Top Ten Tips to help prevent a theft from your garden shed

Quite apart from risking losing valuable equipment, you risk having your own garden tools or ladders used to burgle your house, so securing the contents of your garden shed is vital. Here are our top ten tips to help you prevent this type of crime by slowing a thief down and making him more visible;

Keep all your tools and equipment in the shed at all times.

Use tamper-proof screws or coach bolts together with a good quality pad bar or hasp and staple and close shackled padlock, to make it harder for the would-be thief to get in. Neighbourhood Watch has a new alarmed padlock, with shock and movement sensor, a powerful 110 decibel siren, keypad, a battery powered and weather-resistant hardened Zinc Alloy body, hardened steel shackle, anti-muffle design, which costs £14.

Consider bonding any window glass in with mastic so it can’t be easily prised out.

Fit shed windows with a grille or chicken wire, again to slow a thief down.

A shed alarm can also be installed. Neighbourhood Watch has one at £10 that comes with a 4-digit keypad code, entry/exit delay, sensitivity control, 3 AAA batteries and a very loud siren!

Mark all property such as lawnmowers, bikes, and tools using an indelible marking kit such as CREMark. Neighbourhood Watch has supplies at £11 in silver or black.

Install security lighting if the garden is overlooked by you or neighbours or the shed is visible from the street. If the shed area is not visible from your house or others’ then lighting it up might actually help a thief rather than deter him.

Put any garden gate towards the front of the house rather than down the side or at the back, so that anyone climbing over it is more likely to be seen from the road. The gate should be solid rather than with bars, so that the garden cannot be seen from the road.

Plant thorny shrubs to act as a barrier along boundaries or gaps in fences.

Put the shed where it is most visible to you and neighbours.

A Cautionary Tale – a couple were gardening at the front of their house when a man went up the drive next door. He went to the back of that house and climbed over the intervening fence. He went into the gardening couple’s house via their unlocked back door, stole various items, and left the way he arrived. They were completely unaware of what had happened until they went back into their house. So, do keep your back door locked if you are gardening at the front. When you are at the back, do close and lock your garage door.

For more information on products you can use to protect your garden property, email publicitywdnhwa@hotmail.co.uk