• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
DIY Doctor
MENUMENU
  • DIY Doctor menu logo
  • Home
  • DIY Projects
    • All Projects
    • Brick, Block, Marsonary and Concrete
    • Damp, Condensation, Rot and Woodworm
    • Doors, Windows and Conservatories
    • Electrical
    • Fencing, Decking, Paving and Patios
    • Floors, Walls, Ceilings and Lofts
    • Garages, Sheds and Outbuildings
    • Gardening and Landscaping
    • General Building, Self Build and Renovation
    • General Repairs and Cleaning
    • Green Living and Eco DIY
    • Ground work, Foundations and Drainage
    • Heating, Central Heating and Boilers
    • Joinery and Carpentry
    • Materials, Fixings and Fixing
    • Painting, Decorating and Finishing
    • Planning Regs, Project Management and Safety
    • Plastering, Plasterboard and Rendering
    • Plumbing
    • Roofing and Gutters
    • Tiling and Tiles
    • Tools, Appliances and Access
    • DIY Tips
  • UK DIY Forums
  • DIY Videos
    • Bathroom DIY Videos
    • Building Foundation Videos
    • Building Videos
    • Carpentry and Woodworking Videos
    • Damp and Damproofing Videos
    • Decorating Videos
    • Electrical Videos
    • Fitting Blinds Videos
    • Flooring Videos
    • Gardening Videos
    • Green and Eco Friendly Videos
    • Hand and Power Tools Videos
    • Heating and Central Heating Videos
    • Kitchen Videos
    • Plastering and Drylining Videos
    • Plumbing Videos
    • Security Videos
  • Find Tradesmen
    • Find a Tradesman
    • Contract Download
    • Working with Tradesmen - Ultimate Guide
    • Home Improver Protection
    • Price Doctor
  • Tool Store
    • Tool Store
    • Bookstore
    • Tool Reviews and Product Reviews
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • DIY Competitions
  • About us
    • About DIY Doctor
    • What we do
    • Trade Shows and Exhibitions
    • Master Classes
    • Contact Us

Home > DIY How To Projects and Tutorial Guides > How to Protect Outbuildings, Sheds, Garages and Gardens from Intruders

How to Protect Outbuildings, Sheds, Garages and Gardens from Intruders

How to secure your garden shed and home to keep your valuables safe. This projects suggests numerous ideas about how to secure your shed and how to protect outbuildings. There's no need to be a victim of crime; you just need to be prepared and fit the correct security measures to your garden buildings.

Don't want to do this job yourself? Let us help you find a tradesman local to you

TwitterFacebookPin ItBuffer
Project MenuProject Menu
  • How to Tutorial
  • Video
  • Find Tradesmen
  • Help

DIY Doctor has received many letters asking about home and garden security and the best way to keep your home, garden tools, garden sheds, push bikes, motor bikes, lawn mowers and even cars and vans safe. Home and garden theft is on the increase and we have even had reports of cheeky thieves using a victims own wheel barrow as a get away vehicle to carry a lawnmower and patio heater down the road to their lorry.

External IR light

External IR light

Home and garden security is getting trickier and trickier. There are a huge range of padlocks and lockable door furniture on the market but today’s criminals are getting cleverer and cleverer. Securing your home and garden is obviously a great and necessary thing to do, but should this not work, a fail safe device is CCTV. Our tool store below shows some of the most popular ways of locking up sheds and garages and there are also simple ways to put off would be thieves.We will deal with these later. For the very best in home and garden security take a look at a CCTV set up.

External CCTV camera

External CCTV camera

Buying CCTV is, for the layman a confusing minefield. Worry not! Help is available. Most security companies out there are happy to talk you through the situation you have and provide help on choosing the best security equipment for you. It may be, as it is in a lot of domestic cases, that all you need is an external camera, such as the one above left, connected to a TV monitor, via a video recorder. This can be set to timer as can an Infra Red light, to come on when you feel the most vulnerable. The only limitation is the number of hours your video tape will record.

Even this limitation can be overcome by using motion detectors so that your system is only turned on when triggered by a movement in your garden or near your house. The higher end recorders even have ways of varying sensitivity to motion and the best ones even have a "masking" capability which will shield the screen from movement you do not want to be detected. This saves the camera turning itself on when trees move in the wind etc.

Close Circuit Television is not anywhere near as expensive as it sounds and is by no means exclusive. The odds are, if you are unlucky enough to be burgled, you will be out. With a CCTV set up you stand a fantastic chance of recovering your stolen property.

In many cases, most of todays CCTV systems are very easy to install . If you are looking at simple deterrents for garden thieves and burglars, one of the easier ways to change a buglers mind is to install a motion detector light. As soon as the detector spots a movement in the garden it lights up the whole place like the Albert Hall. Sometimes these lights are put to a setting that is a little too sensitive and every time a leaf falls or a cat wanders in the garden lights up !

As a minimum measure garden sheds and garages should be fitted with a hasp and staple, to which a heavy duty external use padlock is fitted. If the windows in your shed open they should be fitted with casement locks and/or a steel mesh can be fitted over the windows. Most builders merchants can provide a steel mesh and even cut it to size foryou. A good shed, or garage alarm is worth its weight in gold as the noise from such a thing will scare thieves away and alert you to the danger at the same time.

Hasp and staple

Hasp and staple

Locking bikes and mowers is a deterrent but unless they are actually locked to something the thieves can pick up the whole thing and remove the lock later at their convenience. Use a steel rope, such as the one shown left, with a strong padlock to lock these items to the shed wall or a steel rope cable lock to even lock to each other. Moving three or four cumbersome objects will be much too time consuming for a burglar to be interested in.

Security cable to lock a few items together

Security cable to lock a few items together

A lockable box in your shed is a good place to keep smaller items such as screwdrivers or nail bars etc which otherwise could be used by the thief as a tool for removing other security items you have in place or even as housebreaking tools.

Caravans, bike and motorbike trailers are a big target for the modern day criminal and specialist locks are available to keep these items safe. The image on the right is of a trailer lock. Theseare easily fitted and stop any amount on inconvenience.

Trailer lock

Trailer lock

Keeping your car safe is a must and it is not a difficult job to provide added locks to your garage doors. There is a danger however, that with locks all over the house and garden the number of keys required to keep your property safe reaches a ridiculous level. What a great invention the combination lock was ! Please remember though to make your combination as difficult as possible because 1111 is the very first number a thief will try!

Combination lock to make things easy

Combination lock to make things easy

Locks are available with extended shackles to "hook" two or three items together such as the handles of garden spades and forks etc and there is a lock available for just about every eventuality.

If you have no room in the garage, a waterproof lockable garden storage cabinet is a good option. You can store all your garden equipment in one safe place, leaving free space in the shed.

There is also the common sense issue of arranging the correct type of home insurance so if the worst comes to the worst your goods can be replaced. We hope this project has given you a little insight into garden security problems and hope it helps you to stay safe.

For a visual video tutorial on other methods of home security including installing CCTV cameras click through to our DIY Videos section and visit the security area . You might also be interested to watch a film on how to make a garden secure for children by going to our garden design video section.

All project content written and produced by Mike Edwards, founder of DIY Doctor and industry expert in building technology.

TwitterFacebookPin ItBuffer

Video

Back to the Top

Find a Reliable Local Tradesman

Back to the Top
Don't fancy doing this project yourself? We work with the industries best to ensure that we recommend only reliable and trustworthy tradesmen.
Let DIY Doctor help you find a tradesman

Find a tradesman now!


More Help

Back to the Top
Related Projects That May Help You:
  • Home Security Systems – Types of Burglar Alarms and Security Lighting to Protect Your Home
  • Changing Locks – How to Change a Night Latch, Yale Lock or Barrel Lock
  • How to Fit a Barrel Bolt or Sliding Bolt to a Door in Your Home for Extra Security
  • Fitting a Cylinder Night Latch – How to Fit A Night Latch or Yale Cylinder Lock
  • How to Fit a Suffolk or Norfolk Latch to a Garden Gate – Fixing a Gate Latch or Thumb Latch
  • Fitting a Mortice Latch to an Internal Door Including Fitting Door Handles and the Latch Keep to the Door Frame
Give us Some Feedback!
Was this page useful:
We read and respond to all feedback by email. To allow us to do so you will be added to our email list, however you can unsubscribe at any time using the links at the bottom of any of our emails. Find out more in our privacy policy. Any DIY questions should be posted to our Forum
Sign me up to the DIY Doctor Newsletter:

Primary Sidebar

DIY Doctor deal of the week

DIY Utility Kit:

Build your own work bench!

RRP Price: £49.99

Special Price: £39.95

Get it here now

See our other deals now!

Master Basic DIY - By DIY Doctor

Our Book - Master Basic DIY

Grab your copy now for all the DIY help you need right at your finger tips!

Buy it Here!

Signup for our Newsletter

Keep up to date with our DIY projects, tips and latest deals

Sign Me Up!

Our Sponsors

Find out about advertising on DIY Doctor

Advert

Other Similar Projects
  • How To Change The Locks In Your Home
  • How To Fit A Cylinder Night Latch To Improve The Security In Your Home
  • How To Fit A Mortice Latch To A Door
  • Home Security Systems – Types Of Burglar Alarms And Security Lighting To Protect Your Home
  • How To Fit A Barrel Or Sliding Bolt To Add Security To Your Home
  • How To Fit A Garden Gate Latch To Improve Your Garden Security

Footer

DIY Doctor

Site Menu

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • Media/Press
  • Community Work
  • DIY Projects
  • DIY Videos
  • Superstore
  • DIY Tips
  • DIY Suppliers
  • UK DIY Forum
  • DIY Webinars

Other Stuff

  • Advertise
  • Competitions
  • T and Cs
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • NHIC
  • Sitemap

DIY Doctor Social Channels

Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on YouTube
Follow us on Pinterest
Follow us on Tumblr

DIY Doctor are members of:

© DIY Doctor Ltd 2021 All Rights Reserved