bar I bent at a right angle (nightmare to bend – had to put it in a vice and part lean on it / part hammer it with a big mallet to get it to go) screwed into the door and into the concrete floor. I don’t think anyone will be able to pull the whole door up. It’s just if they bend / lever the corners out. So it’s either reinforce the frame of the doors or corner locks as posted above. Defo going to do something more at the top of the door too (in the middle) as the standard bolts are rubbish.

    mogrim
    Full Member

    I stuck two eyelets in the wall both sides of my up and over, and then ran a chain across the top of the door – a joist would probably be more secure, but this seemed an easy and noisy solution. (I also don’t need to open the door from the outside).

    kcal
    Full Member

    Have an up and over garage door -0- pretty old style. Not much in way of sturdy protection – apart form the pile of junk piled at the front of the garage, they’d have to wade through!

    When we bought the house, it had already been retro-fitted with bolts and eyelets securing all four corners – probably not much help but would stop the corners being prised open and stop an easy forcing of the whole door up and over.

    stevextc
    Free Member

    I’d focus on making sure the garage door can’t be prised open at all.
    Even a small amount that will let in a breaker bar as the whole thing will fold if someone is determined… even something relatively feeble at the bottom like a bolt through each side into a frame

    Then if they can physically get in can they get a bike out if they somehow manage to get a person inside?
    is the uPVS door able to be opened from inside without a key?

Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 25 total)

The topic ‘Attempted break in / securing up and over garage door’ is closed to new replies.